The Prime circuit of the World Poker Tour has already passed through Europe, Asia and Oceania in 2023. During the month of August they’ll return to Asia with WPT Prime Taiwan, where the Main Event will have a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000,000 for the first time.
📢 BIG ANNOUNCEMENT 📢
We head back to Taipei in August for #WPTPrimeTaiwan featuring our first ever $1 MILLION GTD Main Event with a TWD 33,000 (~$1,100) buy-in! 🇹🇼🏆
🎉Festival: Aug 8 – Aug 21
🏆Main Event: Aug 17 – Aug 21More Info & Full Schedule: https://t.co/4xevRBalOk pic.twitter.com/tfXRrRKrrq
— World Poker Tour (@WPT) June 22, 2023
The WPT Prime Taiwan Festival
The festival will kick off on August 8 at the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP) and will run through August 21. It will consist of 46 events with buy-ins starting at TWD 6,000 up to the TWD 300,000 High Stakes Challenge. The WPT Prime Main Event will take place from August 17 to 21. It will cost TWD 33,000 ($1,100) to buy-in and have a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000,000.
In addition, a large number of satellites will be played for the most important events. There will also be a freeroll satellite with free entry on August 8th with 10 tickets available to the Warm Up event satellite. So even if your bankroll isn’t too flush, you can still win your way into a seat at the table.
These will be the most high-profile events of the festival:
| # | Event | Day | Buy-In | Guaranteed |
| 1 | Warm-Up | August 8-12 | TWD 10,000 | TWD 3,000,000 |
| 4 | Mini High Roller | August 8-9 | TWD 66,000 | |
| 6 | Single Day High Roller | August 10 | TWD 50,000 | |
| 8 | Mystery Bounty | August 11-13 | TWD 16,500 | TWD 5,000,000 |
| 15 | Mini High Roller | August 13-14 | TWD 66,000 | |
| 19 | 8-Max Championship | August 14-15 | TWD 22,000 | TWD 2,000,000 |
| 23 | Single Day HR Megastack | August 15 | TWD 100,000 | |
| 27 | CTP High Stakes Challenge | August 16 | TWD 300,000 | |
| 31 | WPT Prime Taiwan ME | August 17-21 | TWD 33,000 | $1,000,000 |
| 32 | Super High Roller | August 17 | TWD 200,000 | |
| 36 | Turbo High Roller | August 18 | TWD 66,000 | |
| 39 | Hyper Turbo High Roller | August 19 | TWD 75,000 | |
| 40 | Mini Main Event | August 20-21 | TWD 10,000 | |
| 41 | High Roller | August 20-21 | TWD 100,000 |
You can download the Player’s Guide with the full schedule and structures of all tournaments at this link.
The WPT Prime Taiwan Main Event
The marquee tournament of the WPT Prime Taiwan festival will begin on August 17 and will have three starting days, according to the schedule below:
- Day 1A: August 17 at 11:30 AM (Play till field is in the money)
- Day 1B: August 18 at 11:30 AM (Play till field is in the money)
- Day 1C: August 19 at 11:30 AM (Play till field is in the money)
- Day 2: August 20 at 11:30 AM (Play till the Final Table of nine players has been reached)
- Day 3: August 21 at 11:30 AM (Final Table)
The tournament structure will be as follows:
- Buy-In: TWD 33,000
- Re-entry: Unlimited re-entry is allowed until the start of Level 7, when registration ends.
- Guaranteed prize pool: $1,000,000
- Starting stack: 30,000
- Blind Levels: 40 minutes on Day 1 and 60 minutes on Days 2 and 3.
- Ante Format: Big Blind Ante.
- Late Registration: Registration closes at the start of Level 7.
- Action Clock: Will be put in place at the start of Day 2 and will be used until the completion of the tournament.
- Player per Table: Play will start with 9-handed tables where space available and will move to 8-handed as soon as possible when in the money.
- Payouts: 12.5% of field
- Requirement for players: In order to play in the event, each player must sign the WPT Player Release Form and be a Crown Poker Club member.
The Venue
The Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association (CTP) was created in 2015 and has nine branches in Taiwan. The largest of all is the one located in the capital of Taipei and the venue can accommodate up to 250 players at the same time. The WPT Prime Taiwan festival will be played there and its location is ideal for getting to know the city center.
As in Brazil, gambling and casinos are illegal in Taiwan. But poker lovers have the possibility to play in legal clubs where tournaments are held exclusively. The only requirement to participate is that you be a member of the club.
The City of Taipei, Taiwan
Taipei is the capital of the Republic of China. It is the political, economic and cultural center of the country. The city has an elevated subway and is connected by high-speed rail to Kaohsiung. It straddles the Tamsui River and is 25 kilometers southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean.
What can you see in Taipei? The most visited attractions are:
- Taipei 101, the eleventh tallest building in the world 🗼
- National Palace Museum 🖼️
- Shilin Night Market 🌃
- Longshan Temple 🙏
- The Grand Hotel 🏨
- Tamsui river 💧
The World Poker Tour in Taiwan
The World Poker Tour visited Taiwan for the first time at the Taipai CTP during December 2020 with its WPTDeepStacks circuit. The tournament featured 526 NT$15,000 buy-ins and the prize pool was NT$6,768,000 ($236,921). The winner was Huang Pu 🇹🇼, who collected a prize of NT$1,317,800 ($46,131).
The first WPT Prime Taiwan was played in Taipei in November last year and had 877 entries worth NT$33,000. The prize pool was NT$25,196,600 ($809,133), more than doubling the guaranteed prize pool of NT$10,000,000. The champion was Marc Inizan 🇫🇷, who won a grand prize of NT$4,326,600 ($138,939).
Marc Inizan / Photo: Tomas Stacha
If Taiwan 🇹🇼 is on your list of places to visit and you also want to play a tournament that will distribute a million dollars in prizes, you should head on over to WPT Prime Taiwan.
