Rene von Reden Wins APT Main Event Taking Taiwan's Richest-Ever Top Prize of TWD14.4M (~USD 454K)

APT TPC 2024 SCHEDULE| OFFICIAL RESULTS | IMAGES | WINNERS | PLAYER LISTS

TAIPEI, TAIWAN, October 5, 2024 – The largest and richest international poker tournament ever to play out in Taiwan has crowned a champion, with Germany's Rene von Reden seeing off challenges from a field of 1,991 entries (1,103 unique) to claim the lion's share of the TWD 86,011,200 (~USD 2,724,460) prize pool – the richest ever generated in the region.

Playing out at the tournament tables of the Chinese Texas Hold'em Poker Club (CTP) Asia Poker Arena, the Final Day of the TWD 50,000 APT Taipei Poker Classic 2024 Main Event saw the final nine players return to action, all looking to tame the award-winning gold lion APT Main Event trophy and lay claim to the TWD 14,413,200 (~USD 453,960) top prize — the largest ever awarded in Taiwan.

The 25-year-old Cologne native, who has only been playing live tournament poker for two years, came into the nine-handed final table as the second shortest stack and was up against multiple opponents boasting six-figure poker resumes, including start-of-day chip leader Dhanesh Chainani, two-time APT Main Event finalist Abraham Ceesvin, three-time APT titleist Jae Wook Shin, and former APT Main Event finalist and Superstar Challenge champion Chih Wei Fan.

However, von Reden has a love of strategy games and displayed a natural affinity for tournament poker that saw him make some fearless plays and leave his more experienced opponent's in awe of his abilities, as well as catching that all-important bit of luck at the right time.

The German’s journey towards the tournament summit begin after a key hand played out against Fan, which crushed the Taiwanese players dreams of a double series title win and started von Reden on the climb to his first major title win, and largest score of his playing career by a significant margin.

Von Reden then dealt with Chainani, who endured a torrid final table and dropped down the pecking order before committing the last of his chips with ace-eight and losing out to the ace-nine of the German, who turned a straight to send the Singaporean out in fifth for a career-best score.

A decisive hand against Macau's Man Lok Chan saw von Reden climb to second in the counts behind Shin, before Ceesvin took his turn as tournament top dog, railing both Chan and South Korea's Shin (both of whom cashed for career-best scores) to enter heads-up with close to a 2-to-1 chip lead.

The duo battled for close to 90-minutes over two levels, taking it in turns to take the lead before the final hand played out, with Ceesvin flopping top pair with king-six and von Reden turning a flush and setting a trap the Singaporean triggered on the river, moving all-in and finding an immediate call.

While Ceesvin will be disappointed to have been unable to turn his chip lead and final table domination into his first Main Event title, the Singaporean also collected a career best TWD 7,930,000 (~USD 249,760) for his runner-up finish and departed with a sporting hand shake, much to the dismay of his vocal rail.

An ecstatic von Reden celebrated with his watching girlfriend, whom he thanked for her support in his post-match interview, before posing for the obligatory winner's photo, and confiding that while his visit to Taipei was planned, he had no expectations of victory coming in to the tournament.

"I'd heard about the tour before, but never really had it in my mind, but I saw a video from a YouTuber called Frankie C [Frank Cucchiara] covering an APT series from earlier this year, and they were some interesting videos of interesting players, so I thought I wanted to check that out myself. So that was a big factor," von Reden stated when asked what made him choose to compete in the series.

"Poker is a complex game if you are playing against decent players you will lose if you are not knowing what to do. There's so much to learn. When I started I thought I would give myself three years time to learn and then I will see if the results come. Now I am at the end of year two!"

We look forward to seeing what von Reden has planned for year three, but for now he can enjoy the rest of his vacation and celebrate his historic title win. Congratulations Rene!

MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE RESULTS

For Main Event Results please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Final Table Player Profiles please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Breakdown by Country/Region please CLICK HERE with a graphic available HERE

You can read about all the Main Event Final Day action on the APT Blog, or alternatively you can catch highlights from the Final Day live streamed feature tables via the official APT You Tube channel.

