The dust may have settled but the awe lingers. On July 27 to 31, the most popular homegrown tournament in Taiwan, the Taiwan Millions Tournament (TMT) Main Event, shocked players and organizers across Asia. The headliner drew a massive 3,485 entries, setting a new record for this event.
For those in attendance, it was more than special as the prize pool surged to NTD 22,987,100 (~USD 733,700). In the aftermath, Taiwan’s well known local pro, Chia Yun Wu conquered to turn his NTD 8,000 (~USD 265) buy in into a jaw-dropping career high NTD 3,600,000 (~USD 114,900).
Chia Yun Wu
In a brief interview with the champion, Chia shared, “I am very very happy! This was the biggest tournament we’ve ever had with so many entries. I enjoy playing here, it is very competitive. The level of play is one of the strongest in Asia and the environment is really good.”
Chia entered the final table running third in chips and dropped to near bottom before he clawed his way back up the ranks. He shared,
“I didn’t have a specific strategy coming into the final table I was just looking at the individual gameplay, their style, how the chips moved around, and made adjustments based on those. At the start of the final table, I remember I was card dead for a very long time and then I got pocket Eights on the button. I chose not to go all in, instead just three-bet. I chose to play slow that when I faced a shove on the river, I had to make a really tough laydown.
Chia added a new feather to his cap. Not only was he a multiple TMT Player of the Series champion, he was also a Team Leader, and now the TMT Main Event champion of a record field.
You can read up on Chia’s incredible run via the Final Day Live Updates or you can watch the blow by blow action via the recorded livestream on the CTP Twitch channel.
David Tai – CTP Founder – File photo
The 14th edition of the Taiwan Millions Tournament was sponsored by online platform Natural8. The Main Event was the book-ender of a festival that kicked off on July 14 at the newly erected Asia Poker Arena (APA). CTP founder and APA owner David Tai shared,
“The number of players in this tournament has indeed exceeded our expectations, with many players from overseas, including teams from Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea in attendance. Additionally, our 2-3 years of promotional work in universities, hosting live and online satellites before the tournament, even games overseas, such as the TMT Main Event Day 1 heats in Singapore and in Hong Kong, as well as in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, all contributed to boosting the numbers.
We would like to express our special thanks to the title sponsor, Natural8, for their support. Prior to the tournament, we had already generated 280 qualifiers via the online platform.”
Main Event results
Buy in: NTD 8,000 (~USD 256)
Guarantee: NTD 10,000,000 (~USD 319,760)
Entries: 3,485
Prize pool: NTD 22,987,100 (~USD 733,700)
ITM: 408 players
Rank
Player
Payouts in NTD
1
Chia Yun Wu
3,600,000
2
Wei Kai Su
2,530,000
3
Beng Cheng Lin
1,664,000
4
Bing Yi Chen
1,220,000
5
Kai Hung Hu
904,000
6
Ming Zheng Cai
722,000
7
Fate Wang
565,000
8
Teng Wei Lien
461,500
9
Yih Chia Shaw
359,500
Full payouts can be found in the Festival Results.
Day 1 results
Day 1A: 639 entries / 77 ITM survivors
Day 1B: 648 entries / 78 ITM survivors
Day 1C: 670 entries / 81 ITM survivors
Day 1D: 903 entries / 108 ITM survivors
Day 1E: 533 entries / 64 ITM survivors
Tags:
Live Poker, News, tmt14
