Fittingly, the summit closed with a major announcement that Taipei will now host the TDA Asia Summit annually, cementing its place as Asia’s poker capital. With a world-class arena, thriving local community, and growing international presence, the city is well positioned to anchor this movement.
Few have witnessed that growth more closely than Raymond Wong, a key figure at both CTP and the Asian Poker Sports Association (APSA). For him, Taiwan’s rise isn’t accidental, it’s the result of steady work, smart partnerships, and a little friendly competition.
I think now Taiwan, especially starting 2–3 years ago, it’s been stable. With the effort of David Tai in pushing legalization and with WPF recognizing poker as a sport, I think that it is mature already. Moving forward, it will be a challenge for different branding and associations that will be coming into Taiwan, but we don’t mind that, because the more competition, the more players will be in Taiwan. This is what we want to see too.”
But stability isn’t the end goal, it’s just the beginning. Wong believes the summit was a turning point for regional unification and ambition.
It’s definitely growing, poker in the whole Asia is growing, but I’m looking forward to it being bigger after this TDA meeting, all the industry leaders coming together. Hopefully, Taiwan will become a real Asia hub of poker, but of course, we still have a lot of things to settle. I’m pretty sure with the policy support for visa applications, Taiwan will be very fantastic in the future.
Matt Savage shares the same optimism. “We’re already seeing it,” he said. “During the summer in Las Vegas, many Japanese players have made the trip. And we’re having Chinese players, Taiwanese players, and players from India. It’s exciting to see that, and in the next five years, I think Asian players could become the #1 players in the world.” He also believes Asia’s presence on the global stage will only continue to grow.
The numbers really show it. Every year, the number of players coming from Asia keeps rising. I think this year there were hundreds of Japanese players at the World Series of Poker. It’s not just the players, it’s also the bloggers and influencers like Masato Yokosawa, who are doing a fantastic job of spreading the word and generating excitement about poker.
As organizers packed up and looked ahead to the next edition, one message rang clear – Asia is no longer finding its place in the global poker scene, it’s helping define it.