Today all eyes will be on Taipei as hundreds of poker players gather in the Taiwanese capital to attend the most prestigious event of the World Poker Tour or WPT Taiwan Main Event. Following an exciting week of pre-game warm-up rounds and other exciting games, the main event has finally arrived. Thousands will be expected to watch this even as the top players from across the region and beyond will enter the tables.
Even before factoring all the players, this event offers an impressive USD 1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. This marks the brand’s largest prize pool in Taiwan. That is not even factoring in the player’s buy-in fees. So brace yourself as the action will unfold from August 17th to 21st, 2023.
WPT Taiwan Main Event Information
The WPT Taiwan Main Event will happen in the newly inaugurated Asia Poker Arena. The WPT Prime series only started last year, but its popularity has caused it to grow from just 5 stops to over a dozen, and Taiwan marks the 10th destination this year and will be the last one in Asia.
Aside from providing the winner with a huge cash prize, this event will also give them a chance to attend the WPT World Championship. This is done with a ticket worth USD 10,400 and covers both the lodgings and airplane costs.
The first three days of the event will serve as the qualifier rounds where all the players will be competing against each other in 3 groups. Day 1A started earlier today at 11:30 am. The excitement will continue in the two succeeding days of the WPT Taiwan Main Event.
By August 20, the WPT Taiwan Main Event will move on to the semi-finals. There will be no new entries here and instead, all the players who remain from the previous three days will fight each other for a spot in the final table. Day 2 is usually the point where the bubble kicks in, meaning all eliminated players are given a piece of the prize pool.
It doesn’t matter how many enter the bubble as only 9 will advance to the final table on day 3 on August 21. From here, these remaining players will compete until only one poker star remains and that player will be crowned the WPT Taiwan Main Event Champion.
To make this event feel extra special, the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association, or CTP has provided some special bonuses that give the players more incentive to give their all into this game. For the Day 1A of the WPT Taiwan Main Event, the first 150 poker players will receive a voucher worth TWD 3,000. These vouchers can be used in other side events to give you an advantage over your opponents.
The other big promotion is the Card NLH Flipout Freeroll. This is a tournament that gives players the chance to win one of three TWD 5,000 vouchers. These vouchers can be used on the next day of the tournament.
There are currently no accurate estimates of how many players will attend this event, but there are high hopes based on the attendance of previous events. The WPT Taipen Main Event Warm Up had over 635 entries into its event and that was just the first event. As more players arrive, there are hopes that this event will break records in terms of attendance.
Events like these have made Taipei a regional poker hub for both local and international events. Just a few weeks ago another major poker event with the Taiwan Millions had their main event.
If you are curious to see what happened there, you can read our Taiwan Millions Main Event Update post.