Asia's biggest festival opens in Taipei: 210 events, TWD 256 million guaranteed

The Asian Poker Tour's flagship festival opens in Taipei on Friday 13 November and runs to 29 November, and on the tour's own numbers it is the largest event the city has staged: 210 tournaments made up of 184 trophy events and 26 satellites, with total prize-pool guarantees stated at TWD 256 million.

Twenty-three of those are Championship events, and the shape of the schedule is worth reading before you book. The TWD 16,000 National Cup Championship opens on 13 November with a TWD 20,000,000 guarantee, and the biggest guarantee in local currency belongs to the TWD 25,000 Ultra Stack Championship from 16 to 18 November at TWD 25,000,000 - the best guarantee-to-buy-in ratio on the board. The Natural8 Cup, 18 to 21 November, carries USD 1,000,000 for USD 3,300.

The Main Event is a USD 10,000 freezeout from 23 to 27 November with a USD 5,000,000 guarantee. The freezeout format is the detail that separates it from most Asian Main Events of this size: one entry per player, no re-entry, so a late bust is the end of the tournament rather than the start of a second bullet. The tour has not published the starting stack or the blind structure.

At the top end sit the USD 50,000 Superstar Championship on 22-23 November, the USD 25,000 Super High Roller from 20 to 22 November and a new PLO High Roller at TWD 165,000 on 18-19 November. At the other, the TWD 16,000 Micro Main Event and a one-day TWD 35,000 Turbo keep the cheapest Championship trophies within reach of a recreational field.

One caution on prices. The tour's earlier announcement of the 23 Championship events and its later full schedule disagree on several buy-ins - the 7-Max at TWD 80,000 or 85,000, the Freezeout at TWD 50,000 or 65,000, the Trip Saver at TWD 35,000 or 50,000 - and on the dates of the Women's Championship. We have published the figures from the later full schedule and the festival preview, which agree with each other, and flagged the differences on each event page. Confirm at the cage before you travel.

Taipei's wider position has not changed: Taiwan licenses no online poker and gambling remains an offence under Article 266 of the Criminal Code, while the clubs run tournaments as skill competitions and deal no cash games at all. A festival of this size sitting inside that framework is the clearest illustration available of how Taiwanese poker actually works.