Hong Kong's poker paradox: 2,615 ranked players, $45m at the top, and not one licensed table
The Hendon Mob's Hong Kong all-time money list now ranks 2,615 players, led by Daniel Chi Tang on $45,253,977. Read alongside the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau's published gambling policy, the list describes a territory that produces high-stakes poker players and licenses nowhere for them to play: under the Gambling Ordinance all gambling is illegal apart from Jockey Club horse racing, football betting and the Mark Six, licensed premises such as mahjong parlours, and a social-gambling exemption.
Two documents read on the same day make Hong Kong one of the odder poker markets anywhere.
The first is the Hendon Mob's Hong Kong all-time money list, which ranked 2,615 players when we read it on 4 October 2026. Daniel Chi Tang leads it with $45,253,977, Elton Tsang follows on $31,479,299, and Winfred Yu is third on $14,116,379. Around thirty Hong Kong players have passed a million dollars in recorded live earnings; below roughly $700,000 the list thins out quickly, and the margins in the middle are tiny — 20th place trails 19th by under $2,000, and four names between 25th and 29th are separated by about $40,000 in total.
The second is the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau's gambling policy page, last revised on 29 September 2026. It states that the bureau's policy is to restrict gambling opportunities to a limited number of authorised and regulated outlets, and that under the Gambling Ordinance (Cap. 148) all gambling activities are illegal except three things: activity authorised under the Betting Duty Ordinance, meaning authorised horse racing, authorised football betting and the Mark Six lottery, all run by The Hong Kong Jockey Club; premises licensed by public officers appointed by the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, for which the bureau's own example is mahjong parlours; and activity exempted under section 3 of the ordinance, which the bureau describes as mainly social gambling.
Poker is in none of the three categories. There is no casino in Hong Kong, no licensed poker room and no licensed online poker operator.
The earnings were won elsewhere
That combination explains the shape of the money list. The territory's biggest totals were assembled outside it — in Macau, around Asia, and on the Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegro, Cyprus and London. Winfred Yu's three largest recorded cashes are a Triton Million seat in London, a short deck event in Budva and a short deck title in Kyrenia; not one of them was played in Hong Kong. Short deck hold'em at high stakes has been a Hong Kong speciality for years, and it has been a travelling one throughout.
The bureau is explicit that the restriction is not about any particular game. Its stated reasoning is that demand for gambling is persistent and better regulated than left to unlicensed operators, and that because opinion in Hong Kong is divided on how many authorised outlets there should be, the compromise has been to keep the list short. Poker simply sits outside a list drawn up around racing and the lottery.
What we are publishing, and what we are not
We have now recorded the top thirty-four names on the Hong Kong list, each with the figure as it stood on 4 October 2026 and the page it was read from. What we are not publishing is a venue section or a tournament calendar for Hong Kong, because we have not been able to verify a licensed room or a scheduled live event inside the territory. An honest empty section is worth more than a list of rooms that are not there.
For anyone in Hong Kong for whom poker has stopped being entertainment, the four Ping Wo Fund counselling centres — operated by Caritas, the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, Zion Social Service and Hong Kong Lutheran Social Service — share a gambling counselling hotline on 1834 633. This article is general information and not legal advice.
Read the original at Home and Youth Affairs Bureau – Gambling Policy →
Frequently asked questions
Does Hong Kong license poker?
No. The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau's policy page lists the only lawful categories under the Gambling Ordinance — Jockey Club horse racing, football betting and the Mark Six, premises licensed by appointed public officers such as mahjong parlours, and a section 3 exemption the bureau describes as mainly social gambling. Poker is in none of them.
Who leads Hong Kong's all-time money list?
Daniel Chi Tang, with $45,253,977 in recorded live tournament earnings when the list was read on 4 October 2026.