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Taipei, Taiwan. Malaysia is the champion of the 2026 WPF Asian Nations Cup. After three days of team poker, from October 20 to 22, at Asia Poker Arena, during the TMTC 2026 festival, the Malaysian team closed the final with 73 points, ahead of host Taiwan (61) and the Philippines, the 2025 champions, who took third place from Thailand on a tiebreaker after both teams finished on 49 points.
Sanctioned by the World Poker Federation (WPF) and hosted by the Asian Poker Sports Association (APSA), the second edition of the Nations Cup brought together nine teams: Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Macau played the competition for the first time. Along with the title, Malaysia won eight seats to the TMT Championship 2026 Main Event, contributed by TMTC.
From Second Place to the Title
The Nations Cup is decided by the team, not by one player. Each country fields six players, and every heads-up win, every final table finish and every bounty adds to the national total.
- Day 1, qualifying: every player played two heads-up matches.
- Day 2, qualifying: three players per team entered a No-Limit Hold’em tournament and three an escalating bounty tournament.
- Day 3, final: the top four teams carried a bonus from qualifying (8, 5, 3 and 0 points) into three rounds of heads-up matches and single-table tournaments.
Host Taiwan dominated qualifying with 219.51 points, well ahead of Malaysia (151.43), Thailand (122.62) and the Philippines (121.61), and started the final with the largest bonus. Malaysia, carrying five bonus points, turned the final around and finished twelve points clear. The fight for the podium went to the last count: the Philippines and Thailand were level on 49 points and on heads-up results, and the single-table tournaments (29 to 26) gave third place to the defending champions.
Final Standings
| Place | Team | Final points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malaysia | 73 |
| 2 | Taiwan | 61 |
| 3 | Philippines | 49 (tiebreaker) |
| 4 | Thailand | 49 |
Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Singapore and South Korea completed the field in qualifying.
Individual Rankings
Alongside the team title, the Nations Cup ranks every player. Both individual races were decided by a single point.
| Ranking | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Lu Qi En (Taiwan), 46 pts | Supanut Wannasangkhum (Thailand), 45 | Huang Yu Hsiang (Taiwan), 43 |
| Women | Hazel Tan (Malaysia), 20 pts | Yoo Eunjung (South Korea), 19 | Tan Li Ping Jice (Singapore), 17 |
The individual winners received tournament credits from the Asian Poker Tour (APT) and the Asian Poker League (APL), which supported the event together with TMTC. Hazel Tan’s women’s title completed a double for Malaysia.
The successful conclusion of the 2026 WPF Asian Nations Cup marks another important milestone. This event is about much more than winning a trophy. Together, we are shaping the future of competitive poker in Asia.
Raymond Wong, Secretary General of APSA
Nine national teams, one shared format and a new champion: the Nations Cup shows how fast team poker is growing in Asia. This is what the WPF stands for, players representing their countries in a sport with common rules. Congratulations to Malaysia, and thank you to APSA, TMTC, APT and APL for building this competition with us.
Leonardo Cavarge, CEO of the World Poker Federation
A Competition That Keeps Growing
The first WPF Asian Nations Cup, in October 2025, had eight teams and ended with the Philippines one point ahead of Korea. One year later, the field grew to nine teams, a new champion was crowned and the host nation finished on the podium. The format stayed the same, built on the sporting principles the WPF promotes: national representation, standardized rules and cumulative scoring across different formats.
The Nations Cup was one of three WPF events held inside TMTC 2026, a landmark week for the WPF in Taiwan, together with the Taipei stop of the WPF Ladies Weekend and the Poker TDA + WPF Continental Summit: Asian Edition.
Venue: Asia Poker Arena, B1, No. 80, Section 1, Jianguo N. Rd., Zhongshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. Full results report: So Much Poker.
