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Asian Poker Tour Announces Full APT Championship 2026 Schedule

Asian Poker Tour Announces Full APT Championship 2026 Schedule

Asian Poker Tour Announces Full APT Championship 2026 Schedule

posted by Ben Wilson

APTC 2026: A Mammoth 210 Tournaments & Over TWD 256 Million (~USD 8.1M) in Prize Pool Guarantees

The Asian Poker Tour—sponsored by Natural8—is pleased to announce the full schedule for the APT Championship 2026 (APTC).

Running from November 13 to 29 in partnership with the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Club (CTP), the 17-day poker festival will be hosted across two venues; the cavernous Red Space 多元商務空間, and the Asia Poker Arena in Taipei, Taiwan.

The inaugural 2025 APT Championship proved to be the largest and richest festival in Asian Poker tour history generating over 28,000 total tournament entries and awarding over USD 34 million in prize money.

The 2026 edition of the festival promises to be even bigger with a mammoth 210 trophy events and 26 satellite events on the schedule, headlined by 23 Championship Events which come with over TWD 256 million (~USD 8.1 million) in total prize pool guarantees.

The additional 187 side events include 119 No Limit Hold’em events including 19 dedicated women’s events, and an eclectic selection of 68 non-NLH events comprising 36 Omaha tournaments, 13 assorted draw poker tournaments, 12 dedicated mixed game tournaments, and 7 stud tournaments.

The Centerpiece

The highlight of the festival is the USD 5 million guaranteed APT Championship Main Event Freezeout, a USD 10,000 buy-in freezeout tournament offering players just a single shot at claiming fortune and glory running from November 23-27.

The APT Championship 2025 Main Event set a high bar on its debut as the largest and richest USD 10,000 buy-in tournament to run outside of Las Vegas in the last decade, drawing an impressive 671 entries and generating a monster TWD 194 million (~USD 6.2 million) prize pool.

It was India’s Nishant Sharma who etched his name in the annals of APT history claiming the exclusive Gold Lion APT Championship Main Event trophy and a colossal TWD 37 million (~USD 1.2 million) top prize.

Players looking to emulate Sharma’s success can win their way through to the 2026 APT Championship Main Event by competing in the upcoming APT Incheon 2026, running August 7-16 at the palatial Paradise City Casino Resort with nine APT Championship Main Event seats up for grabs over the festival.

APT Championship Main Event seats will also be awarded at the APT Jeju 2026, running September 25 to October 7 at the luxurious LES A Casino Resort with more details on the number of seats and a full festival schedule to be released at a later date.

There will also be 15 APTC Main Event seats awarded during the following Championship events during the festival, plus a further 2 seats for the winners of the two-day Event 76 High Roller Ultra Stack, and the Event 86 High Roller - Single Day tournaments:

Championship Events

While there are technically 23 Championship Events playing out over the course of the festival, the TWD 13,000 (~USD 415) buy-in [Event 0] Asia Gaming Industry Championship Freezeout is restricted to casino employees and poker industry persons only and plays out on November 12, the day before the festival officially begins.

The first of the guaranteed Championship Events gets underway on Friday, November 13 with the TWD 16,000 (~USD 510) buy-in [Event 1] National Cup Championship – Sponsored by DeepRun, which comes with a TWD 20 million (~USD 641,000) guarantee.

Other guaranteed Championship Events include the TWD 35,000 (~USD 1,100) buy-in [Event 2] Mystery Bounty Championship (TWD 15M/~USD 480,000 guarantee), the TWD 25,000 (~USD 800) buy-in [Event 3] Ultra Stack Championship (TWD 25M/~USD 800,000 guarantee), the USD 3,300 buy-in [Event 7] Natural8 Cup Championship (USD 1M guarantee), and the TWD 50,000 (~USD 1,600) buy-in [Event 22] Trip Saver Championship (TWD 5M/~USD 160,000 guarantee).

High Rollers

Dedicated high rollers are spoilt for choice with 26 elite high roller events to choose from, 7 of which are Championship Events awarding exclusive Championship trophies. Buy-ins range from TWD 25,000 (~USD 800) for Hyper Turbo High Roller tournaments, and go all the way up to the USD 50,000 Superstar Championship.

