The first major government-approved live poker tournament in the Kingdom of Thailand will crown a winner today at UOB LIVE in then heart of Bangkok on the final day of the 2025 WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition. Out of a huge field of 2,337 entries in the 37,000 Thai Baht Championship Event, only 14 players remain and have their exes set on the largest slices of the 75,488,000 Thai Baht (~$2,325,052) prize pool in travel funds.
Ten different countries and regions will be represented en route to crowning a champion today and South Korea's Duhan Lee leads the way with a stack of 16,175,000, followed by Hong Cai (13,750,000) and Haoran Sun (13,400,000) from China.
The trio at the top of the leaderboard is followed by Philipp Zukernik (9,500,000) and Alex Lee (8,825,000), the latter of which is the most experienced of the finalists on paper. However, the stack sizes are quite shallow and it is everyone's game in a fast-paced environment.
Five players are in immediate danger with four big blinds or fewer and that also includes Nikhil Kedia from India, who only has 750,000 at his disposal. He had finished fourth in the Opening Freeroll for THB 200,000 a few days ago and will be looking for another final table appearance despite the major chip disadvantage.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Duhan Lee | South Korea | 16,175,000 | 27 |
| 2 | Hong Cai | China | 13,750,000 | 23 |
| 3 | Haoran Sun | China | 13,400,000 | 22 |
| 4 | Amit Ashkenazi | Israel | 10,025,000 | 17 |
| 5 | Philipp Zukernik | Canada | 9,500,000 | 16 |
| 6 | Alex Lee | Singapore | 8,825,000 | 15 |
| 7 | Atsunobu Konishi | Japan | 6,275,000 | 10 |
| 8 | Allen Nielsen | Denmark | 5,650,000 | 9 |
| 9 | Mingzhe Zhang | China | 4,250,000 | 7 |
| 10 | Hoai Lam Vu | Vietnam | 2,300,000 | 4 |
| 11 | Manabu Sato | Japan | 2,225,000 | 4 |
| 12 | Shaohung Yu | Taiwan | 900,000 | 2 |
| 13 | Nikhil Kedia | India | 750,000 | 1 |
| 14 | Chi Wei Lo | Taiwan | 575,000 | 1 |
The final day will recommence at 6 p.m. local time on the sixth floor of the Emsphere Mall and marks the conclusion of an incredible first live poker series in Thailand after the card game had been recognised as a sport right before the start. Held in cooperation between PokerTalk Thailand and WPTGlobal, the debut of this brand live poker environment in South East Asia sparks further growth in the years to follow.
All finalists have locked up at least 721,000 Thai Baht ($22,207) in travel funds and the winner can look forward to the top prize worth 11,477,000 Thai Baht ($353,497). Furthermore, the winner will also receive the $10,400 seat for the 2025 WPT World Championships at the Wynn Las Vegas in December.
Recommencing blinds for level 35 will be 300,000-600,000 with a big blind ante of 600,000. All levels continue to last 20 minutes each and the conclusion of this event will be streamed on the YouTube channel of PokerTalk Thailand. All PokerNews updates for both tables will be published on a delay in synch with the 30-minute security delay.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Travel Funds in THB | Value in USD |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11,477,000 THB | $353,497 |
| 2 | 7,620,000 THB | $234,699 |
| 3 | 5,658,000 THB | $174,269 |
| 4 | 4,231,000 THB | $130,317 |
| 5 | 3,201,000 THB | $98,592 |
| 6 | 2,442,000 THB | $75,215 |
| 7 | 1,879,000 THB | $57,874 |
| 8 | 1,458,000 THB | $44,907 |
| 9-10 | 1,142,000 THB | $35,174 |
| 11-12 | 902,000 THB | $27,782 |
| 13-14 | 721,000 THB | $22,207 |
