WPT Prime Taiwan underway at Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City – Opening day highlights and results
Shuffle up and deal! At 1pm on August 8, 2023, local and international players dove into action on opening day of World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime Taiwan Season XXI. This eagerly anticipated two-week event kicked off at the newly opened Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City. Catering to a spectrum of bankrolls, four trophy events were on the agenda. Here are the highlights and results of Day 1.
Event 1: Main Event Warm Up – Day 1A results
Setting the tone was the festival opener, the Main Event Warm Up featuring a TWD 3,000,000 (~USD 94,300) guarantee. Day 1A drew a healthy 162 entries with 21 players reaching ITM to advance to the next stage.
Among the rare players seen in the Taiwan crowd were USA’s Quoc Bao Diep and Tunisia’s Selim Souissi, however both missed the mark. Making the cut were recently crowned Taiwan Millions Tournament Main Event champion Chia Yun Wu, and WSOP Mystery Bounty $1M bounty prize lucky draw winner Patrick Liang. Topping the counts was Hong Kong’s Alan Cho Fung Wong with 57 bb, trailed closely by Taiwan’s Luke Kuang Hung Lee with 54 bb. Interested players still have one final chance to jump in with Day 1B yet to play out.
Buy in: TWD 10,000 (~USD 314)
Guarantee: TWD 3,000,000 (~USD 94,300)
Day 1A: 162 entries / 21 advanced (ITM)
Day 1B: Wednesday, August 9, 1pm
End of Day 1A – 21 players
| Player | Flag | Stack |
| Alan Cho Fung Wong | Hong Kong | 574,000 |
| Kuang Hung Lee | Taiwan | 554,000 |
| Herry Lian | Germany | 509,000 |
| Chia Wei Chang | Taiwan | 429,000 |
| Chia Yun Wu | Taiwan | 289,000 |
| Ming Song Huang | Taiwan | 271,000 |
| Ka Shun Tsang | Hong Kong | 270,000 |
| Yu Sheng Chien | Taiwan | 265,000 |
| Jackie Wu | China | 228,000 |
| Chia Hsiang Ko | Taiwan | 226,000 |
| You Da Tsai | Taiwan | 161,000 |
| Chen Wei Tseng | Taiwan | 160,000 |
| Patrick Liang | Taiwan | 152,000 |
| Chen Yun Chien | Taiwan | 148,000 |
| Kai Yang | USA | 147,000 |
| Wai Kin Lam | Hong Kong | 115,000 |
| Shao Hong Yu | Taiwan | 103,000 |
| Hung Kai Hsu | Taiwan | 102,000 |
| Lo Chang Ming | Taiwan | 60,000 |
| Yu Chi Liu | Taiwan | 52,000 |
| Kun Tai Lu | Taiwan | 28,000 |
Event 2: PLO Warm Up – Day 1 results
Pot Limit Omaha lovers also had their fun on the felt with the PLO Warm Up on the day’s lineup. 46 entered for a prize pool of TWD 1,307,000 (~USD 41,085). The night closed with the bubble bursting, leaving six players to bag up led by Taiwan’s Li-Ta Hsu.
When the survivors return on Wednesday, August 9 at 1pm, each one is guaranteed TWD 18,700 (~USD 590), however all eyes will be on the TWD 121,900 (~USD 3,830) first prize and event trophy.
Buy in: TWD 8,000 (~USD 250)
Entries: 46
Prize pool: TWD 1,307,000 (~USD 41,085)
ITM: 6 places
Chips in play: 1,380,000
Average stack: 230,000
End of Day 1 – 6 players remaining
| Rank | Player | Flag | Stack |
| 1 | Li-Ta Hsu | Taiwan | 465,000 |
| 2 | Moo Jae | USA | 399,000 |
| 3 | Aaron Chuang | Taiwan | 177,000 |
| 4 | Minho Cho | South Korea | 140,000 |
| 5 | Bo Jia Su | Taiwan | 85,000 |
| 6 | Yan Chen Jiang | Taiwan | 41,000 |
Chingchun Wu wins first side event trophy at the Turbo 30 Sec Clock
Taiwan’s Chingchun Wu emerged victorious at Event 3: Turbo 30 Sec Clock to claim his first ever international side event trophy. Wu topped a field of 60 hopefuls for a career high payout of TWD 106,900 (~USD 3,360). Notables also in the money were Singapore’s Dhanesh Chainani in 4th place and lone female at the final table, Chien Chih Weng in 5th place.
