Final Wrap: WPT Prime Taiwan 2024 awards over TWD 144 Million (~USD 4.5M) in prizes; Sparrow Cheung wins back to back PoF titles
Fourteen days of riveting poker action swept through Taipei last August 16 – 19, 2024 with the World Poker Tour Prime Taiwan in cooperation with Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association, having run its course at the CTP Asia Poker Arena. The fun-filled affair welcomed players far and wide, battling across its fifty trophy event lineup and hunting down the heftiest prizes on the list. This season’s Championship Event turnout blew away all expectations with a new WPT Prime record attendance set in stone at a staggering 1,666 entries.
The final day festivities saw Singapore’s Jereld Sam best the remaining field and clinch the series’ largest payout of TWD 8,065,000 (~USD 250,700). Sharing the spotlight is Hong Kong’s Park Yu ‘Sparrow’ Cheung with another Player of the Festival win to follow through his WPT Prime Taiwan 2023 victory. Other player highlights include multi-event winners Taowei Chang, and Yen Han ‘Pete’ Chen, and Hong Kong’s Manhang Tse with the most final table cashes across four events.
WPT Prime Taiwan – Festival Results
Festival Review
Date/s: August 6-19, 2024
Venue: CTP Asia Poker Arena, Taipei, Taiwan
Trophy Events: 50
Festival prize pool: TWD 144,600,034 (~USD 4,520,580)
Entries: 8,244
Record WPT Prime attendance: WPT Prime Taiwan 2024 Championship Event – 1,666 entries
WPT Prime Taiwan 2024 Championship Event Winner: Jereld Sam – TWD 8,065,000 (~USD 250,700)
Biggest earner: Jereld Sam – TWD 8,111,000 (~USD 253,570)
Player of the Festival: Park Yu ‘Sparrow’ Cheung – 858.79 points
Most final table cashes: Manhang Tse (4)
Multiple wins: Park Yu ‘Sparrow’ Cheung (2), Taowei Chang (2), Yen Han ‘Pete’ Chen (2)
Trophies by flag: Taiwan (25), Hong Kong (9), Japan (4), Singapore (3), South Korea (3), United States (2), Australia (1), China (1), France (1), Sweden (1)
Record Breaking WPT Prime Taiwan Championship Event
WPT has been dominating the Asia Pacific tournament scene all around with record after record smashed back and forth between its Taiwan and Australia stops. This year, the global brand’s showing across the Republic of China tops the list, surpassing not only the regional numbers but also the attendance record for the largest Prime Championship Event outside of the World Championships in Las Vegas. In part of the celebration, WPT announced next season’s dates just as registration closed, and confirmed its return on August 6-19, 2025 at the same location.
Singapore’s Jereld Sam clinched the victory after the three day battle across the felt, and locked in a career best cash of TWD 8,065,000 (~USD 250,700). Sam made an amazing comeback, having recovered from a 1:9 deficit and go on to secure the coveted title. A truly impressive performance, Sam stands to be the festival’s biggest earner with a 27th place finish at the 8 Max Championship padding his total cashes to TWD 8,111,000 (~USD 253,570). Along with his winnings, the Singaporean also takes with him a $10,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas this coming December.
Dates: August 15-19, 2024
Buy in: TWD 35,000 (~USD 1,080)
Guarantee: TWD 32,276,500 (~USD 1,000,000)
Prize pool: TWD 51,054,436 (~USD 1,611,293)
Entries: 1,666
ITM: 208 places
Day 1A: 421 entries / 53 qualified
Day 1B: 535 entries / 67 qualified
Day 1C: 710 entries / 88 qualified
Day 2: 206 players / 13 qualified
WPT Prime Taiwan Championship Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Flag | Prize (TWD) | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | JERELD SAM | Singapore | 8,065,000* | $250,700* |
| 2 | KOSEI OGURI | Japan | 5,390,000 | $167,540 |
| 3 | KA SHUN TSANG | Hong Kong | 3,995,000 | $124,180 |
| 4 | JUN LI | United States | 2,990,000 | $92,940 |
| 5 | YUYA ARITO | Japan | 2,260,000 | $70,250 |
| 6 | JUNYA YAMAGUCHI | Japan | 1,720,000 | $53,460 |
| 7 | TOMOYUKI YOSHIMIYA | Japan | 1,325,000 | $41,180 |
| 8 | CHENG WEICHUN | Taiwan | 1,029,500 | $32,002 |
| 9 | PAUL HONG | New Zealand | 810,000 | $25,180 |
*The winner also receives the $10,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas on top of his cash prize.
Player of the Festival Champion
Head of Hong Kong Poker Players’ Association, Park Yu ‘Sparrow’ Cheung landed another outstanding finish over this season’s games, and earned a total of 858.79 points to claim his second WPT Prime Taiwan Player of the Festival title in a row. Cheung consistently sat atop the leaderboard and kept his lead all throughout with a total of seven series cashes to show for. Cheung finished 12th in the final High Roller highlight, just enough to keep him above Taiwan’s Chi Jen ‘Justin’ Chu’s 742.34 point run. Cheung’s TWD 2,215,700 (~USD 69,260) total festival winnings leaves him well in the green, pocketing along with it a USD 5,000 WPT Passport for his efforts.
