The World Poker Tour has described the latest edition of WPT Korea as being “bigger and better” than previous editions, with its 28 events attracting a total of 4,146 players from 33 countries and generating combined prize pools of KRW7.63 billion (US$5.6 million).

The festival included a record-breaking WPT Korea main event which drew 1,065 entries with a prize pool of almost US$2 million – ultimately won by Hungary’s Mate Hanusi for KRW434.9 million (US$321,700).

WPT Korea is one of six events announced so far for the Asia-Pacific region in 2024 and one of two “special events” alongside WPT Vietnam Passport to the World Championship in Hanoi in May.

There are three WPT main tour stops this year, with WPT Cambodia having already been run in January and WPT Macau coming up in June, followed by WPT Australia in September. WPT Prime Gold Coast is also due to kick-off later this month.

In an interview with Inside Asian Gaming in December, WPT CEO Adam Pliska provided some insight into the organization’s interest in Asia, stating, “Anybody who’s played any Asian events realizes that the level of enthusiasm is palpable.

“I mean, you have events where it can be the morning of Day 1 and people are seated at the table ready to go and eager, and I think it’s because Asia continues to be in its boom. There is so much poker education and so much great technology out there, and Asia has just run with it.

“You have great opportunities as individual countries have opened up. For a long time, if you think about it, the majority of the large events were not only Western events, they were US-centric events, so to open to a large population who gets it – and now with online poker which is such a major component – it’s massively scalable and I just love those Asian events. I love the enthusiasm there.”