Welcome to the Asia Poker Round-Up — your weekly snapshot of major tournaments, breakout players, featured poker rooms, and the latest industry news across the region.
Live Event Reports
PokerStars LIVE Manila Super Series 22, Okada, Manila, Philippines (June 6-15)
The Manila Super Series 22, held at PokerStars LIVE Manila in Okada, runs from June 6 to 15, 2025, across 39 events. The ₱18,500 Main Event (USD 332) with a ₱10 million guarantee (USD 179,453) begins today on June 12 with four starting days, culminating in the final on June 15.
Early results include wins in the opening events: Japanese pro Masafumi Kimura topped the ₱5,000 Warm‑Up (402 entries) to collect ₱209,800 (USD 3,752), while Yen Huang Ting from Taiwan took down the ₱6,500 Turbo flight for ₱177,000 (USD 3,170). Additionally, in the ₱4,400 + 600 “Win the Button” Hyper Turbo, Masayuki Suzuki (Japan) emerged victorious, earning ₱53,500 (USD 960).
Among the standout side events underway are the ₱12,500 (USD 225) Mystery Bounty (₱2M guaranteed) and ₱35,000 High Roller (₱1M guaranteed), both scheduled to conclude during the Main Event’s final stages.
Super Cup Busan (June 2-9)
From June 2–9, 2025, the Super Cup Busan took place at Paradise Casino Busan, marking the third stop of this emerging Korean poker series. Featuring 22 tournaments and a KR₩ 1 billion (USD 700,000) total guarantee, the festival showcased a range of events like the Kick-Off, Busan Cup, Mystery Bounty, High Roller, and Super High Roller.
Attendance was notably strong, particularly in the Main Event, with 1,000 entries driving the prize pool well past its KR₩ 500 million guarantee to reach KR₩ 750 million (USD 525,000). Lee Jun Kyu took the title, earning KR₩ 103 million (UD 75,765) after a deal.
Other key events also surpassed their guarantees: the Kick-Off (300 entries, KR₩ 84M pool), Busan Cup (300 entries, KR₩ 126M pool), Mystery Bounty (400 entries, KR₩ 240M pool), High Roller (200 entries, KR₩ 240M pool), and Super High Roller (59 entries, KR₩ 200.6M pool).
By the festival’s end, 22 titles had been awarded, with Korean players claiming 14 of them. The festival also set the stage for Super Cup’s next stop in Incheon, scheduled for October 2-12, 2025.
Ace Poker League, Taipei, Taiwan (June 7-16)
The Ace Poker League has returned to Taipei, running from June 7-16, 2025, at the CTP Asia Poker Arena in Red Space. This year’s festival features 70 events and a total guarantee of NT$45 million (USD 1.5 million), headlined by the NT$26,000 Main Event with a NT$21 million (USD 695,000) guarantee.
The opening events saw early champions emerge, including the conclusion of the APL Kick-Off (NT$10,000 buy-in, NT$3M guarantee), and the festival has progressed with the Mystery Bounty, Super High Roller, and Mini Main Event already underway.
While Main Event Day 1 flights began June 11, the early leaderboard spotlight belongs to Chiachi Lin, who won the Kick-Off heads-up deal, earning NT$670,220 over runner-up Chiawei Hsu’s NT$682,200 prize.
Current/Upcoming events in June
- 7-16 June: Ace Poker League Taipei, Taiwan
- 13-15 June: Singapore Poker Championships XVII, Singapore
- 16-25 June: AAPT Season I, Laos
- 17-23 June: Korea Poker Cup Series 2, South Korea
- 4-13 July: RDPT Jeju II, South Korea
- 10-28 July: Taiwan Millions Tournament TMT 18
- 15-21 July: AJPC Samurai Circuit, Philippines
- 17-21 July: Japan Poker Open Tour – JOPT, Tokyo, Japan
- 23 July-4 August: PokerStars APPT Manila, Philippines
Asia Player Spotlight
In this section we use the poker results database The Hendon Mob to highlight big recent wins by Asian players.
Xixiang Luo (China)
Xixiang Luo won the first Asian bracelet at the World Series of Poker this year. He took down the wild Event #24: $1.500 PLO Double Board Bomb Pot for $290,400. You could say he is the defending champion of this event, though it has been a slight variation to last year’s $1.500 Mixed: NLHE; PLO Double Board Bom Pot that Luo had also won.
