Inaugural WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition Championship Event Obliterates Guarantee
Two flights remained for the flagship tournament of the first government-approved live poker series in the Kingdom of Thailand and the attendance was more than doubled in the 2025 WPT Prime Exhibition Championship Event. Thanks to 598 and 551 entries respectively, the prize pool in travel funds soared all the way to 75,487,859 Thai Baht (more than $2.3 Million) thanks to 2,337 total entries and made the groundbreaking partnership between PokerTalk Thailand and WPTGlobal a huge success.
Poker enthusiasts from near and far made their way to the Emsphere Mall in the heart of Bangkok with all 70 tables in the spacious UOB LIVE needed to combat the four-figure entries across both final two flights. Day 1c saw another 75 players advance and a new overall first and second in chips were crowned.
Zhiqiang Meng (1,350,000) and Haiyang Zhang (1,205,000) from China soared to the top and will be in the driver's seat for the penultimate tournament day on Monday, August 4, 2025.
Top 10 Chip Counts After Day 1c
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zhiqiang Meng | China | 1,350,000 | 54 |
| 2 | Haiyang Zhang | China | 1,205,000 | 48 |
| 3 | Sanket Sanganeria | India | 749,000 | 30 |
| 4 | Thiyam Singh | India | 637,000 | 25 |
| 5 | Nan Zhang | China | 627,000 | 25 |
| 6 | Tanupat Punjarojanakul | United States | 612,000 | 24 |
| 7 | Liyu Zheng | China | 608,000 | 24 |
| 8 | Ruiji Xie | China | 571,000 | 23 |
| 9 | Chuan Yu | China | 526,000 | 21 |
| 10 | Adrian Chua | Singapore | 522,000 | 21 |
Meng was involved in bursting the money bubble on Day 1c after notching up several eliminations late on and he would have had even more chips at his disposal if Vladislav Klepikov wouldn't have won the flop with ace-jack against his pocket tens during the final round of all-in showdowns. Instead, it was Israel's Hen Rosilio who lost three preflop all-in showdowns in a row against Atsunobu Konishi to become the last player to leave empty-handed from Day 1c.
Notables to advance with large and playable stacks include Nan Zhang (627,000), Tanupat Punjarojanakul (612,000), Adrian Chua (522,000), Shuang Luo (500,000), Selim Oulmekki (392,000), Lei Wang (323,000), Sungmin Cho (265,000), and 2025 WPT Cambodia champion Artem Vezhenkov (235,000).
The minimum travel fund for all Day 1 survivors is 60,000 Thai Baht while the eventual champion on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, can look forward to 11,477,000 Thai Baht value as travel fund along with an entry to the 2025 WPT World Championship in Las Vegas this upcoming December worth $10,400.
Across all four starting days, a total of 292 players made it through and will be back at 6 p.m. local time on Monday, August 4, 2025 when a maximum of six hours of game play are permitted according to the brand new Thai regulations. Chih Wei Chen was the only participant to bag up chips in multiple flights and was also responsible for bursting the bubble on Day 1d ro secure one min-cash and carry over the larger stack from the opening flight to Day 2.
Recommencing blinds in level 20 will be 10,000-20,000 with a big blind ante of 20,000 and the tournament continues with the same 20-minute level clock to comply with the gaming regulations in Thailand. Expect the opening stages of Day 2 to be a very frantic affair, though, the final table may not be reached before the cutoff time due to the gargantuan field size.
As usual, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to try and capture as many of the key hands as possible en route to crowning a champion throughout the next two days. Live stream action in multiple languages will also be available on the social media channels of PokerTalk Thailand with cards-up coverage and commentary on a 30-minute delay.