Date: August 8, 2023
Buy in: TWD 6,000 (~USD 190)
Entries: 60
Prize pool: TWD 296,900 (~USD 9,335)
ITM: 8 places
| Place | Player | Flag | Payout |
| 1 | Chingchun Wu | Taiwan | 106,900 |
| 2 | Chia Yu Shr | Taiwan | 62,800 |
| 3 | Chao Min Fan | Taiwan | 39,300 |
| 4 | Dhanesh Chainani | Singapore | 26,700 |
| 5 | Chien Chih Weng | Taiwan | 20,800 |
| 6 | Chunhao Tsai | Taiwan | 16,300 |
| 7 | Shen Syu Ho | Taiwan | 13,400 |
| 8 | Hsiao Tsung Hsien | Taiwan | 10,700 |
Event 4: Mini High Roller Warm Up – Day 1 results
Heavy hitters had their hands full at the Mini High Roller Warm Up with 22 ponying up the TWD 66,000 (~USD 2,075) buy in. Only 12 players survived the heat led by 2022 WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event champion David Erquiaga with a stack of 45 bb. Other notables making the cut were famous South Korean Yohwan “BoxeR” Lim,I-Chun Chiu aka Charlie Chiu who ran deep into 133rd place at the WSOP Main Event last month, and Chao Ting Cheng who won his first major title early this year.
Players can still sign up to this event with 40 minutes of late registration remaining at the start of Day 2.
End of Day 1 chip counts
| Rank | Player | Flag | Stack |
| 1 | David Erquiaga | Philippines | 456,000 |
| 2 | Chung Ching Cheung | Hong Kong | 432,000 |
| 3 | Jules Blondel | France | 357,500 |
| 4 | Yohwan Lim | South Korea | 341,000 |
| 5 | Kai Cheng Hsu | Taiwan | 287,000 |
| 6 | Fun Chih Wei | Taiwan | 245,000 |
| 7 | Charlie Chiu | Taiwan | 220,500 |
| 8 | Hung Wei Yeh | Taiwan | 218,500 |
| 9 | Sparrow Cheung | Hong Kong | 212,000 |
| 10 | Yu Chung Chang | Taiwan | 210,000 |
| 11 | Thibaut Blondel | France | 198,500 |
| 12 | Chao Ting Cheng | Taiwan | 53,500 |
WPT Prime Taiwan Season XXI Key Highlights
Day 1 is in the books with plenty of action still ahead. WPT Prime Taiwan boasts the richest and most extensive lineup ever announced by the global brand in Asia. A total of 46 trophy events are scheduled highlighted by the Main Event.Make sure to check the schedule link provided for all the details and structure.
WPT Prime Taiwan – Full Schedule
TheWPT Prime Main Eventgets underway onAugust 17 and runs until August 21.For a buy in of TWD 33,000 (~USD 1,075), players have a shot at the mightyUSD 1,000,000 guarantee.This is the largest tournament prize pool advertised by the WPT for Taiwan. To further display the worth of this event, the champion will receive a2023 WPT World Championship seat worth USD 10,400.The WPT value-adds airfare and accommodation.
Other big events are theMystery Bounty TWD 5,000,000 (~USD 162,245) guaranteedfrom August 11 to 13 and8 Max Championship TWD 2,000,000 (~USD 65,150) guaranteedfrom August 14 to 15.
For high rollers, the CTP High Stakes Challengeis the most expensive with buy in of TWD 300,000 (~USD 9,475). TheWPT Prime Super High RollerandWPT Prime High Roller 3K are also big wig favorites and are certain to attract the creme de la creme of the region.
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