Poker Writer
The World Poker Tour announced that it will take its tour to the South Korean capital of Seoul, making for a historic tournament. WPT Seoul will run from Oct. 30 through Nov. 9, with the championship event running from Nov. 5-9.
The series will be held at YY Poker Club, which has 70 tables and a dedicated livestream studio. The poker club is located within the INSPIRE Entertainment Resort, on its brand-new second floor. It has a nightclub and bar attached, with a 15,000-seat arena and a five-star hotel.
The resort is conveniently located near Incheon International Airport for foreign visitors. Despite the WPT Seoul branding, INSPIRE Entertainment Resort is quite a distance from the city center, as far as 2 1/2 hours away by public transport from popular areas like Myeongdong and Gangnam.
INSPIRE Entertainment also runs the largest foreigner-only casino in South Korea, Paradise City Casino.
WPT’s First Trip to Seoul
The WPT will make its debut in the South Korean capital, but it is no stranger to the country as a whole. WPT Prime Korea has run on the island of Jeju before, with the most recent series taking place in November 2025.
In 2024, WPT ran two different series in South Korea with WPT Korea in March and April, while the WPT Korea Championship ran in mid-November.
Poker in Korea
WPT Seoul will be a big boost for poker in Korea and mark a change from the number of series that have become common on Jeju Island. WPT, PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour Korea, and Triton Jeju have all held multiple events on the poker-friendly island. Hosting an event in the capital is a shift in the poker landscape in Korea.
Most Korean poker takes place underground, with hold’em pubs being popular in the scene. Seoul is a ripe area for these hold’em pubs, which persist despite recent crackdowns from South Korean authorities. Even though there are few legal avenues for Korean citizens to play, the popularity of the game continues to grow in South Korea.
Can Koreans Play at WPT Seoul?
WPT Seoul, like other poker tournaments in Korea, will be open only to foreign players. A look at the results from various Korean WPT events in the past, like WPT Prime Korea, shows a majority of players cashing from China. There are others from nearby Asian countries as well, with occasional appearances by an American or European player.
A look at the results from the 2024 WPT Korea Main Event shows a couple of players from South Korea. One of them is Tae Han, who regularly appears in the cashing of some of the WPT Korea events. He has New Zealand residency. The other, Jinwoo Kim, lives in Bellevue, Washington.
This indicates that a Korean can play in these events if they have a foreign passport. PokerScout reached out to the WPT to confirm but had not heard back at the time of writing.
