Another action packed day at WPT Prime Taiwan concluded with two players added to the winners list. The newly minted were Japan’s Motoyoshi Okamura at the Mini High Roller and Ya Wen Hsieh at the Ladies Event. These two players are now proud owners of their first WPT Prime trophies. More awards on offer with four events taking place today, Wednesday, November 16. Here are the highlights and the updated Player of the Festival standings.
WPT Prime Taiwan – PLAYER GUIDE
MOTOYOSHI OKAMURA adds Mini High Roller to career achievements
Exactly one year ago, Motoyoshi Okamura made headlines by locking up his first ever WSOP bracelet. Last night, the Japanese pro added another title to his name with a victory at the Mini High Roller. Okamura defeated Malaysia’s Natalie Teh at heads up to win his first ever WPT trophy and the NT$ 1,214,300 (~$39,260) top prize. Relive the action via the recorded live stream on CTP Club Twitch
Motoyoshi Okamura
Buy in: NT$ 66,000 (~$2,130)
Entries: 66
Prize pool: NT$ 3,841,200 (~$124,200)
ITM: 9 places
Payouts
1st
Motoyoshi Okamura
Japan
$1,214,300
2nd
Natalie Teh
Malaysia
$809,600
3rd
Fu Bang Huang
Taiwan
$539,700
4th
Yoon Kang
Australia
$375,100
5th
Wei Chen Liu
Taiwan
$272,200
6th
Sin Ren Chen
Taiwan
$206,700
7th
Phachara Wongwichit
Thailand
$164,500
8th
Panitan Poopadsri
Thailand
$137,700
9th
Yosuke Nakazawa
Japan
$121,400
Event recap
The Mini High Roller was the first event attracting the heavyweights with buy in coming in at NT$ 66,000 (~$2,134). Among the 66-entry field were international players Michael Soyza, Haimish Crawshaw, WSOP bracelet winner Sung Joo Hyun, and Australia’s Joseph Sandaev who was on his first Asia poker trip. Making up a big bulk were local pros that included Zong Chi He who fell on the bubble to fellow countryman Wei Chen Liu with 
losing the flip against 
.
With the money intact, the remaining 9 players battled for the largest portion of the NT$ 3,841,200 (~$124,200) prize pool. Minutes in, heavy action went down. It opened with utg player Fu Bang Huang min-raising to 40K, two spots over Natalie Teh three-bet 120K, cutoff / chip leader Panitan Poopadsri four-bet 300K, button Sin Ren Chen jammed for 550K, and called only by Okamura. Chen had 
and held against Okamura’s 
. Shortly after, Yosuke Nazawa was first to grab a piece of the pot in 9th place, and the live stream was finally underway.
Leading up to heads up, Teh doubled up twice and Okamura eliminated four players that included a double elimination to Yoon Kang and Liu. The hand saw Okamura’s 
stand firm against pocket Jacks and Ace-Ten suited. After Okamura eliminated Huang in 3rd place, a two-hour heads up followed with both players tugging at the chip lead. The game changer hand saw a board 
with both all in at the flop. Teh had 
, Okamura with 
. Down to 1 Ante, Teh was forced all in on the next hand and was eliminated.
YA WEN HSIEH dominates the Ladies Event
Healthy turnout at the Ladies Event with 29 taking to the felt for a prize pool of NT$ 143,500. In the lineup was WSOP circuit double ring winner Christine Hia who was looking to add a second Ladies Event title to her stats having won one at the 2018 Sydney Championships. Her bid ran short in 4th place with pocket Twos losing to Ya Wen Hsieh‘s pocket Nines. Hsieh went on to rail recently crowned APPT winner Hua Wei Lin to enter heads up backed by a dominating stack.
She closed it out in ten minutes with 
spiking the flush on the river against Chi Ying Tsai‘s 
top pair on a board 
, the shoves were on the flop.
Buy in: NT$ 6,000
Entries: 29
Prize pool: NT$ 143,500 (~$4,640)
ITM: 4 places
1st
Ya Wen Hsieh
Taiwan
$64,600
2nd
Chi Ying Tsai
Taiwan
$38,700
3rd
Hua Wei Lin
Taiwan
$24,400
4th
Christine Hia
Malaysia
$15,800
Player of the Festival – update as of 6 completed events
CHINYAO WANG
500
MOTOYOSHI
400
LEE KUN HAN
375
YI WEI PENG
350
WEI TING CHEN
300
YU SHENG LIN
300
CHUNG LIANG LIN
300
WU HUNGHSIANG
300
NATALIE TEH
300
CHUNG YI HO
250
Stick with us at Somuchpoker as we bring you updates of the ongoing series.. All photos courtesy of CTP Club.
Links:
WPT Prime Taiwan – Event Payouts
WPT Prime Taiwan underway – first five events
Tags:
Live Poker, News, WPTTaiwan2022Nov