Chang Lee (South Korea)
Not only was this Chang Lee’s first-ever WSOP event, it was just the second tournament he had ever played. A South Korean high-stakes cash game regular, Lee had never bothered with the tournament circuit—until now. He came to Las Vegas with one goal: to play and win the prestigious $25,000 High Roller. He studied, prepared specifically for this single event, and made it count. Against all odds, and with virtually no tournament résumé, Lee outmaneuvered a field of elite professionals to capture his first bracelet and nearly $2 million, turning preparation and confidence into one of the most unlikely victories of the summer.
Poker Room Spotlight – The Venetian, Macau
The Venetian Macau, operated by Las Vegas Sands, is one of the largest integrated resorts in the world and a key destination for live poker in Asia. The venue’s poker offering is anchored by the Poker King Club, which gained global recognition as the home of the famous high-stakes “Macau Big Game.” While poker is far less dominant than baccarat in the local market, The Venetian remains Macau’s most prestigious venue for serious poker action.
Playing at The Venetian
The poker room at The Venetian typically hosts mid- to high-stakes cash games, with limits such as HKD 100/200 (~USD 12/25) or 200/400 (~USD 25/50) being common. The player pool is diverse, including local grinders, wealthy businessmen from across Asia, and international visitors. Action is often loose and aggressive, particularly at higher stakes, and waiting lists can grow quickly—arriving early is recommended. While daily tournaments are not a staple, the room becomes a hub during major poker festivals, such as those run by PokerStars LIVE. The atmosphere is upscale, service is professional, and facilities are on par with international standards. However, players should be prepared for higher rake and larger minimum buy-ins compared to smaller regional venues.
Legal Status of Poker in Macau
Live poker is fully legal in Macau and regulated under the city’s gaming laws (originally Law 16/2001, most recently amended by Law 7/2022). Poker is treated as a casino table game and is subject to licensing and oversight by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ).
In contrast, online poker is not regulated in Macau. While there are no specific laws banning online play for individuals, there is also no licensing framework for online poker operators. This legal grey area means that while players often access international platforms, they do so at their own risk. Ongoing legislative changes could further tighten rules around unlicensed remote gambling. Macau operates under the “one country, two systems” principle, allowing it to maintain a legal gambling industry despite China’s strict anti-gambling stance. As a result, live poker remains viable and legally protected within licensed casino venues, but online poker remains unofficial and potentially precarious.
Asia Legislation & Industry
Subic Sun Resort Set to Open in December with AI Casino Security
The Subic Sun Resort, Convention & Casino is scheduled to officially open in December 2025 in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Philippines. Spanning six hectares on a former U.S. naval base, the development will include a luxury casino, a state-of-the-art convention center, 500 guest rooms across two Accor-branded hotels (Ibis Styles and Mercure), a duty-free shopping zone, recreational facilities, and a themed American country club-style experience.
A standout feature of the project is its incorporation of AI-driven video-surveillance, provided by IvedaAI. The system was selected early in development to optimize camera placement and integrate real-time analytics, enhancing security, reducing blind spots, and allowing rapid incident response—while also providing operational insights to cut costs and improve guest service. This move reflects a broader industry trend toward leveraging AI in hospitality, and marks Iveda’s first major hotel-casino deployment in the Philippines, carried out by its local joint venture, Iveda Philippines.
Overall, the Subic Sun Resort is positioned as a modern, multi-use destination that combines luxury lodging, events, and gaming—supported by next-gen security technology—and is expected to play a significant role in driving tourism and business investment in the region.
Article source: World Casino News
Macau Set to Close Nine Satellite Casinos by End of 2025
Macau’s gaming landscape is undergoing a significant shift: Nine satellite casinos—smaller gaming outlets licensed by major operators—will close by December 31, 2025, marking the end of the transitional sub‑licensing model under Law 7/2022. This phase-out affects around 480 gaming tables, 270 slot machines, and nearly 6,000 employees, all of whom the Labor Affairs Bureau has pledged to support through reassignments.
Operators like SJM Holdings face the biggest operational shift, as nine of the affected outlets are under its remit. Analysts from JP Morgan and Citigroup warn that integrating staff into flagship properties (like Grand Lisboa and Grand Lisboa Palace) could lead to increased wage burdens and potential dilution of table utilization. Regulators maintain the closures are commercial decisions by concessionaires and are not expected to significantly impact Macau’s overall gross gaming revenue.
Article sources: Yogonet & AGB
