If you’re a viewer of the super high roller tournament circuit, you’ll probably be used to seeing the same names and faces duelling it out across the felt on a regular basis.
The range of events with buy-ins large enough to attract these high-flying apex predators is growing, but still limited. As a result, it’s not just the players who crop up again and again, but also the settings. It feels like Las Vegas, Jeju and the larger EPT stops form the backdrop of most super high roller events these days.
What would it take for a new destination to get in on the action? What would drive the high rollers to choose one spot over another?
For 3-time WSOP bracelet winner Dylan Linde (above), the answer is twofold: prizes worth traveling the world for, and the potential for fun.
And if you can get that second part right, the first will take care of itself. At least, that’s what seems to be happening at the Asian Poker Tour Championship this week.
Seidel, Addamo, Mullur and more join the fray
“I've been doing this for a long time, so I want to go places where I’ll have fun,” shares Linde during a break in play on Day 1 of the TWD 777K (~$25K) Super High Roller at the APT Championship in Taipei.
“If I'm going to travel far, I want there to be big buy-ins so that it's worth it to make the trip. But also a place that I'll enjoy, going to a place that's unique: like, I'd much rather come to Taiwan than go to Rozvadov.”
It doesn’t feel like a minority view. The corresponding €25K event at WSOP Europe, in Rozvadov, Czechia last month, drew a total of 38 entries — three of which came from the tourney’s eventual winner, Shaun Deeb. Just a few levels into the SHR here in Taipei, 30 entries have already been recorded, and that’s without the promise of any WSOP bracelets to sweeten the deal.
And this is no field of rich locals, but one featuring various stars of the international high roller scene. Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel, Australia’s Michael Addamo, Czech star Roman Hrabec, inaugural WSOP Paradise champion Stanislav Zegal and Austrian high roller phenom Samuel Mullur are just some of those joining Linde to compete for a prizepool of at least TWD 22 million (~$700K).
Does this influx of high rollers underline Taipei’s growing appeal for poker’s elite? It would seem that way: Of the six mentioned above, only Mullur and Hrabec have previously recorded tournament cashes in Taiwan — and both came last week during this series.
“This is my first time in Taiwan,” says Linde. “I’d never been before, that’s part of the reason for coming. Taipei is amazing — I expected it to be much busier, kind of like Tokyo or Seoul, but it seems to have all the positives of those places while being less crowded, I'm really enjoying it.
“The poker has been great so far. Yesterday was my first day playing, but the fields are massive. They do a great job running everything here, it's been really cool.”
Taiwan yes, Paradise no
Come what may in the SHR, Linde will be staying on to make the most of the APT Championship while he’s here.
“I will play the Main Event, and I think there's a $15K [the TWD 466K High Roller Championship] and a $50K [the TWD 1.5M Superstar Championship], and then maybe some of the side events too.”
For someone who values fun, the side events on offer in Taipei are well worth checking out. There’s PLO double-board bomb pots, as well as ‘Cry Me a River’ — triple board fixed limit Omaha hi-lo, where the lowest river card kills its entire board. And that’s just today; the upcoming weekend’s activities include Big O, 7-game triple draw mix, and ‘Octo Razz’.
With buy-ins for these side events set at a level to encourage the curious (is there such thing as an ‘Octo Razz pro’?), Linde is unlikely to participate. After all, it’s not just the promise of fun that brings him here — it’s also the big buy-ins.
“Unfortunately, the 9-game Championship today is coinciding with the SHR,” he says, “so it's difficult for me to play it. I don't think there's any big Omaha events on the schedule if I remember correctly; if there are, I'll definitely play them.”
Beyond the next week, Linde knows what his plans will involve for the rest of 2025, and he’s sure that WSOP Paradise will not be in them.
“This time I'm skipping Paradise,” says Linde. “For the last two years in a row, I said I'm not going and they got me, but this year I’m staying home in Vegas. Just playing from my house is really nice, so you can expect to see me at the WPT World Championship.”
So here’s a useful tip if you’re playing the PokerOrg Pick 3 in Paradise game: don’t select Linde.
He won’t be playing at WSOP Paradise next month, but you could be — as well as the Pick 3, you’ve got until midnight tonight to enter this contest!
Images courtesy of Asian Poker Tour/Enzo Arceo/PokerGO.
