The 11-day APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 is running full steam at the Asia Poker Arena and the Chinese Mahjong League in Taipei. With a staggering TWD 150 Million (~$4.60 Million) in total prize pool guarantees across an impressive 108 trophy events, this series is turning out to be another scorcher after the record-breaking last edition that paid out a whopping TWD 383.49M (~$12.19M) in prize money. The ongoing festival is now in full swing and has already crowned over 24 champions. Here is a quick recap of some key events where Indian players made their mark.
Japan’s Keigo Kuybo Tops Counts In Flight A of the APT Taipei Main Event
The biggest highlight of the ongoing APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 is the TWD 50,000 (~$ 1,570) Main Event which boasts a TWD 65 million ($2 million) guarantee . The event kicked off with a bang, with the opening flight drawing an impressive 462 entries. Following the ten 60-minute levels, 157 players advanced for Day 2 with Japan’s Keigo Kubo (420,600) bagging the most massive stack of the day. Hong Kong’s Nicholas Go (398,600), and Japan’s Yuya Arito (335,400) rounded out the top three stacks of the day.
Top 10 Chip Stacks After Day 1A:
1. Keigo Kubo (Japan) – 420,600
2. Nicholas Go (Hong Kong) – 398,600
3. Yuya Arito (Japan) – 335,400
4. Ee How Ong (Malaysia) – 313,200
5. Robert Nemeskeri-Kiss (USA) – 299,900
6. Wongyu Kang (South Korea) – 288,500
7. Sang Woo Chun (South Korea) – 284,600
8. Ka Chun Tsui (Hong Kong) – 274,300
9. Chi-Ying Lin (Taiwan) – 269,300
10. Cheng Yen Lo (Taiwan) – 244,800
Plenty of notables made it to Day 2, including Germany’s Martin Sedlak (229,300), USA’s Peter Kiem (199,800), the Netherland’s Thijs Hilberts (95,600), Yohwan “BoxeR” Lim (76,900), the Philippines’ John Tech (36,000), and former Main Event champion Dicky Tsang (32,700) to name but a few.
Many Indians were seen in the opening flight, with bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer (182,300), Karan Gupta (121,800), Rishi Mehra (115,200), WPT Vietnam Main Event champion Dhaval Mudgal (103,600), and Sriharsha Doddapaneni (37,600) making it to Day 2 of the ongoing main event.
Indian Contingent Makes Waves With Neil Pednekar & Dhaval Mudgal Making Early Splash
Indian players continue to shine on the Asian felts and the APT Taipei Poker Class is no exception. Following their impressive performances at APPT Manila, the Won Poker Cup, WPT Cambodia, Poker Dream 11 Malaysia, and the recent USOP Hai Phong, Team India has racked up over a dozen of cashes in the ongoing series so far.
Eight of the Indian cashes came from the Natural8 India APT Taipei – India Exclusive Tournament, a unique live and online hybrid event, where Neil Pednekar took home his first-ever live poker title after defeating 264 participants and a tough final table. Pednekar banked INR 2.81 Lakhs, an APT trophy, and a free entry to the APT Taipei Main Event worth INR 1.30 Lakhs.
Rising star Saransh Garg also made his mark, earning INR 2.12 Lakhs for his runner-up finish and a free seat to the Main Event.
In the final hand, Garg shoved his stack with Qc 3s and Pednekar called with Ac Kc. The board ran out Kh 7d 8d 7c X, sealing the victory for Neil Pednekar.
Natural8 India Exclusive APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 Final Table (INR)
1-Neil Pednekar – 2,81,132
2-Saransh Garg – 2,12,313
3-Yash Khandelwal – 1,60,340
4-Samay Singh Modi – 1,21,090
5-Shriram Pareek – 91,448
6-Tanmay Benara – 69,062
7-Peter Fanthome – 52,156
8-Nitish Mehndiratta – 39,389
Philippines’ Lester Edoc Wins Single Day High Roller, Dhaval Mudgal Finishes Runner-up
Meanwhile, Indian live poker veteran and former Pocket52 Team Pro Dhaval Mudgal also got off to a fantastic start to the festival. He came close to winning his third live title of the year, finishing runner-up to Philippines’ poker ace Lester Edoc in Event #3: Single Day High Roller – Freezeout and banking a massive TWD 761,000 (INR 20.17 Lakhs) – his best live score of 2024 and his second-best at the APT.
The eventual champion Edoc walked away with the largest share of the prize pool after beating a star-studded field of 87 entries. He collected a massive TWD 1,085,240 ($34,375) for his 18th APT title.
Siddharth Karia, a PokerStars India ambassador, who also made his mark at the recent USOP Hai Phong, was the another Indian to cash in Event #3. He finished 13th for TWD 85,000 (INR 2.25 Lakhs).
Single Day High Roller Freezeout Final Table Payouts
1-Lester Edoc (Philippines) – TWD 1,085,240
2-Dhaval Mudgal (India) TWD 761,000
3-Kevin Tse (Hong Kong) – TWD 502,000
4-Joseph Ng (TBD) – TWD 395,000
5-Edward Yam (Hong Kong) – TWD 318,000
6-Charles Waymel (France) 248,000 7,856
7-Yasuhiro Waki (Japan) – TWD 196,000
8-Winson Ho (TBD) – TWD 153,000
9-Adalsteinn Karlsson (Iceland) – TWD 116,000
Taiwan’s Kaihung Hu Wins Second Biggest National Cup in APT History
Another event conclude recently was Event #1: APT National Cup TWD 10,000,000 GTD, which crowned a winner in Taiwan’s Kaihung Hu, who triumphed over the second-largest National Cup field in the tour’s history, besting a field of 1,680 entries (1,047 unique) to claim the TWD 2,519,920 ($79,820) top prize – the second largest score of his career. He eventually defeated Hong Kong’s Yi Ching Wan, who walked away with a career-best score of TWD 1,409,000 (~$ 44,630).
The tournament paid out the top 235 players from the TWD 14,353,920 (~USD 454,375) prize pool. Several big names made the money, including Hong Kong’s Ka Ho Sun (19th for TWD 95,000), start-of-day chip leader Yu Cheng Lee (24th for TWD 66,000), Flight B chip leader Sheng Hung Lo (38th for TWD 49,000), Flight A chip leader Brendan Mcmanus (39th for TWD 49,000), Portugal’s Allen Chan (62nd for TWD 32,000), Taiwan’s Carlos Chang (136th for TWD 20,000), and former APT Main Event champion Shixiang Khoo (202nd for TWD 17,000).
From India, Natural8 India Executive Director and Ambassador Kunal Patni and Amanpreet Singh cashed this event, finishing 51st and 52nd respectively for TWD 40,000 (INR 1.06 Lakhs).
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