Cheung’s cashes across seven events:
- 109th place – WPT Prime Taiwan 2024 Championship Event
- 1st place – Event #6: Single Day Mini High Roller
- 2nd place – Event #14: Deepstack Turbo 10K Big Bounty
- 1st place – Event #16: Hyper Turbo High Roller
- 4th place – Event #18: High Roller
- 5th place – Event #27: Megastack Single Day HR
- 12th place – Event #44: WPT Prime Taiwan High Roller
Multi-Series Wins
Three players out of the 8,244 collective festival entries sought out multiple event wins across the 50 tournament line up and saw each successfully bank two trophy victories. PoF winner Park Yu ‘Sparrow’ Cheung had several deep runs over the High Roller offerings, yet only topped the charts across two events. Joining him in the winner’s circle are local runners Taowei Chang, and WPT Global ambassador Yen Han ‘Pete’ Chen, with two series wins as well.
Park Yu ‘Sparrow’ Cheung
Event #6: Single Day Mini High Roller – TWD 619,900
Event #16: Hyper Turbo High Roller – TWD 480,200
Taowei Chang
Event #21: Turbo 30K Survivor Bounty – TWD 190,300
Event #34: Hyper Turbo 40K Survivor Bounty – TWD 259,000
Yen Han ‘Pete’ Chen
Event #11: Single Day High Roller – TWD 641,600
Event #25: Deepstack Hyper Turbo – TWD 174,700
Most Final Tables
Four other players – Jimin Won, Jun Li, Kwok Kit Chiu, and Mingchen Zhang, recorded three final table finishes but only one, Hong Kong’s Manhang Tse reached the four count mark. Tse bagged a good start to his WPT Prime Taiwan 2024 run with a fifth place finish at the Championship Warm Up right off the bat. The close win over the 618-entry field earned Tse his largest series cash at TWD 245,400 (~USD 7,670). By two week’s end, Tse nearly doubled his total to a smashing TWD 435,400 (~USD 13,610) following three more final table appearances.
Manhang Tse (4)
5th place – Event #2: Championship Warm Up
4th place – Event #20: Turbo 20 Sec
9th place – Event #38: Deepstack 8 Max Turbo
2nd place – Event #41: Turbo Big Bounty Freezeout
Trophies by Flag
Held in Taipei, Taiwan, the WPT Prime festivities saw exactly half of its fifty event lineup ship the win to local runners, with 25 tournaments seeing the Taiwanese pride raised high. Hong Kong’s representatives likewise booked a good run, with a nine trophy count to end the series. Listed below are all of Taiwan’s winners across the 2024 season:
| Event | Champion | Prize (NTD) |
| Event 1: THE OPENER | Tung Lung Chan | 190,000 |
| Event 2: CHAMPIONSHIP WARM UP | Che Chun Chu | 975,000 |
| Event 5: HYPER TURBO | Yung Tai Lin | 42,100 |
| Event 8: MEGASTACK TURBO | Dun Chen | 183,700 |
| Event 9: DEEPSTACK TURBO | Yu Chung Chang | 209,500 |
| Event 10: MYSTERY BOUNTY | Chia Wei Kuo | 940,000 |
| Event 11: SINGLE DAY HIGH ROLLER | Yen Han Chen | 641,600 |
| Event 12: MINI DEEPSTACK TURBO | Chin Te Lai | 121,200 |
| Event 13: PLO 15/15/15 | Wu Hung Hsiang | 128,900 |
| Event 15: MINI SUPERSTACK CLASSIC FREEZEOUT | Chia Jung Liu | 211,200 |
| Event 17: DEEPSTACK | Yi Min Chang | 420,700 |
| Event 18: HIGH ROLLER | Lee Kuang Hung | 992,300 |
| Event 19: PLO | Yiching Jeng | 224,100 |
| Event 21: TURBO 30K SURVIVOR BOUNTY | Taowei Chang | 190,300 |
| Event 22: 8 MAX CHAMPIONSHIP | Kuo Chang | 1,323,400 |
| Event 24: TURBO | Mu Ze Li | 132,500 |
| Event 25: DEEPSTACK HYPER TURBO | Yen Han Chen | 174,700 |
| Event 28: LADIES | Stephanie Chang | 167,900 |
| Event 33: SENIORS 50+ | Chi Jen Chen | 57,000 |
| Event 34: HYPER TURBO 40K SURVIVOR BOUNTY | Taowei Chang | 259,000 |
| Event 37: HIGH ROLLER | Daniel Yang | 1,317,100 |
| Event 42: HYPER TURBO HIGH ROLLER | Weibo Ye | 808,000 |
| Event 44: WPT PRIME TAIWAN HIGH ROLLER | Chijen Chu | 3,219,400 |
| Event 48: TURBO CHAMPIONSHIP | Chia Hao Chang | 811,000 |
| Event 49: 10/10/10/10 FINALE | Xing Jie Chew | 257,600 |
