WPT® Seoul Begins: Inside WPT®’s Historic Korean Debut

The World Poker Tour® has arrived in South Korea for the first time, and WPT® Seoul is underway now.

It's happening from October 30 to November 9, 2026. It's at the INSPIRE Entertainment Resort near Incheon International Airport. The venue brings along a brand-new 70-table poker room, a 46-event schedule, and a flagship Championship. It carries a KRW 1,000,000,000 (roughly $680,000) guarantee when it begins its flights on November 5.

For WPT, with stops across the United States, Europe and much of Asia, Korea has long been a blank space on the map. Not any more.

Here are all the details you need.

This is WPT®'s first-ever festival in South Korea.

The tour is arriving on the Korean peninsula for the first time. It's a sign of how fast poker is growing across the Asia-Pacific region. For years, the APAC calendar ran through Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan and Cambodia. Seoul now joins that map, and it does so at one of the region's most prestigious venues.

It also opens a brand-new home for the game. The YY Poker Club is a purpose-built 70-table room with its own livestream studio. You'll find it in the newly built entertainment space on INSPIRE's second floor. Better yet, WPT® Seoul is the first event ever held there. So it's a tour debut and a venue debut!

The festival runs for 11 days (October 30 – November 9) with 46 events and buy-ins. It spans roughly KRW 300,000 to 8,000,000 (about $200 to $5,400). You'll find something for every bankroll. The big event is the WPT® Seoul INSPIRE Championship:

All figures in Korean won are official. The US-dollar equivalents are approximate and move with the exchange rate.

INSPIRE Entertainment Resort is a landmark integrated resort beside Incheon airport.

A WPT® festival there highlights Korea's ambitions as a regional gaming and entertainment hub. As a foreigner-only integrated resort (the standard model for Korea's international casinos) it naturally draws an international crowd.

This shapes the field. You can expect entrants from across Japan, Greater China and the wider APAC grinder base. You'll also have the visiting pros.

A key note here too. WPT® Tokyo didn't run in 2026, which makes Seoul WPT®'s marquee North Asia stop of the season. The debut carries extra weight because it's the tour's main event in the region this year.

Part of the debut's charm is how accessible the Championship was.

WPT® Global ran online satellites starting at $1.10, feeding packages built around a Championship seat. The classic online-to-live route. One that lets a micro-stakes qualifier turn a few dollars into a seat at a brand-new WPT® final table. A seat on the other side of the world.

It's the same ladder that's sent recreational players to WPT® stops all season. This time it's pointed at the South Korean capital.

Did it beat the guarantee? The headline number as the festival unfolds is whether the Championship field clears that KRW 1 billion floor. A strong debut turnout is the clearest sign the Korean market is ready for a tour stop of this size. The Day 1 entry counts, due once flights begin November 5, are the first thing to track.

A breakout winner. With an international field and an inaugural title on the line, watch who writes their name into the record as the first-ever WPT® Seoul champion. Time will tell whether that's a known APAC pro or an unknown qualifier.

The production. A new 70-table room with a dedicated livestream studio. This means the debut comes with a broadcast to match. It's a perfect venue for a tour planting roots in a new market.

WPT® Seoul comes as part of an Asia-Pacific push.

Taiwan satellites, Cambodia and Cyprus on the calendar. And don't forget the booming Japanese scene. Western tours are capitalising on the region's fast-growing player base. Korea was a missing piece, and now it's here.

For players and fans, it's a big moment. A historic first, a gleaming new room, and a Championship. Follow the livestream and live updates on WPT®'s channels and wptseoul.com.

As the flights play out from November 5, we'll see the champion crowned on November 9.