World Poker Tour Gears Up for Largest Live Poker Festival in Cambodia

In 2017, the World Poker Tour visited the Kingdom of Cambodia for the first time and has since become a fixture on the calendar for the renowned global live poker brand. Five festivals have taken place at the luxurious five-star NagaWorld Integrated Resort, and multiple attendance and prize pool records have been set in cooperation with Connaissance Management Limited.

WPT Announces Largest Live Poker Festival In Cambodia

The latest live poker series hosted in the capital was the WPT Cambodia – Passport to the World Championship, which took place from July 12 to 23, 2024. SoMuchPoker was present at the series and can confirm that WPT Live Events Specialist Danny McDonagh made the following announcement to the players during the $1,300 Championship Event.

“NagaWorld, Connaissance Management, & the World Poker Tour are in advance planning for the biggest ever poker festival in Cambodia to be held from February 6 to 24, 2025.”

Full details for the WPT Cambodia Championship, the next big live poker series in the Kingdom of Cambodia will be released in the future but some tidbits of the festival are already known:

• As in January 2024, this stop will be part of the WPT Main Tour. The slightly later timing in February is due to Chinese New Year being a lot earlier in 2025.
• The Buy-Ins will range from as little as $200 all the way up to $20,000 with more than 60 numbered events to pick from. Various milestone satellites to qualify for feature events plus the Player of the Festival competition will return ($6,000 in added value was awarded in January 2024)
• The Mike Sexton Champions Cup will be back for the second time.
• An expected 70 plus poker tables are planned for the Grand Ballroom and surrounds at Naga 1 with both tournaments and cash games on offer.
• A fabulous player party timed to coincide with the extended Day 2 Championship event dinner break at Darlin Darlin situated within the NagaWorld complex.
• NagaWorld continues their tradition of offering the lowest hotel rates available on the Asian poker circuit.
• The High Roller free night early bird promotion for stays at the superior NagaWorld 1 Hotel will return with limited spots available to stay in the same building as the Event Ballroom area for the festival
• All three brands are working on services in the event ballroom space not seen at any other venues in Asia including:
  • Table side massage or in the room. Special promotions are available for all players.
  • VIP player room with an extensive food and beverage menu including carvery meats and hors d’oeuvre.
  • Table side menu covering a wide array of NagaWorld Restaurants including Chinese, Japanese, Italian and French foods
  • The 19 day festival covering three weekends is understood to be the longest WPT festival ever held in Asia. Total prize money is expected to exceed USD 10 million dollars (January 2024 was 7.5M)

WPT Stops In Cambodia Through The Years

The stop in February 2025 will be held throughout three weekends and bring with it an unprecedented wealth of different tournaments available, following into the footsteps of the successful WPT Prime Cambodia stops in the previous two years.

In 2022, the $1,100 buy-in attracted a field of 1,050 entries for a prize pool of $1,008,100 with David Erquiaga emerging as the champion. One year later, Japan’s Reiji Kono topped a field of 1,011 entries to claim the lion’s share of the $970,270 prize pool.

In January 2024, the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup headed to Phnom Penh for the first time with the $3,500 WPT Main Tour stop as crown jewel of the schedule. The headline tournament attracted a total of 760 entries to more than double the $1 million guarantee with $2,432,760 in prize money distributed.

Konstantin Held prevailed to claim the top prize of $361,310 as well as a $10,400 seat for the season-ending 2024 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas. The iconic trophy will be back at the scene for the WPT Cambodia Championship 2025.

The recently concluded Passport Event awarded several seats for the two marquee tournaments at the end of the year in Sin City as well. Throughout the 41 trophy events, nearly $3.6 million in prize money was generated with the biggest portion coming out of the $1,300 Championship Event thanks to 913 entries. The $1,040,592 prize pool was the third seven-figure tally for a WPT sponsored event in Cambodia and even topped the result of the WPT Prime stop in 2022.

With such a string of successful live poker festivals at NagaWorld, it comes as no surprise that the WPT has even bigger plans ahead for next year. It will be exciting to see what the full schedule looks like once all details are released and further cements the status of the country as one of the hottest prospects for poker in South East Asia.

Furthermore, February is an ideal time weather wise to visit the Kingdom of Cambodia, not only for poker. It is a country rich in culture and certainly warrants a side trip to Siem Reap in the north to experience the amazing temples headlined by the UNESCO World Heritage site of Angkor Wat.

*Article by Christian Zetzsche