Some of the Top Asia-Pacific Live Poker Players in 2024 at a Glance
It was yet another exciting year of poker in the Asia-Pacific region, not only for the thriving live poker brands but also local players who scored big throughout these past 12 months both in the region and outside.
Nishant Sharma (India)
Mumbai-based Nishant Sharma has had a breakout year while mostly grinding the mid-stakes circuit in Asia. All his five titles in 2024 have come from one of the new live poker tours in the region, Poker Dream, and in remarkable fashion, three of them have come in the Main Events! It all kicked off in April in Hoi An, before he then triumphed in Kuala Lumpur twice. The latter was during Poker Dream 13, where he won another two trophies and propelled his life-time cashes above $1.4 million.
Xixiang Luo (China)
Several other players from China may have earned more cash from live MTT in 2024, but Xixiang Luo rightfully earns his spot in this list thanks to seven outright wins. This includes two gold bracelets in Las Vegas and he is only one of three players to win multiple WSOP titles alongside Scott Seiver and Nick Schulman. Prior to his golden summer, he also had a remarkable APT Jeju series with multiple final table appearances and a victory in the Main Event for KRW 429,292,500 ($311,843).
John Matsuda (Japan/Philippines)
Until July 2024, Japanese-Filipino John Matsuda‘s highest payout was around $8,932 then in August, he finished as runner-up in the APPT Manila 15 Main Event for PHP9,320,000 ($159,687) to set a new top score. Since then, Matsuda won the APPT Manila Championship High Roller in October 2024 before adding another two high roller victories and a runner-up finish in the following days for a total take of $292,842. To cap off the year, a trip to Vietnam for the USOP Grand Finale Hai Phong turned out to be a fruitful decision as he won the Championship Event for VND 2,503,800,300 ($98,701). This was his first ever title outside of the Philippines.
Quang Huy Nguyen (Vietnam)
There is a new sheriff in town in Vietnam, as Quang Huy Nguyen topped a close-knit race for the GPI and Player of the Year ranking of the country. Consistency was the key for Nguyen as he kicked off the new year in third place at the WPT Cambodia Championship Single Day High-Roller for $55,582. He followed this up with a long list of final table finishes in Taiwan, Malaysia, and Cambodia. On home court, he came close to a Main Event title at Poker Dream 10 Hanoi finishing 5th. Nguyen is up to more than $1.6 million in live cashes for third place on Vietnam’s all-time money list.
James Obst (Australia)
You may wonder why a player makes this list despite only having five live poker cashes to his name in the current year. As part-time poker player and tennis aficionado, James Obst has earned two high-profile titles and became the sixth Aussie to claim multiple WSOP gold bracelets. He took down Event #42 $10,000 Limit Seven Card Stud Championship for $260,568 in a star-studded field before steam-rolling to the title in the WPT Australia Championship, banking A$585,359 (US$398,488) for his third-largest result in live poker.
Yu Chung “Nevan” Chang (Taiwan)
One half of the streaming duo “WinPokerCouple” has seen a steady rise on Taiwan’s all-time money list and he joined the Natural8’s Team Hot alongside his wife Hua-Wei Lin. Yu Chung Chang aka Nevan Chang sits in seventh place of the country’s overall ranking and finished in second for the GPI and PoY ranking in Taiwan for 2024. He won seven live events and notched up dozens of cashes along the way to surpassing $2.3 million on THM.
Chang’s four largest scores all came in the current year with a deep run in the WSOP Main Event as arguably the toughest of tasks, which earned him $100,000 for 125th place. One month earlier, he ran hot in Bracelet Event #14 Super Turbo Bounty with a third place for $96,965 out of 2,639 entries. A few days later, he topped that with a runner-up finish at The Wynn Summer Classic for $107,553. He also had a trophy to show for from the USOP Da Nang in a High Roller Warm Up as well as second place in the APT Phu Quoc High Roller.
Shiina Okamoto (Japan)
In the summer of 2023, Shiina Okamoto burst into the global poker scene with a runner-up finish in the WSOP Ladies Event for $118,768. She added another six five-figure scores to her resume for the year before finishing one spot higher in the very same tournament, banking the top prize of $171,732 and first WSOP gold bracelet for a female player from Japan. Another three first-place finishes followed during the Red Dragon Poker Tour, Taiwan Millions Tournament (TMT), and WPT Korea to grow her trophy collection. She is now up to more than $700k in live poker cashes.
Danny Tang (Hong Kong)
Without a doubt one of the rising stars in the live poker circuit, Danny Tang has been crowned the Triton Poker Player of the Year for his efforts in their last season. Only some of those results carried over into 2024, but altogether he has racked up nearly a dozen six-figure scores. His sole seven-figure result came thanks to a runner-up finish in the WSOP Event #79 Pot Limit Omaha – High Roller for $1,400,217, narrowly missing out on his second gold bracelet.
Chun Keat Liu (Malaysia)
Cashing in only eight events this year, Malaysia’s Chun Keat Liu makes the list for his impressive performance at EPT Barcelona, winning two events in September for over $200K in earnings. He quickly followed it up with a title at Poker Dream Jeju for $127,161 then closed out the year with a runner up finish at Poker Dream Malaysia Main Event. These achievements sent Liu soaring past the 1M marker and now has over $1.3M in live earnings.
Travis Endersby (Australia)
Yita Choong narrowly beat Daniel Neilson and Joshua McCully in Australia’s GPI ranking while the former two swapped places in the country’s Player of the Year ranking. For both leaderboards, another Aussie caught some heat but didn’t score enough points to threaten the trio atop and that’s Perth’s Travis Endersby. Six top three finishes in the first half were highlighted by a third place in the WPT Prime Australia Main Event for A$198,120.
