TMT Championship Kick Off Breaks Guarantee On Opening Day; Cho Ho Fan Wins First TMTC Trophy

10/26/2024

Doors blasted wide open at the inaugural TMT Championship with the Kick Off event drawing in a large crowd to the Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City, Taiwan. Throughout the three available flights a total of 462 took to the felt to breach the NT$3M guarantee for a sweeter NT$ 3,943,700 (~US$ 122,980) prize pool. Among the attendees were WSOP bracelet champions Shiina Okamoto, Dicky Tsang, and Taiwanese top players Chao Ting Cheng, Chia Yun Wu, Kai Hung Hu, and Philip Wang. Here are the exciting highlights of opening day.

TMT Championship Kick Off

The TMT Championship Kick Off event picked up momentum from the start with players continuously filing in for the opening flight. After four hours / eight levels of late registration with blinds at 30 minutes, 223 put up the NT$ 10,000 (~US$ 310) buy in then proceeded to battle for a Day 2 spot. With only 15% of the field guaranteed an ITM spot, the final 34 qualifiers was decided at the brutal fall of Chan Lik Wai to Po Chun Liu with 7♥7♠ outdrawn by K♦Q♠ flush on a board {2♠A♦8♦2♦J♦.

This gave Liu the second largest stack at bagging time while Chang Yen Wen owned the throne. The ensuing flights failed to overtake Chang who will enter Day 2 / Final Day as the overall chip leader.

At Flight B, another strong turnout of 175 entries was seen which was more than enough to breach the NT$ 3 Million guarantee. With faster 25 minute blinds, the 27 qualifiers was determined when Fu Chen Wei shoved his big stack with a full house on the river and I Han Chen with a straight called and bubbled. Fu will bring in the second largest stack into the Day 2 / Final day.

Fu Chen Wei at TMT Championship Kick Off Event

Flight C took off in lightning speed with blinds escalating every 15 minutes. It wrapped up just as quick with Jia Xian Zhu topping the heat placing him in sixth rank in the overall Day 2 counts.

The 71 players are now guaranteed a little over money back of NT$ 15,000 (~US$ 467) and for the eventual champion the NT$ 709,500 (~US$ 22,120) top prize awaits. Kick Off event resumes at 12pm on Saturday, October 26, 2024.

Top 10 in chips

Chang Yen Wen	572,500
Fu Chun Wei	510,500
Che Chun Chu	462,500
Po Chun Liu	401,000
Yun Kun Yang	365,500
Jia Xian Zhu	295,000
Wei Ting Chen	285,000
Nguyen Van Nam	278,000
Wei Cheng Lin	277,500
Polun Chao	272,500

View the Kick Off Day 2 chip counts, payouts, and action via the Live Updates.

Read up on the Flights via the SMP Daily Updates

Kick Off Event – By The Numbers

Buy in: NT$ 10,000 (~US$ 310)
Guarantee: NT$ 3,000,000 (~US$ 93,500)
Entries: 462
Prize Pool: NT$ 3,943,700 (~US$ 122,980)\
ITM: 71 players

Flight Results

Flight A: 223 entries / 34 advanced
Flight B: 175 entries / 27 advanced
Flight C: 64 entries / 10 advanced

NLH Freezeout

In other news, the lone side event on the opening roster was the NLH Freezeout. Unable to be toppled was Taiwan’s Cho Ho Fan to claim NT$ 69,700 (~US$ 2,175) and the first trophy of the festival.