Championship High Roller Events include:

Mixed Games, New Formats, Heads-Up & Mind Games

Fans of Omaha, stud, draw and mixed games also have a plethora of events to tickle their fancy with 68 non-NLH events to choose from.

Aside from the PLO High Roller, a further two of the 23 Championship Events are non-NLH tournaments; the [Event 5] PLO Championship and the [Event 12] Mixed Game Championship which both come with a TWD 70,000/~USD 2,200 buy-in.

There are also several new formats making their APT debut. There’s the explosive Bomb Pot Stud – which is just like it sounds. All players put out a single bet and the game is dealt to 5th street before more betting.

Then there are two Super Badugi events – while this has previously been included as part of the 9-Game Badugi event, this is the first time the tour has run dedicated Super Badugi tournaments.

Second Best Hold’em also makes a return for the first time since the Hanoi Billions in 2023 – an interesting take on the traditional No Limit Hold’em tournament format where the second-best hand wins the pot.

Heads-up poker aficionados will have six events to choose from, with two No Limit Hold’em heads-up tournaments, a heads-up PLO tournament, a heads-up Big O (five card Omaha), a heads-up Mixed Game, and a heads-up Women’s Event all on the schedule.

The popularity of the Mind Sport format that made its debut at the recent APT Taipei 2026 sees the return of a combined Chinese chess and poker, traditional chess and poker, and Go and poker tournament formats return for the APTC 2026, with an additional fourth yet to be decided Mind Sport to be added as well.

The APT Championship 2026 promises to be the highlight of an APT season that has already broken multiple tour records this year, and with the APT also celebrating its 20-year anniversary, that trend looks set to continue. See you in Taipei!

CHAMPIONSHIP EVENTS

Key festival highlights include:

  • Asia Gaming Industry Championship: Nov 12 – TWD 13,000/~USD 415 buy-in
  • National Cup Championship (TWD 20,000,000 GTD): Nov 13-15 – TWD 16,000/~USD 510 buy-in
  • Mystery Bounty Championship sponsored by Natural8 (TWD 15,000,000 GTD): Nov 15-16 – TWD 35,000/~USD 1,100 buy-in
  • Ultra Stack Championship (TWD 25,000,000 GTD): Nov 16-18 – TWD 25,000/~USD 800 buy-in
  • 7-Max Championship: Nov 16-17 – TWD 85,000/~USD 2,700 buy-in
  • PLO Championship: Nov 17-18 – TWD 70,000/~USD 2,200 buy-in
  • PLO High Roller Championship: Nov 18-19 – TWD 165,000/~USD 5,200 buy-in
  • Natural8 Cup Championship (USD 1,000,000 GTD): Nov 18-21 – USD 3,300 buy-in
  • Micro Main Event Championship: Nov 19-21 – TWD 16,000/~USD 510 buy-in
  • Single Day High Roller Championship: Nov 19 – USD 10,000 buy-in
  • Women’s Championship: Nov 19-20 – TWD 35,000/~USD 1,100 buy-in
  • Super High Roller Championship: Nov 20-22 – USD 25,000 buy-in
  • Mixed Games Championship: Nov 20-21 – TWD 70,000/~USD 2,200 buy-in
  • Superstar Championship: Nov 22-23 – USD 50,000 buy-in
  • APT Championship Main Event (USD 5,000,000 GTD): Nov 23-27 – USD 10,000 buy-in
  • Mini Main Event Championship: Nov 24-26 – TWD 35,000/~USD 1,100 buy-in
  • Micro High Roller Championship: Nov 25-26 – TWD 160,000/~USD 5,100 buy-in
  • Teams Championship: Nov 26 – TWD 35,000/~USD 1,100 buy-in
  • High Roller Championship: Nov 26-28 – USD 15,000 buy-in
  • Freezeout Championship: Nov 27-28 – TWD 65,000/~USD 2,000 buy-in
  • Mini High Roller Championship: Nov 27-29 – USD 7,500 buy-in
  • Turbo Championship: Nov 28 – TWD 35,000/~USD 1,100 buy-in
  • Trip Saver Championship (TWD 5,000,000 GTD): Nov 28-29 – TWD 50,000/~USD 1,600 buy-in
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