The third time’s the charm as they say, and that certainly proved to be the case for the third instalment of the Asian Poker Tour Online (APTO), which was the largest and richest of the three APTO festivals to have played out to date. The measure of success is always in the numbers, and by whichever metric you measure it, November’s APTO 2024 absolutely crushed it.
Multiple milestones were set over the 22-day series as the well-established Asian-based live poker tour made its third official online foray in partnership with Natural8, the most notable of which was the record-breaking APTO Main Event, which drew its largest-ever field, generated its richest-ever prize pool and awarded the APT’s biggest-ever Main Event first place prize.
Ten of the 20 Trophy Events played broke APTO records and in addition to the Main Event, the Event #1: APT Online Bounty Kickoff, Event #2: Superstar Challenge, Event #6: Sunday Super Stack, Event #7: APT Mini Main Event $1M GTD, Event #13: Mystery Bounty Hunter and the Event #18: APT Super High Roller [2-Day Event] all set new records for field size, prize pool and first place prize.
The Event #12: APT High Roller 8-Max [2-Day Event], and the Event #3: Thailand National Cup both set new field size and prize pool records, while the Event #5: Vietnam National Cup [Bounty] set a new prize pool and first place prize record.
Recaps of all the series action are available here:
APT Online 2024 Recap: Events #1 & #2 – APT Online Bounty Kickoff & Superstar Challenge
APT Online 2024 Recap: Event’s #3-#5 – Thailand National Cup, Double Stack & Vietnam National Cup [Bounty]
APT Online 2024 Recap: Events #6-#8 – Sunday Super Stack, Mini Main Event, APT Online Invitational $10K Added
APT Online 2024 Recap: Event #9 - #11 – Philippines National Cup [Deepstack Bounty], King of the Jungle Bounty 6-Max, Korea National Cup
APT Online 2024 Recap: Events #12 - #14 – APT High Roller 8-Max [2-Day Event], Mystery Bounty Hunter - $100K Top Bounty, Deepstack Turbo Blaze
APT Online 2024 Recap: Events #15 - #17 – Taiwan Poker Classic, Omaholic Bounty Masters, China Zodiac Classic [Bounty]
APT Online 2024 Recap: Events #18 - #20 – APT Super High Roller, APT Main Event, APT Online Bounty Closer (Turbo)
Running from 10th – 1st December 2024 and boasting over USD 20 million in tournament prize pool guarantees (including side events), the APTO festival featured 20 Trophy Events, each of which awarded a real-life APTO trophy to each respective winner.
The three flagship events—the USD 1,500 Event #12: APT High Roller, the USD 3,000 Event #18: APT Super High Roller, and the USD 800 Event #19: APT Main Event—awarded three exclusive bespoke APT Online Lion Trophies.
Including the side events, the series comprised 326 tournaments and aced almost every prize pool guarantee on offer, attracting a total of 378,625 entries who competed for a massive USD 28,191,720 in series prize money – over a 21 percent (21.9%) increase in entries from the November 2023's APTO with over 19 percent (19.2%) more prize money awarded – broken down as follows:
Festival Entries
Total APTO November 2024 Entries: 378,625
APTO Side Event Entries: 327,704
APTO Trophy Event entries: 50,921
Festival Prize Money
Total APTO November 2024 Prize Money: USD 28,191,720
Trophy Event Prize Money: USD 12,662,914
Non-Trophy Side Event Prize Money: 15,528,806
APTO Trophy Event Breakdown
The USD 12,662,914.47 in prize money from the 20 Trophy Events accounted for just under 45 percent (44.9%) of the total APTO series prize money awarded, drawing a total of 50,921 entries, making up just over 13 percent (13.4%) of the total APTO series entries. In total, the APTO 2024 Trophy Events saw over a 38 percent (38.8%) increase in entries and just over 29 percent (29.5%) increase in prize money awarded versus the November 2023 APTO.
*(R) means Record.
