APT Taipei 2026: A Milestone Asian Festival, Local Amateur's Stunning High Roller Triumph

12 Days of Pure Poker Adrenaline

The organizers of this year's APT Taipei festival have prepared a record-breaking program from April 22 to May 3, 2026. It features an incredible 170 events spread across two modern venues – Asia Poker Arena (APA) and Red Space. The festival's total guaranteed prize pool exceeds 207 million TWD (~6.5 million USD), making it one of the most significant events of the year in all of Asia.

The absolute highlights of the series include:

• APT Main Event: The festival's flagship event with a massive guarantee of 70 million TWD (~2.2 million USD).

• APT National Cup: An opening attraction with a 15 million TWD guarantee, drawing thousands of entrants right from the start.

• Super High Roller and High Roller: Tournaments for the most demanding players with guarantees in the tens of millions of Taiwanese dollars.

• 22 “Golden Tickets”: Besides cash prizes, Taipei is also a battleground for 22 entries into the final APT Championship 2026, scheduled for November with a 5 million USD guarantee.

The program is further enriched with 26 events in technical Mixed Games, complemented this time by so-called “Mind Sports” like chess or Go, where results in these games directly influence starting stacks in subsequent poker tournaments.

Local Amateur Shocks the Global Elite

The festival's first major High Roller, Event #4: High Roller – Ultra Stack, produced a story that perfectly illustrates the allure of poker. The two-day tournament with a 65,000 TWD buy-in attracted 97 entries, pushing the prize pool to 5,447,520 TWD (~174,041 USD).

While the final table featured seasoned professionals with millions in earnings, the trophy was unexpectedly lifted by local amateur player Guan Lun Chen. Chen delivered a career-defining performance and triumphed in the final heads-up against experienced Frenchman Hugues Girard, who boasts over 2 million USD in live tournament winnings.

For Chen, it's a breakthrough success, as his previous highest win barely exceeded 6,500 USD. This victory earned him 1,429,820 TWD (~45,680 USD), nearly tripling his lifetime tournament earnings in a single event.

Securing third place was German professional Martin Sedlak, a former APT High Roller champion, reaffirming his stellar form after a recent win at the Mini Main Event at the RDPT Plus in Jeju.

Final Table Results for Event #4: 65,000 TWD High Roller – Ultra Stack

Sources: APT, SoMuchPoker