As the Asian Poker Tour has continued to grow over the past few years — since a change in ownership ushered in the ‘New Era’ in 2023 — one question has continued to force its way into the conversations around this unmissable live poker tour: just how big can it get?
It’s still going strong in its 20th year, but the relaunch of several years ago brought with it new events, deeper schedules, bigger prizepools and massive fields. Such has been the rapid rate of growth, the setting of new records at each new stop has become almost an expectation.
But with times of plenty, comes plenty of competition. Poker in Asia is booming, and it’s not just those at the APT who have noticed. More and more tours, events and eyecatching tournaments are being scheduled across the continent.
So as more brands compete for players’ đồng, won, pesos and more, can the APT keep raising the bar at its current stop in Jeju?
The answer came this weekend with the final of the tour’s mega lion events, the APT High Roller, and another record broken.
The richest APT High Roller ever
As we reported a couple of months ago, the APT’s stop in Incheon, Korea was another success, setting new heights for the biggest live tournament field in mainland Korea.
Now, with 295 entries and a prizepool of some $958,000, the APT Jeju High Roller has become the richest edition of this tournament ever held on the APT, period.
As an APT High Roller prize, the $190K up top is only behind the 2024 edition of the Jeju event, won by Eric Tsai for $196K in this very room at the LES A Casino.
Watch the final table action below.
It’s the third event of the series to set a new record, following the Superstar Challenge earlier in the week.
That broke the APT record for richest ever edition of that event as well as the largest field, with 51 entries creating a prizepool of around $1.25 million.
The other new high watermark came in the $2.2K 9-Game High Roller, which set new APT country records for entries (119), unique players (84) and largest prizepool (~$595K).
It’s true: APT players sure love their mixed games.
We’re not done here
The 295 entries in the APT High Roller are now down to the final few, competing for the last of the prestigious mega lion trophies. The Super High Roller awards the pewter lion, the Main Event the gold, and the High Roller the rose gold.
But while the Big 3 may be all but done, the games in Jeju are far from over. Two days remain in this jam-packed tournament series and, as you’d expect, the tournament organizers have managed to cram in plenty to do before the curtain falls.
Monday October 5 will feature three starting flights for the $550 Micro Main Event, which will play to a finish on Tuesday. A $3K high roller ultra stack will also begin on Monday and end the following day.
Altogether there are still more than two dozen tournaments to play between now and Wednesday evening, when the series will bow out with a feast of turbo events ensuring everyone gets their money’s worth.
And after that? All eyes will turn to Taipei in November, when the APT’s season-ending Championship series returns from November 13-29.
The Main Event there will be a $10K freezeout with $5M guaranteed, but there will also be over 200 other tournaments taking place — and plenty of opportunities to break some more records.
Note that dollar amounts have been converted from Korean won, are approximate and correct at time of writing.
Additional images courtesy of the APT.
