APT Championship Taipei 2026: The Ultimate Guide

Dates and Venue

The festival runs for 18 playing days, from November 12 to 29, 2026. Every event plays at Red Space, a large event venue in Taipei's Songshan District, on Fuxing North Road. The tournament clock follows Taiwan time (UTC+8).

The Schedule at a Glance

• 183 tournaments and 26 satellites
• Buy-ins from about US$110 to US$50,000
• 115 hold'em, 32 Omaha and 33 mixed-game events, plus a few specialty games
• Six guaranteed headline events with about US$8.3 million guaranteed in total

The tour has announced the schedule as “210 tournaments” with over TWD 256 million (~US$8.1 million) in guarantees, counting the satellites. Every tournament, with start times and formats, is in the full APT Championship Taipei 2026 schedule.

The Main Event

The APT Championship Main Event Freezeout costs US$10,000 and carries a TWD 165 million (~US$5.2 million) guarantee. It runs from November 23 to 27 with 50,000 starting chips. As a freezeout, it allows one entry per player, with no re-entry.

Last year's Main Event drew 671 entries and a TWD 194 million (~US$6.2 million) prize pool, 24% above its guarantee.

Headline Championship Events

Last year the National Cup Championship opened the festival with 2,398 entries, the largest field in APT history outside a Main Event.

How to Qualify

There are two ways to win a seat instead of paying the full buy-in:

• Live satellites in Taipei. The Main Event has a two-step route: Step 1 satellites at TWD 10,900 on November 21 and 22 lead to Step 2 mega satellites at TWD 53,000, which award Main Event seats. Satellites for the other headline events run throughout the festival, from TWD 3,300.
• Online satellites with the tour's online partner, Natural8, before you travel. Qualifier offers change from stop to stop, so check the current list before you book.

Last Year's Championship

The first APT Championship in 2025 drew 28,265 entries over 17 days and paid out about US$34.2 million, which the tour reports as the largest poker festival ever held in Asia. India's Nishant Sharma won the Main Event for TWD 37 million (~US$1.19 million), ahead of John Niko Costiniano of the Philippines and Alexandru Papazian of Romania. Australia's Jarryd Godena won four titles across the festival, and players from Taiwan won 35, more than any other country. The story of the final is in Nishant Sharma Wins APT Championship Main Event, and the festival in figures is in APT Championship Taipei 2025 by the Numbers.

Who Should Play

With buy-ins from about US$110 and dozens of national-cup and side events, the festival works for recreational players as much as for traveling pros. Mixed-game players get 33 events, and high rollers go up to US$50,000. If you plan to play the Main Event, the Step 1 satellites on November 21 and 22 are the cheapest way in.