The 20th anniversary season of the Asian Poker Tour is building towards a finale in Taiwan, with the second annual APT Championship series running in the city of Taipei from November 13-29.
But fans of the APT’s unique recipe of record-breaking tournaments, packed schedules and unmatched mixed games can now look even further ahead with news that the first stops on the tour’s 2027 season have been confirmed.
What’s more, a new APT Online Series is running from this weekend at Natural8, giving players the chance to win big guaranteed prizes, APT Championship seats and even three ‘mega lion’ trophies for which the series has become so famous.
First, here’s what you need to know about the upcoming online series.
$40 million guaranteed online from October 11
Running October 11 to November 2 at Natural8, the APT Online Series schedule features 20 trophy events, each starting around 12-1pm UTC.
Buy-ins range from $80 to $5,000, while tournaments targeting specific countries will offer buy-ins in local currencies.
Here are those 20 trophy events:
- October 11: Event #1, Bounty Kickoff ($108)
- October 11: Event #2, Superstar Challenge — 2-day event ($5,000)
- October 13: Event #3, Thailand National Cup — 6-Max (THB 2,000, ~$60)
- October 15: Event #4, Single Day High Roller — Bounty Freezeout ($525)
- October 17: Event #5, Taiwan National Cup — Bounty (NT $3,500, ~$109)
- October 18: Event #6, Turbo — Ultra Stack ($100)
- October 18: Event #7, APT Online High Roller — 2-day event ($1,050)
- October 18: Event #8, Mystery Bounty Hunter — Day 2 ($250)
- October 20: Event #9, Vietnam National Cup (VND 2.5M, ~$100)
- October 22: Event #10, Single Day High Roller — Double Stack ($525)
- October 24: Event #11, Korea National Cup — Bounty 7-Max (KRW 200K, ~$150)
- October 25: Event #12, Sunday Super Stack — 2-day event ($250)
- October 25: Event #13, Bounty Hunters High Roller — 2-day event ($1,050)
- October 25: Event #14, Mini Main Event — Day 2 ($80)
- October 27: Event #15, Philippines National Cup — Deepstack Bounty (PHP 3.500, ~$55)
- October 29: Event #16, Masters Omaha — PLO Bounty ($525)
- October 31: Event #17, China Zodiac Classic (CNY 1,100, ~$165)
- November 1: Event #18, Turbo — Bounty Closer ($125)
- November 1: Event #19, APT Online Super High Roller — 2-day event ($3,000)
- November 1: Event #20, APT Online Main Event — Day 2 ($800)
The headline tourney is the $800 Main Event, which will have a $5M guaranteed prizepool, but every other event will also feature a tournament guarantee.
The biggest of these will be found in the Mystery Bounty Hunter ($2M), the Mini Main Event ($1M), the APT Online Super High Roller ($1M) and the Superstar Challenge ($750K).
Events listed above as ‘Day 2’ will feature multiple starting flights, details tba. Also still to be unveiled are the specific prizes and structure of the series leaderboard, though it has been confirmed that a further $100K in prizes will be available to the series’ top performers.
Winners of the APT Online High Roller, APT Online Super High Roller and APT Online Main Event will also receive prestigious mega lion trophies.
APT Championship seats up for grabs - including via a freeroll
The $10K Main Event at the upcoming APT Championship will run from November 23-27 with a $5M GTD prizepool, and will run as a freezeout, leading it to become known as ‘Asia’s Main Event’.
And there are multiple ways to win your seat during the APT Online Series.
Every winner of the 20 trophy events will receive a $10K seat, with all participants in each of those events entered into a $100K freeroll scheduled for November 7.
Players will receive 1,000 chips for every trophy event they play, for a maximum stack of 20,000 to take into the freeroll. This tournament will award a $10K APT Championship Main Event seat to its winner, plus APTC satellite tickets to the runners-up.
Jeju and Taipei confirmed for 2027
Back in the live arena, four series have been revealed so far for the APT’s 2027 live season. These are:
- APT Jeju Classic, January 22-31
- APT Taipei, April 21 to May 3
- APT Jeju, October 1-10
- APT Championship 2027, November 12-28
More events will be announced. Each Jeju event will take place at the LES A Casino in Jeju Shinhwa World, with the Taipei and Championship stops returning to Red Space.
The first stop on the 2027 calendar, APT Jeju Classic, will feature a KRW 2.2M Main Event (~$1,600) with a KRW 2.2B guarantee (~1.6M).
Visit the APT website for more details on the 2027 live season, while further information on the APT Online Series can be found at Natural8.
Images courtesy of the APT.