The Start of a New Chapter for Live Poker in Taiwan: Alex Lee Officially Launches Win Win Poker in Taipei City
A New Poker Hub in the Heart of Taipei
On February 26, 2026, the live poker scene in Taiwan received another boost with the launch of the brand new Win Win Poker Club in the heart of Taipei City, not far from the Main Station and the iconic Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. The official opening series concluded a two-month soft launch, after which the first tournament cards were dealt. Win Win Poker is situated on the ground and basement floor of the Lucky Star Building, which is perhaps not just a sheer coincidence.
The main poker room has a maximum capacity of 52 tables for the time being. The official launch left plenty of space to feature a lavish environment for the players and invited guests to enjoy the opening ceremony, and 32 tables were in play while the room was buzzing with ambient tunes.
Poker Queens and the Influence of New-Age Branding
Responsible for the beats was none other than one of the Poker Queens in Lyla Ho , who is a multi-talent as a model, artist, YouTuber, and DJ with more than 1.1 million followers on Instagram.
With Chinese New Year celebrations still in full swing, several other major poker brands such as Poker Dream , Triton Poker , K Poker Cup , Super Cup , the All Japan Poker Championship (AJPC) , and others had donated flower bouquets to send their best wishes for success going forward, a cherished tradition in Chinese culture. The opening ceremony included a drummer and dragon show before the ribbons were officially cut, while the first flight of the Opening Event was in full swing already. In attendance were also the two well-known Taiwanese celebrity stars Jack Kao and Jacky Wu, with the former cashing in the Superstar Invitational.
Alex Lee Brings Player-First Vision to Win Win Poker
One of the faces behind Win Win Poker is none other than Singaporean poker crusher Xiang Wei “Alex” Lee, who has already cashed for more than $1.5 million in international poker tournaments. His first appearance at the poker tables dates all the way back to 2011, and in more than a decade, Lee has noticed plenty of things that he has subsequently implemented in his new venue in Taiwan.
“As a player I am conscious and aware of what I want. You know you always need to think ahead of what you want, how the game is involving, and how you can implement things that improve the player’s experience. Being a player, you are in the best position to know the player logic, how they think, and what they want.”
Modern Features and a Focus on Game Integrity
The first impression of the brand new poker room revealed bright lights, modern equipment with automatic shufflers, and both tournaments during the grand opening had shot clocks in play from the very start. That is not necessarily common yet all over the world, but most established live poker brands have implemented these measures to make the daily operation more efficient.
Another particular example is the so-called shoe that the dealers are using to slide the cards to the players after the shuffling is complete. This specific method has been commonly used for numerous years in Australia, where Lee has recorded some of his best live poker results. The sliding deal has also been implemented in recent years by the PokerStars-sponsored European Poker Tour to prevent possible cheating through miniature cameras during the card pitching.
From Soft Launch to Full Ambition
“For the short term we want to get our team up and running. I want them to be professional, to have a good service attitude. This is definitely the short term goal. Over time we gonna increase the number of games available. We gonna have Pot Limit Omaha next month, for example,” Lee mentioned.
He also hinted at launching a fun way of mystery bounty format without mentioning too many details to ruin the surprise, while mentioning that the brand new Win Win Poker is still in the “baby stage”.
After two months of soft launch and the first successful small series during the official opening of the venue, Lee’s first goal is clear: Repetition. All automated mechanisms for the staff require plenty of practice before the next major step can be made, but the poker pro already has a clear vision of what he wants to implement next and had a particular reason to pick Taiwan as his destination.
Building Momentum in Taiwan’s Growing Poker Scene
“I think Taiwan is experiencing a poker boom. It is a place that everyone loves to visit no matter how rich. For many other Asian countries there is a close proximity and similar language, very vibrant nightlife and accessible. Of course you can also say the same about Korea and Japan, but I think if you are trying to build an entertainment concept and not just the vanilla poker then Taiwan ticks all the right boxes.”
According to Lee, the players in Taiwan tend to start very young which reflects the new economy these days and especially the influencer economy. People want to have more freedom and flexibility over their work and that’s where poker comes in. Win Win Poker very much caught up with that trend and uses their own influencers such as the Poker Queen team , which includes poker-savvy female players who are otherwise also well-known as models and actresses.
Lee mentioned that he definitely plans on bringing international brands to the new poker club as well but prioritizes to get the own regular tournament schedule up and running to “keep the team on their feet” for the time being. Once that training period is complete, the next steps can be made and he certainly has the contacts to do so.
International Interest and Future Collaborations
During the opening ceremony, they already had representatives of well-known live poker brands such as Poker Dream, China Poker Games (CPG), Lucky Poker, LPG, Super Cup, the Korean Poker Cup (KPC), Ace Poker League (APL), All Japan Poker Championship (AJPC), and even Triton Poker show up to visit the new venue and discuss any possible collaboration.
What’s Next for Win Win Poker
The capacity of 52 tables is already quite impressive and Lee plans on taking things step by step before even think about any expansion plans. With a location easy to reach via nearby metro stop and situated on the busy Zhongshan North Road, the homework was done already. The name of the building in which the venue is located is, however, sheer coincidence but “could be a match made in heaven”.
When trying to set up the venue from scratch, Lee was experiencing a certain language barrier at first because Mandarin is not his native tongue. He also very much noticed that his idea how to run things might be too idealistic especially considering that he doesn’t have the operational background to run poker tournaments, only participate in them for over a decade.
“I have to balance things and be more pragmatic. Sometimes poker players are dreamers, we always dream of first place. Being the number one, the trophy, the champion. We go to bed before the final table and think of how much money we gonna make, what to spend it on. I had to dial back on this and be more realistic, take things slower and not faster. I now know to prioritize repetition and make sure that our vision is right, even for this opening event we didn’t do anything fancy, anything that could screw up”.
Lee is heavily involved in the early stages by managing the tournament and marketing department in a team of five. He will also be managing the live streaming team once it launches in April 2026 and has found the perfect opportunity after acquiring the strongest live-streaming team in Taiwan. The parent company Lang Live is a well-known entity in Taiwan to lean on and Lee plans on producing their own poker show in the near future.
Regarding the level structure, he has come up with a unique way of running things as the first level was 75 minutes long to essentially combine the first three levels in order to leave more room for fun announcements and create a fun environment at the tables. Players also had a lucky draw for merchandising products and vouchers with a total of 2,000 available boxes to pick from after busting from the events during the official launch.
