Like all good things, the second-ever Asian Poker Tour Online (APTO) has come to an end, so let us look back and reflect on the series. The measure of success is always in the numbers, and by whichever metric you measure it, November’s APTO was a winner.
Several milestones were set over the 22-day series as the well-established Asian-based live poker tour made its second official online foray in partnership with Natural8, the most notable of which was the record-breaking APTO Main Event.
Recaps of all the series action are available here:
Running from 5th – 26th November 2023 and boasting $15 million in tournament prize pool guarantees (including side events), the APTO festival featured 14 Trophy Events, each of which awarded a real-life APTO trophy to each respective winner.
The three flagship events – the $1,500 Event #9: APT High Roller, the $3,000 Event #13: APT Super High Roller, and the $800 Event #14: APT Main Event – awarded three exclusive bespoke APT Online Lion Trophies.
Including the side events, the series comprised 330 tournaments and crushed every single prize pool guarantee on offer, attracting a total of 310,388 entries who competed for a chunky USD $23,637,286 in series prize money – a 14 percent increase in entries from the inaugural APTO in March with 27 percent more prize money awarded – broken down as follows:
Festival Entries
Total APTO November 2023 Entries: 310,388
APTO Side Event Entries: 273,724
APTO Trophy Event entries: 36,664
Series Prize Money
Total APTO November 2023 Prize Money: $23,637,286
Trophy Event Prize Money: $9,772,583
Non-Trophy Side Event Prize Money: $13,864,703
APTO Trophy Event Breakdown
The $9,772,583 in prize money from the 14 Trophy Events accounted for just over 41 percent (41.3%) of the total APTO series prize money awarded, drawing a total of 36,664 entries and accounting for close to 12 percent (11.8%) of the total APTO series entries.
| APTO Trophy Events | Entries | Guarantee ($) | Prize Pool ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 $108 Bounty Kickoff | 2,409 | 202,300 | 240,900 |
| #2 $5,000 Superstar Challenge | 149 | 250,000 | 707,750 |
| #3 $400 APT Double Stack | 1,132 | 350,000 | 425,632 |
| #4 $137.58 Thailand National Cup | 1,238 | 137,600 | 163,058 |
| #5 $300 Sunday Super Stack | 992 | 250,000 | 276,768 |
| #6 $88 Mini Main Event | 11,196 | 750,000 | 906,428 |
| #7 $525 King of the Jungle Bounty 6-Max | 971 | 400,000 | 485,500 |
| #8 $315 Taiwan National Cup | 953 | 157,500 | 281,650 |
| #9 $1,500 APT High Roller | 398 | 300,000 | 567,150 |
| #10 $210 Mystery Bounty Hunter | 6,770 | 1,000,000 | 1,354,000 |
| #11 $111 Zodiac Classic | 2,735 | 209,780 | 283,644 |
| #12 $23 Vietnam National Cup [Bounty] | 3,385 | 103,000 | 132,663 |
| #13 $3,000 APT Super High Roller | 312 | 500,000 | 889,200 |
| #14 $800 APT Main Event | 4,024 | 2,500,000 | 3,058,240 |
| TOTAL | 36,664 | 7,110,180 | 9,772,583 |
Just under a third (31%) of the Trophy Event prize money was awarded in the $800 Event #14: APT Main Event. This beat the $2.5 million guarantee by an impressive 22 percent, setting a new APTO Main Event record for both field size and prize pool with 4,024 entries competing for a sizable $3,058,240 in prize money – over an 11 percent (11.4%) increase in both entries and prize money from March’s inaugural APTO. It was Kazakhstan’s “whatsgoingon” who claimed the crown, the coveted Golden Lion APTO Main Event Trophy, and the $362,070.37 top prize – the largest APTO first-place prize ever awarded.