Another four similar results followed with a runner-up finish to James Obst in the WPT Australia Main Event for A$389,478, his second-biggest payday so far. The same finishing position also came in the TLPT Main Event one and a half weeks later for A$214,045, while still maintaining an online streaming schedule.
Santhosh Suvarna (India)
Ankit Ahuja gave businessman Santhosh Suvarna a run for the top spot, but the latter prevailed by some margin after a string of big results in high-stakes tournaments. He soared above $15 million in live cashes and earned the second WSOP gold bracelet at the biggest of stages, topping Event #55: $250,000 Super High Roller for $5,415,152. Two weeks later, he finished fifth in the $50,000 PLO High Roller for $503,085.
Joonhee “Steve” Yea (South Korea)
The largest score worth $250,000 by Joonhee Yea aka Steve Yea dates back all the way to 2008 in Macau, but he has hit the ground running sixteen years later with three six-figure cashes to reach more than $3.1 million in cashes and second place in the all-time money list of South Korea. Coming off nine five-figure results prior to the summer, Yea finished third in WSOP Bracelet Event #12 $1,500 No Limit Hold’em – 6-Handed for $210,645.
In October, he was the runner-up in the Poker Dream 12 Jeju Super High Roller for KRW266,840,000 ($203,430) and reached the final three tables in the WSOP Paradise $26,000 Super Main Event to end the year on a high note, cashing for $180,300 in 23rd place. This excellent year propelled him to GPI and PoY #1 in his home country, and he also edged past Sean Yu and Gab Yong Kim.
Jinlong Hu (China)
China’s Jinlong Hu is inches away from breaching a million USD in live earnings thanks to his strong year of deep finishes, final tables, and triumphs. His largest score was in November for his victory at the APT Phu Quoc Main Event locking up VND 4.71 Billion ($186,542). The momentum carried into December where he placed 2nd at the USOP Grand Final Billionaire Club Challenge, though not without controversy, and 8th at the Championship Event. To date, Hu has $982,527 in THM tracked live earnings.
Punnat Punsri (Thailand)
The Thai entrepreneur was in the running for GPI Number One and finished inside of the top ten after yet another strong year on the live poker circuit. Punnat Punsri has now cashed for more than $18.7 million and become the undisputed number one in his country ahead of Kannapong Thanarattrakul.
He is not only competing at the highest of stakes such as Triton but also in other regional tours in Asia to showcase his talent. Highlights of the current year are plenty, with three seven-figure cashes and a runner-up in a WSOP Gold Bracelet in Las Vegas topping them all – the latter for $523,648 in a 1,042-entry strong field in a $5,000 buy-in.
Justin Chu (Taiwan)
Chi Jen Chu aka Justin Chu started his live poker journey at CTP Club and his second trip abroad brought with it a runner-up finish in the 2022 WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event for $120,980. Since then, the Taiwanese poker pro has seen a steady rise in the rankings and he clinched the country’s GPI leaderboard for 2024. Eight of his top ten scores have come in the current year with the peak being reached during the Seminole Hard Rock Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open thanks to a second place in a $25,500 High Roller for $402,000.
Marc Rivera (Philippines)
In the Filipino poker community, the reign of Mike Takayama on the top spot of GPI was under threat and Lester Edoc came narrowly close to stealing the crown. But Marc Rivera took over the top spot in the all-time money list thanks to four six-figure and several five-figure scores. Kicking off the year with a second place in the APT Cambodia Super High Roller for $158,586, Rivera also had a successful spell at WSOP Paradise in December with four cashes. This included a ninth place in the $10,400 GGMillion$ for $100,880 to surpass $3.7 million in live poker tournaments. Rivera also found success in the online arena where he reached three final tables at WSOP.
Ren “Tony” Lin (China)
Born in China but residing in the United States for a long time, Ren Lin aka Tony Lin is the ultimate grinder. He capped off 2023 with his biggest live poker score with a win in the WPT Alpha8 at Wynn Las Vegas for $1,045,781. The following 12 months brought seventeen six-figure scores and he once again finished second in a WSOP gold bracelet event at WSOP Paradise to miss out on that career highlight again. But a GPI rank #2 overall behind Jesse Lonis and fourth in the Player of the Year ranking speaks for itself.
Manlok Chan (Macau)
Live poker in Macau is slowly but surely returning and the first major event took place after a long hiatus. For Manlok Chan, all results came from abroad in nearby SEA countries such as Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. During the last quarter of the year, Chan picked up four five-figure scores and one six-figure payday, with a fourth place in the APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 Main Event for NT$3,939,000 ($124,758) as new summit. In Taipei City, he placed second in the Taiwan Millions Tournament (TMT) Championship for NT$3,027,000 ($94,666), followed by a Single Day High Roller victory.
Other Top Performers
Many other poker players from the Asia-Pacific region could have made the cut. There was Biao Ding, Ka Lam who won the record-breaking Taiwan Millions Tournament 16, Lester Edoc who opened the year finding success in numerous events including a runner up finish at the APT Taipei Superstar Challenge for NTD 8.4M ($265,645), and the Million Dollar Man Malcolm Trayner, who took down the Mystery Millions bracelet and finished fourth in the APL Million Gold Coast Main Event.
Among this year’s WSOP gold bracelet winners were Lei Yu and Yinan Zhou, both entering the spotlight before Christmas at WSOP Paradise. Ching Da Wu from Taiwan and India’s Aditya Agarwal also joined the club while Wing Po Liu won his second title in as many years.
With many different tours to pick from in Asia and Australia, plenty of opportunities await to showcase the talents at the poker tables and it will be exciting to see who will earn their merit in 2025.
