The United States’ Stanley Weng showcased his lion-taming skills, putting on a dominating final table performance in APT Taipei 2024 last week to claim the second-largest prize of his poker career.
Weng came into a stacked final table holding a commanding chip lead he would not relinquish, which when you consider the quality of the opposition, was no mean feat.
The final nine players featured a former APT Main Event champion in Hong Kong’s Dicky Tsang, one of Taiwan’s top tournament players in Chen An Lin, and one of Asia’s most prolific players in the form of Sparrow Cheung, but none of them could derail the Weng express.
While Tsang gave it his best shot heads-up, battling back from an 8-to-1 chip deficit to a slight 2-to-1 chip disadvantage, Weng would not be denied, closing out the win in style by rivering a straight flush to earn his maiden APT title and only his second-ever cash on Asian soil.
Weng caught up with APT Host Gregory “Greg Goes All In” Liow immediately after his epic win, who asked how he was feeling after taking down the title.
“Euphoria, man” replied an ecstatic Weng.”Thanks to all of my friends who watched — and family. And thanks for supporting me.”
Largest, richest Mini Main Event
Even after 11 continuous days of record-breaking action, the APT Taipei 2024 still had some gas left in the tank, with the final day of the largest and richest TWD 22,000 Mini Main Event.
The two-day tournament saw a record 678 combined entries (394 unique) enter the two opening flights.This generated the largest Mini Main Event prize pool in APT history with TWD 13,021,668 (~USD 414,225) in the purse.
It was Taiwan’s Mao-Lun Yu who etched his name in the APT record books, cutting an ICM chip chop deal with heads-up opponent Michael Smith of Canada to claim a career-best TWD 2,213,418 (~USD 70,365) top prize, more than tripling his lifetime tournament winnings and making his maiden APT title victory one to remember.
Smith took the fourth largest prize of his poker career, banking TWD 1,867,250 (~USD 59,365) for his runner-up finish.
Taiwan’s Sin Ren Chen claimed the second-best score of his career, taking TWD 1,097,000 (~USD 34,880) for his third place finish, with the final table paying out as follows:
MINI MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE RESULTS
1st: Mao-Lun Yu (Taiwan) — TWD 2,213,418
2nd: Michael Smith (Canada) — TWD 1,867,250
3rd: Sin Ren Chen (Taiwan) — TWD 1,097,000
4th: Kenta Izutani (Japan) — TWD 831,000
5th: Tuan Vu (Vietnam) — TWD 661,000
6th: Curtis Moh (Canada) — TWD 508,000
7th: Tracy Crisostomo (Philippines) — TWD 367,000
8th: Tsz Hin Chow (Hong Kong) — TWD 251,000
9th: Shoichiro Tamaki (Japan) — TWD 199,000
Other notables to cash included the Philippines’ Jeffrey Pamplona (23rd for TWD 86,000), and Edilberto Gopez (25th for TWD 73,000), and former Main Event champions Renniel Galvez (30th for TWD 62,000), and Christopher Mateo (33rd for TWD 56,000).
Micro Main Event
South Korea’s Yonghyun Lee claimed his maiden live title in the record-breaking Micro Main Event
Anything this festival with the words “Main Event” broke a record, and the TWD 11,000 Event #107: Micro Main Event — TWD 1,500,000 GTD was no exception.
Boasting almost the same structure as it’s more expensively priced counterparts, but at a fraction of the cost, the tournament drew a record field of 393 entries (312 unique), making it the largest Micro Main Event field in APT history.
With a record TWD 3,732,045 (~USD 118,720) prize pool on the line, a place in the hallowed money spots was fiercely contested, and with only the top 55 places getting paid many players would be leaving empty-handed.
It was South Korea’s Yonghyun Lee who entered the APT annuals of history, cutting an ICM chop with heads-up opponent Masashi Tamaru of Japan with the duo then playing it out for the remaining 10 percent of the prize pool, and the all-important trophy and title.
Lee locked up a career-best TWD 677,540 (~USD 21,544) top prize, clinching his maiden live tournament title in the process, with Tamaru also banking the best score of his playing career, taking TWD 512,500 (~USD 16,300) for his runner-up finish.
The Philippines’ Edgar Asehan rounded out the winner’s podium, taking a TWD 332,000 (~USD 10,560) payout for his third-place finish, with the final table paying out as follows:
MICRO MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE RESULTS
1st Yonghyun Lee (South Korea) — TWD 677,540
2nd: Masashi Tamaru (Japan) — TWD 512,500
3rd: Edgar Asehan (Philippines) — TWD 332,000
4th: Powen Fang (Taiwan) — TWD 268,000
5th: Ugawa Yuto (Japan) — TWD 212,000
6th: Chi Wei Lin (Taiwan) — TWD 163,000
7th: Rui Lu (Taiwan) — TWD 122,000
8th: Zheming Zhu (Australia) — TWD 88,000
9th: Felix Von Rahden (Germany) — TWD 71,000
ASIA POKER TOUR