The second-largest event in terms of prize money was the $210 Event #10: Mystery Bounty Hunter, which accounted for a further 14% of the Trophy Event prize money awarded. This drew the second-largest field of the series with 6,770 entries competing for a $1,354,000 prize pool (including bounties). It was prolific online tournament specialist “David Peters” the man to claim the accolades and the $66,599.07 top prize – the sixth largest first place prize of the series, with Natural8’s “will_i_gambol” bagging the $100,000 top bounty with just 1 knockout!
By far the most popular event in terms of player numbers was the two-day $88 Event #6: Mini Main Event, which was also the third largest in terms of Trophy Event prize money played for. This set a new APTO record for the largest-ever field size, attracting a massive 11,196 entries who fought it out at the virtual felt for a share of the $906,428 prize pool – the third largest of the series and over a 31 percent (31.6%) increase in both entries and prize money from March’s inaugural APTO Mini Main Event.
The other two bespoke APT Online Lion Trophies were awarded in the $1,500 Event #9: APT High Roller, and the $3,000 Event #13: APT Super High Roller.
It was Malta’s “CallM3Daddy” who claimed the first of the flagship trophies on offer in Event #9: APT High Roller, defeating a field of 398 entries to claim the lion’s share of the sixth-largest prize pool of the series – the $567,150 winner’s purse accounting for 6 percent of the total Trophy Event prize money and $109,500.33 top prize, the fourth largest of the series.
The $3,000 Event #13: APT Super High Roller was the fourth largest event of the series in terms of the prize purse, accounting for a further 9 percent of the Trophy Event prize money awarded. A total of 312 of the games’ top online professionals battled it out for an $889,200 prize pool with Morocco’s “LunaKingBack” scooping the title, trophy, and $178,887.22 top prize – the second-largest first-place prize of the series.
Both the APT and Natural8 would like to say a big thank you to all the players who supported the series – posting the numbers for massive fields and juicy prize pools would not be possible without their continued support. And thank you to APT and Natural8 for hosting the event, and to all the online commentators who provided their dulcet tones to make the live-streamed coverage on the Natural8 YouTube channel that much more exciting.
Taiwan Tops APT Online Leaderboard
The top three players of the series tracked via the APT Online Leaderboard won $2,500 APT Live packages to the upcoming APT Hanoi Billions 2023 so congratulations are in order to Taiwan’s “JASSS001”, “DaDuHow”, and “vincent2288”! We’ll see you in Hanoi in December. Former APTO Main Event winner “Sioul17” also deserves an honorable mention, concluding the series at rank #4, earning an additional $1,500 cash bonus.
APTO Leaderboard Top 10
| Rank | Nickname | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JASSS001 | Taiwan | 3,402.93 |
| 2 | DaDuHow | Taiwan | 3,141.26 |
| 3 | vincent2288 | Taiwan | 3,105.65 |
| 4 | Sioul17 | Netherlands | 2,439.48 |
| 5 | sickodoggy | Hong Kong | 2,156.17 |
| 6 | Troll Hitada | Brazil | 1,813.20 |
| 7 | lastaliasisback | Netherlands | 1,806.19 |
| 8 | haha417 | Hong Kong | 1,783.39 |
| 9 | AdanPoker1990 | China | 1,700.20 |
| 10 | CallM3Daddy | Malta | 1,610.42 |
APT Live Action
If you guys enjoyed the exciting online APTO action, think about how much more exciting all the events would be played live. Players looking to dip their toes into the live poker arena should consider checking out the upcoming APT Hanoi Billions 2023 – running from 1st - 10th December at the National Convention Center (NCC), Hanoi.
This will be the biggest poker festival in the history of the Asian Poker Tour with the action-packed poker series boasting a massive 88 Trophy Events and over VND 60 billion (~$2.5M) in prize pool guarantees, with the highlight being the VND 36 million (~$1,480) buy-in Main Event which boasts a VND 25 billion (~$1M) prize pool guarantee. Join us there as we close out the 2023 poker season in style!
Stay in the loop with the latest APT news, events, and promotions by subscribing to our blog. Don't miss out on exciting updates – subscribe now!