All tournament information can be found on the APT Main Event Final Day tournament page.

Germany's Niko Koop Leads Day 1 of APT High Roller with TWD 5.2M (~USD 164K) Up Top

Germany’s Niko Koop is looking to claim back-to-back high roller titles

While the record-breaking Main Event action was playing out at the APA, there was some epic high stakes tournament poker underway at the tables of the Chinese Mahjong League as Day 1 of the TWD 110,000 APT High Roller – TWD 11,000,000 GTD got underway at 11:15am local time.

This saw a 275 entry (192 unique) field comprised of the Asia-Pacific's top players duke it out over sixteen 40-minute levels for a share of the TWD 26,136,000 (~USD 820,080) prize pool, with Germany's Niko Koop following up his victory in the Event #79: Baby Superstar Challenge by bagging the chip lead and a stack of 1,185,000.

Koop was joined at the top by Brazil's Sebastian Iargo (1,174,000), and Austria's Daniel Montagnolli (1,156,000), with Superstar Challenge finalist Stephen Song (990,000), Germany's Konstantin Held (786,000), and previous Taipei APT High Roller champion Stanley Weng (741,000) also bagging big.

Despite a brutal exit from the APT Main Event Final Table, Taiwan's Chih Wei Fan also concluded play with a top ten stack:

APT SUPER HIGH ROLLER DAY 1 TOP TEN STACKS

In addition to the top ten, a total of 61 players remain in contention for the coveted bronze lion APT High Roller trophy and the TWD 5,244,000 (~USD 164,850) top prize.

Notables returning for the Final Day include former APT Main Event champion Dicky Tsang (695,000), Australia's Dylan Foster (618,000), Natural8 Ambassador Punnat Punsri (596,000), former APT Main Event champion and bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer (594,000), and former Superstar Challenge champion Joseph Cheung (320,000) plus a host of other big names.

For APT High Roller Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE

For APT High Roller Day 2 Draw please CLICK HERE

You can read about all the APT High Roller Day 1 action on the APT Blog, with a 30-minuted delayed live stream available for the Final Day, on the official APT YouTube channel, with the action recommencing at 11:15am on Sunday, October 6 at the tournament tables of the Asia Poker Arena.

All tournament information can be found on the APT High Roller Day 1 tournament page.

South Korea's Dongjae Kim Wins Tour’s Record-Breaking Double Stack For TWD 3M (~USD 95K)

Dongjae Kim claimed his maiden title in the tour’s largest-ever Double Stack

Just 133 players out of a record-breaking field of 951 total entries (576 unique) returned for the Final Day of the TWD 20,000 Double Stack - 7,000,000 GTD, all guaranteed a payday of TWD 33,000 (~USD 1,045), with the action playing out concurrently with the Main Event at the tournament tables of APA.

It was South Korea's Dongjae Kim who claimed the accolades, overcoming Flight A frontrunner Zefirelli Noordin to take his maiden APT title and the TWD 3,025,280 (~USD 95,830) top prize – the second-largest cash of his poker career.

Noordin, who was also gunning for his first APT title, has to settle for the TWD 1,859,000 (~USD 58,885) on offer for second-place, which represented a career high score for the Singaporean.

Hong Kong's Kin Tung Chan rounded out the winner's podium, collecting TWD 1,305,000 (~USD 41,340) for his bronze finish, with Belgium's Kristof Segers (7th for TWD 404,000) also making final table appearance.

DOUBLE STACK FINAL TABLE RESULTS

Other notables to run deep included Bulgaria's Slaven Popov (11th for TWD 188,000), Taiwan's Chi Jen Chen (26th for TWD 86,000), Bybit Mystery Bounty champion Tom Verbruggen (33rd for TWD 64,000), start-of-day chip leader Gregory Campbell (39th for TWD 64,000), the Netherland's Thijs Hilberts (44th for TWD 55,000), and Hong Kong's Alan Lau (56th for TWD 47,000).

For Event #77: Double Stack Results please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Double Stack Final Day tournament page.