The latest country to officially recognise poker as a sport has witnessed the start of the first-ever government approved live poker event in Thailand. In Cooperation with WPTGlobal, the special WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition has kicked off on July 31, 2025 in the heart of Bangkok's busy Sukhumvit tourist street and the vast tournament area inside of UOB LIVE was bursting with action for the opening flight of the THB 37,000 Championship Event.
With a guarantee of THB 37 Million in Travel Funds according to the current Thai regulations, the flagship tournament has already attracted a staggering 525 entries in the first of four starting days and a similar figure can be expected today when Day 1b is set to kick off at 6 p.m. local time on the fifth floor of the Emsphere Mall. At the very same time, the remaining 119 players from Day 1a will return to their same tables and seats from last night as well to play to the top 12.5% of the field with 66 players set to advance to the money stages.
This change of plans was required to comply with the regulations in the brand new live poker environment, which only allows for six hours of game play during week days. The same principle will also apply for the second of four flights as well with an adjusted 20-minute level duration and it is expected to bag up for the night upon completion of level 15. The late registration will remain open until the end of level nine and following break at approximately 9.20 p.m. local time.
All PokerNews updates for the opening stages of today will focus on the race towards the bubble for the resumed Day 1a heat before switching to Day 1b thereafter. Another two flights are scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, August 3, 2025 when gaming regulations allow for poker to be played as of noon until midnight local time. Day 1c is scheduled to kick off at noon followed by Day 1d at 4 p.m. local time with both flights foreseen to play down to bursting their respective bubble as well.
The survivors of the four flights have then guaranteed themselves travel packages with a respective value displayed in Thai Baht. It appears very likely that the first major live poker tournament in Thailand will attracted an attendance of four figures and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to catch as much of the bustling action as possible.
Furthermore, the hosting PokerTalk team will also provide updates about the festival on their social media channels along with live-stream action in multiple languages. The winner of the inaugural WPT Prime Thailand Exhibition Championship Event is set to be crowned on August 5, 2025.
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