| APTO 2024 Trophy Events | Entries | Guarantee ($) | Prize Pool ($) | % Total Festival Prize Money |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event #1: APT Online Bounty Kickoff (R) | 2,882 | 202,400 | 286,355.52 | 1.0% |
| Event #2: Superstar Challenge (R) | 177 | 500,000 | 840,750 | 3.0% |
| Event #3: Thailand National Cup (R) | 3,425 | 119,188 | 182,017 | 0.6% |
| Event #4: Double Stack | 844 | 250,000 | 317,344 | 1.1% |
| Event #5: Vietnam National Cup [Bounty] (R) | 2,191 | 157,822 | 198,161 | 0.7% |
| Event #6: Sunday Super Stack (R) | 1,280 | 250,000 | 357,120 | 1.3% |
| Event #7: APT Mini Main Event $1M GTD (R) | 12,001 | 1,000,000 | 1,104,092 | 3.9% |
| Event #8: APT Online Invitational | 677 | 0 | 12,050 | 0.0% |
| Event #9: Philippines National Cup [Deepstack Bounty] | 2,414 | 128,654 | 188,311 | 0.7% |
| Event #10: King of the Jungle Bounty 6-Max | 760 | 300,000 | 380,000 | 1.3% |
| Event #11: Korea National Cup | 1,165 | 217,467 | 252,930 | 0.9% |
| Event #12: APT High Roller 8-Max [2-Day Event] (R) | 477 | 500,000 | 679,725 | 2.4% |
| Event #13: Mystery Bounty Hunter - $100K Top Bounty (R) | 9,254 | 1,500,000 | 1,787,872.80 | 6.3% |
| Event #14: Deepstack Turbo Blaze | 1,894 | 150,000 | 217,810 | 0.8% |
| Event #15: Taiwan Poker Classic | 2,579 | 156,588 | 240,670 | 0.9% |
| Event #16: Omaholic Bounty Masters | 360 | 100,000 | 180,000 | 0.6% |
| Event #17: China Zodiac Classic [Bounty] | 1,588 | 211,181 | 221,212 | 0.8% |
| Event #18: APT Super High Roller [2-Day Event] (R) | 395 | 750,000 | 1,125,750 | 4.0% |
| Event #19: APT Main Event, $3M GTD (R) | 4,969 | 3,000,000 | 3,776,440 | 13.4% |
| Event #20: APT Online Bounty Closer [Turbo] | 1,589 | 250,000 | 314,304.20 | 1.1% |
| TOTAL | 50,921 | 9,743,300 | 12,662,914.47 | 44.9% |
Just under a third (29.8%) of the Trophy Event prize money was awarded in the USD 800 Event #19: APT Main Event, which drew the third-largest field of the Trophy Events played. This beat the USD 3 million guarantee by an impressive 25 percent (25.8%), setting a new APTO Main Event record for both field size and prize pool with 4,969 entries competing for a sizable USD 3,776,440 in prize money – an impressive 23 percent increase in both entries and prize money from November 2023’s APTO. It was Austria’s “M Joelsson” who claimed the crown, the coveted Black Lion APTO Main Event Trophy, and the USD 534,698.10 top prize – the largest APT Main Event first-place prize ever awarded in the tour’s 18-year history!
The second-largest event in terms of prize pool size was the USD 210 Event #10: Mystery Bounty Hunter, which accounted for a further 14.1% of the Trophy Event prize money awarded. This drew the second-largest field of the entire festival with 9,254 entries competing for a USD 1,787,872 prize pool (including bounties). This saw Kazakhstan's "AgGro_KinG" claim the accolades and the USD 109,076 top prize – the fifth largest first place prize of the series, with Brazil’s “CHICOTE” bagging the USD 100,000 top bounty.
By far the most popular event in terms of player numbers was the two-day USD 100 Event #7: Mini Main Event, which was the fourth 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 12,001 entries who fought it out at the virtual felt for a share of the USD 1,104,092 prize pool with China’s “d888” earning the plaudits and USD 140,093 top prize—the fourth largest of the festival—with the tournament seeing a seven percent (7.1%) increase in entries and over a 21 percent (21.8%) increase prize money from the November 2023 APTO Mini Main Event.
The other two bespoke APT Online Lion Trophies were awarded in the record-breaking USD 1,500 Event #12: APT High Roller, and the record-breaking USD 3,000 Event #18: APT Super High Roller.
It was Malaysia’s “Biao Guo” who claimed the first of the flagship trophies on offer in the APT High Roller, defeating a field of 477 entries to claim the lion’s share of the sixth-largest prize pool of the festival – the USD 679,725 purse accounting for 5.4% percent of the total Trophy Event prize money awarded with the USD 106,341 top prize the sixth-largest won during the series.
The APT Super High Roller was the third-largest event of the festival in terms of the prize purse, accounting for close to a further 9 percent (8.9%) of the Trophy Event prize money awarded. A total of 395 of pokers top online professionals battled it out for a USD 1,125,750 prize pool with Slovenia’s “A Karmatckii” scooping the title, trophy, and USD 191,041.30 top prize – the second largest first-place prize of the festival.
The USD 5,000 Event #2: Superstar Challenge rounded out the top five richest tournaments of the festival, the 177 entries generating a USD 840,750 prize pool—the fifth largest of the series—with Vietnam’s “ALEU” claiming the third-largest first place prize of the festival – a sizable USD 186,067 top prize.
Both the APT and Natural8 would like to say a massive thank you to all the players who supported the series – posting the numbers for record-breaking fields and gigantic prize pools would not be possible without their continued support.
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 2025 schedule with five exciting stops in three amazing Asian destinations planned over the year of the Snake.
Here are the key dates you should be pencilling into your diary:
Location: Manila, Philippines – Feb 7-16
Location: Taipei, Taiwan – Apr 25-May 4
Location: Manila, Philippines* – May 30-Jun 8
Location: Jeju, South Korea – Sep 26-Oct 5
Location: Taipei, Taiwan – Nov 14-30
*subject to regulatory approval
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