WPT Prime

WPT Prime is the mid-stakes series of the World Poker Tour (WPT). The WPT launched it in 2022 to replace WPTDeepStacks, its earlier second-level tour. The idea is a festival that looks and feels like a WPT Main Tour stop, at a price more players can afford. Most Prime Main Events cost about US$1,100, well below the Championship Events of the Main Tour.

Asia was part of the plan from day one. All three stops first announced for the new series were in the region, and Prime opened at Crown Poker Club in Hanoi, Vietnam, in May 2022. Since then it has become a regular name on the Asia-Pacific calendar. In Taiwan it plays at the CTP Asia Poker Arena in Taipei. In Australia it moved from The Star Gold Coast to The Star Sydney in 2026, and in South Korea it ran at LES A Casino in Jeju in 2025. The series has also stopped at NagaWorld in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and in Bangkok, Thailand. Outside the region it visits the United States and Cyprus.

A Prime stop suits recreational players and regional regulars who want a WPT title without a high buy-in. Asian stops price the Main Event in local currency, such as TWD 35,000 in Taipei or AUD 1,500 in Sydney. The bigger festivals build a full schedule around it: the 2025 Taipei stop listed 59 trophy events. The season ends with a WPT Prime Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December, and the official WPT Prime schedule lists the current stops.

The series had its biggest Asian moments in 2025. The WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition 2025 at UOB Live in Bangkok drew 2,337 entries to a THB 37,000 Main Event. The prize pool, paid out in travel funds under Thai rules, reached THB 75.5 million (~US$2.3 million). China's Haoran Sun won it and also took a US$10,400 seat at the WPT World Championship. It is the largest WPT Prime Main Event in Asia Poker Hub data, which covers the series since 2024. The same month, the WPT Prime Taiwan 2025 Championship drew 1,470 entries and TWD 45.3 million (~US$1.5 million). South Korea's Hyundong Lee won that title. A year earlier, Singapore's Jereld Sam had won the Taiwan Championship.