WPT Prime Taiwan 2023: Pradeep Sharma Claims Two Titles To End Team India’s Run On A High!

The WPT Prime Taiwan concluded on a high note this week, attracting participants for the region’s largest WPT Prime series. The festival, which took place at the Asia Poker Arena from August 8 to 21, 2023, paid about TWD 123,788,800 (USD 3,876,990) with the Main Event setting a new record for the brand with a record 1,359 entrants and a prize pool collection of TWD 39,546,900 (USD 1,236,845).

The festival had a dream ending for Korea’s Seonguk Huh, who shipped the series headliner WPT Prime Main Event, capturing the top prize of TWD 6,319,800 (USD $197,741) and his first-ever Main Event title, which includes a $10,400 seat in the 2023 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.

From Team India, an impressive five players, namely Sriram Manium (72^nd for TWD 92,000), Pradeep Sharma (106^th for TWD 63,000), Sumit Sapra (122^nd for TWD 58,500), Jaruplavath Raju (126^th for TWD 58,500), and Anil Adian (146^th for TWD 55,500) cashed out the main event. 

Among the other player highlights, Hong Kong’s Park Yu ‘Sparrow’ Cheung clinched the player of the festival (POF) after amassing 1,225 points on the back of his five FT finishes, which included:

• Event 4: Mini High Roller Warm Up – 4th place
• Event 13: Hyper Turbo High Roller – 3rd place
• Event 14: Deepstack – 14th place
• Event 19: 8 Max Championship – 3rd place
• Event 32: WPT Prime Taiwan Super High Roller – 4th place
• Event 43: Hyper Turbo – 3rd place

Cheung took the lead on the penultimate day with his third-place finish in the Hyper Turbo and kept his momentum, finally capturing the title. Yen Han ‘Pete’ Chen, the Superstack Classic champion,  narrowly missed out on the title, accumulating 1205 points and finishing runner-up in the POF race.

Team India’s Pradeep Sharma Clinches Two Titles

The WPT series was unforgettable for Team India. India, although being represented by a small contingent, put up a fantastic performance with more than a dozen cashes, including four final table places and two festival wins. Pradeep Sharma made waves among the Indian competitors by winning not one but an impressive two tournaments, being the only Indian to achieve this feat.

It was Sharma’s first trip to Taiwan and what a debut it turned out to be! Talking about his run at the series, he said, “It was my first trip to Taiwan. I flew in for the second part of the series on August 15th and to start on a winning note at the Megastack Accumulator was so sweet. Focus was on the Main Event, was playing well and in the zone to take it deep but unfortunately fell in the wrong end of variance. Nevertheless, it was icing on the cake to take down the Closer Event for a memorable trip.”

Sharma got off to a great start by outlasting the 299 entry field in Event 22: Accumulator and taking home the lion’s share of the TWD 2,900,300 (~USD 90,708) that was shared by the top 38 players.

He walked away with a hefty TWD 637,200 in top prize for winning India its first title at the series. His final face-off was with Singapore’s Bernard Koh who banked TWD 447,100 as the runner-up finisher.

Final Table Payouts (TWD)

1. Pradeep Sharma – 637,200
2. Bernard Koh – 447,100
3. Chang Hao Ming – 287,400
4. Chung Chie Kuan – 180,400
5. Shen Syu Ho – 139,200
6. Peter Ng – 115,300
7. Takayuki Kozakai – 96,900
8. Hsuan Chao Chen – 79,600
9. Shuncheng Siao – 63,70

Five days later, on August 21st, Sharma won another title bringing the series to a close on a high note for Team India. He outlasted the 179-entry field in Event 44: WPT Closer Megastack, which had a TWD 16,500 buy-in and a prize fund of TWD 2,604,500 (USD 81,620). Pradeep won TWD 600,000 for his second series triumph. Pradeep also cashed the Main Event, making him the only Indian with three cashes and a hefty TWD 13,00,200 in combined winnings from the recently-concluded series.

Final Table Payouts (TWD)

1. Pradeep Sharma – 600,000
2. Gene Chan – 526,900
3. Sangbeom Lim – 267,000
4. Yuma Fukuda – 162,400
5. Emmanuel – 125,400
6. Edwin Dela Cruz – 103,900
7. Erique Tan – 88,600
8. Chi Jen Chen – 77,800
9. Jason Loke – 67,600

List of Team India Cashes At WPT Prime Taiwan 2023

At the series, Team India registered more than a dozen cashes. While Pradeep Sharma was the top performer among Indians, there were several other players who performed well. Here’s a quick look!

WPT Prime Taiwan Main Event:

• Sriram Manium (72nd for TWD 92,000)
• Pradeep Sharma (106th for TWD 63,000)
• Sumit Sapra (122nd for TWD 58,500)
• Jaruplavath Raju (126th for TWD 58,500)
• Anil Adian (146th for TWD 55,500)

Event 40: Mini Main Event Freezeout:

• Nageswara Vara (26^th for TWD 19,000),
• Jaruplavath Raju (36^th for TWD 17,100

Team India Cashes Across Other Events:

• Event 20: Megastack – Kaustubh Mahesh (6^th for TWD 31,700)
• Event 34: Deepstack 8 Max – Sumit Sapra (24^th for TWD 20,400)
• Event 35: Freezeout – Jaruplavath Raju (13^th for TWD 38,900)
• Event 46: 10/10/10/10 Finale – Nageswara Vara (7th for TWD 31,300)

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