Heads-Up Spin Up Sees Jereld Sam Surge to WPT Prime Taiwan Championship
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The World Poker Tour continued to live up to its global moniker, with another Prime Championship in the books after a two-week visit to Taipei City in Taiwan.
The headline event of the series, the WPT Prime Taiwan Championship, was a massive success. It became the largest field size for a live poker event in Taiwan with a $1,000 or higher buy-in. It also set the attendance record for the Prime Championship Event outside of the Las Vegas-based WPT World Championship.
The tournament had a TWD 35,000 buy-in (~$1,100) and collected 1,666 entry slips to create the TWD 51,389,500 (~$1,597,435) prize pool. The top 208 players made the money, and seizing the biggest payout was Jereld Sam after he defeated Kosei Oguri in heads-up play.
Sam received TWD 8,065,000 (~$250,699) for the triumph, which includes a $10,400 seat into the WPT World Championship.
2024 WPT Prime Taiwan Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (TWD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jereld Sam | Singapore | TWD 8,065,000* | ~$250,699* |
| 2 | Kosei Oguri | Japan | TWD 5,390,000 | ~$167,547 |
| 3 | Ka Shun Tsang | Hong Kong | TWD 3,995,000 | ~$124,184 |
| 4 | Jun Li | United Kingdom | TWD 2,990,000 | ~$92,944 |
| 5 | Yuya Arito | Japan | TWD 2,260,000 | ~$70,252 |
| 6 | Junya Yamaguchi | Japan | TWD 1,720,000 | ~$53,466 |
| 7 | Tomoyuki Yoshimiya | Japan | TWD 1,325,000 | ~$41,187 |
| 8 | Wei Chun Cheng | Taiwan | TWD 1,029,500 | ~$32,002 |
| 9 | Paul Hong | New Zealand | TWD 810,000 | ~$25,179 |
*includes a $10,400 seat into the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
Click here to see a full list of payouts.
Final Table Action
The finale began with 13 players, and following the eliminations of Dong Jae Lee, Poching Lee, Kun Han Lee, and Tung-Jung Wu, the remaining competitors merged onto the final table.
Chip leader Yuya Arito secured the first elimination of the final table, picking up aces to down the pocket nines held by Paul Hong. However, Arito's chip lead vanished two hands later after attempting to bluff runner-up Oguri off of a flush.
Wei Chun Cheng departed in eighth place after his nines ran into Sam's pocket queens. A few hands later, Arito woke up with queens to vanquish Tomoyuki Yoshimiya, who risked his tournament life with ace-jack.
Ka Shun Tsang flopped quad kings, leaving Junya Yamaguchi and his pocket jacks drawing dead.
Oguri and Arito were the runaway leaders, with the other three players nursing sub-20 big blinds stacks, but disaster struck for Arito. He got into a preflop-raising war with Oguri that saw the former four-bet jam ace-jack for around 31 big blinds. Oguri snap-called with Big Slick and held out to take a commanding lead at four-handed play.
Sam saw off England's Jun Li in fourth, ahead of downing Tsang in third place to set up his heads-up showdown with Oguri.
Oguri had the advantage from the get-go, with his 67 big blinds besting Sam's 44 big blinds. Oguri had Sam on the ropes, surging to a nine-to-one chip lead, but a spin-up over the course of seven hands saw Sam become the favorite. The duo continued trading chips back and forth until Sam pulled away again.
On the 155th hand of the final table, Oguri put in his last 11 big blinds with queen-jack and was quickly called by Sam's dominating king-jack. Neither player connected on the five-high runout, meaning Sam's high-card king was enough to seal the victory and lock up the biggest tournament score of his career.
Almost 16,000 Players Competed in the WPT Global Summer Festival
Where Next for the World Poker Tour?
The WPT is currently in Cyprus for another dose of the Prime Championship. The festival kicked off on August 15, with the Prime Championship shuffling up and dealing on August 22.
The series is taking place at the Chamada Prestige Hotel & Casino, a new and exciting poker venue that is looking to make its mark in the industry.
After their jaunt in Cyprus, the WPT heads to Lichtenstein and the United Kingdom in September before making the long trip Down Under for the WPT Australia Championship.
Did You Know the World Poker Tour is Online?
The launch of WPT Global means that poker players around the world now have the chance to win their way to WPT events, win prizes and enjoy exciting games such as Poker Flips. As one of the world's largest cash game poker networks, WPT Global is available in over 80 countries and territories worldwide.
WPT Global offers a large deposit match bonus: 100% on deposits up to $1,200 (using any payment method). New players depositing a minimum of $20 automatically receive this match bonus which is unlocked in $5 increments (credited straight to the cashier) for every $20 of rake contribution.
Both tournaments and cash games count towards bonus unlocking; new players have 90 days from the date of first deposit to unlock and claim their full bonus amount.
*Photos courtesy of the World Poker Tour
