Season Four of the Taiwan Poker Tour kicked off on October 25, 2011. With much time passing between seasons, a new venue at Barbados, and other big changes, nobody was quite sure what to expect. Would I be playing Mike’s old balls heads-up all night or would some people show up to play? The answer was clear early on, as TPTers showed up early and in droves. By 7:45 p.m., over 100 people had registered to play, and after dust settled, TPT 4 Event #1 saw 117 players take to the felt, smashing the previous record by a full 20 players. 117 Freaking players, take a bow degenerates!

Seats were available for 80 players, and therefore some unlucky registrants had to wait for a seat. Still, all players came in the mindset TPT encourages above all else – let’s have some fun and play a little free poker too. The longest wait was 45 minutes, and these players managed the wait with a great attitude. We are already implementing measures to help increase the number of players we can seat immediately. Anyway, it is not a bad problem to have that lots of people want to meet up, make some friends, and donk off some chips.

Speaking of donking off chips, this seemed to be the specialty of many TPT veterans on Tuesday. Gary “Smoke n Fire” waited 35 minutes for his seat … and then promptly punted his stack on the very first hand. Alistair Cheer, notorious for busting on the “bubble” numerous times last season, had no such worries this time around and was one of the first players eliminated. He also got the biggest applause of the night, not that Mike and I are sad about it. Some guys have it all.

As we approached the top 15 “payout” bubble, things started to get a little tense. Four veterans were among many new faces as the bubble drew near. Accumulating points is the most important aspect of play, as the Top 20 point earners at the end of the season will play for the right to represent TPT at the Macau Poker Cup Main Event in February, 2012. Point standings can be followed all season on the standings page, here.

TPT’s “first couple,” Marcin and Claire both made it to the point payout. Claire picked up 340 points for 14th place and Marcin bested her by two spots, finishing 12th for 387 points. Nick Miller, a part-timer in Season 3, finished on the final table bubble in 10th place, scoring 469 points.

After playing down to a final table of 9, only two TPT veterans remained, Goober and Mac Lin. Ultimately, with blinds eating chip stacks, things came down to who could run good. Mac Lin showed a little TPT karma never hurts. All-in and at risk, Mac’s opponent, Craig Huang, made a straight on the turn. TPT run good saved Mac, however, when the river put a higher straight on the board and the players chopped, both playing the board. Mac eventually went out third, good for 1768 points. The final two players, Brian Chou and Craig Huang, did not muck about. After feeling each other out for just 3 hands, they got it all in pre-flop and the tournament came down to a flip.

Craig Huang won the flip, and in doing so he won the largest TPT event ever played, besting 116 other players. For his efforts, Mr. Huang took home $30 in Pokerstars tournament entries, a Pokerstars jacket, and, most importantly, a massive 2891 points to kick off his Season 4 run toward the title. Congrats, Mr. Huang!

We thank everyone who came out and made Tuesday awesome. We are committed to improving as we get more familiar with the new venue and are working to streamline registration and seat more players immediately. We appreciate each and every person’s opinions, and if you have ideas to make TPT4 better, we would love hear from you.

Now, what do you say, let’s do it again, tonight … 10/27/11 – 7:00 p.m. Barbados Bar.