Huge celebration at the World Series of Poker 2019 with one of Asia’s leading pros, Daniel Tang, achieving the dream at Event #90: US$50K Final Fifty No Limit Hold’em High Roller. Tang overcame the 123 strong field to capture his first-ever bracelet and a bucketful US$ 1,608,406 in winnings.
Tang’s WSOP achievements
For the vast majority, winning at the WSOP can take years upon years of attempts especially with attendance climbing each year. For Tang his first whirl at the world stage was back in 2016 just after nearly shipping the WPT National UK partypoker Main Event finishing 2nd out of 886 runners.
He was greatly inspired by Daniel Negreanu and tweeted,
@RealKidPoker dont care if people thinks this is corny at all. Pretty incredible when you came over to say congratulations to me today. #wasafanstillafan pic.twitter.com/VjA05CUbAK
— Danny Tang (@DannyTang2) July 11, 2019
That year would see Tang cash in 5 WSOP events with his deepest an 8th place finish at the US$1500 No Limit Hold’em Shootout event for US$ 28,101. He didn’t have much success the following year but he did triumph at the €10,300 PokerStars Championship High Roller event in Prague for €381,000. Returning to Las Vegas in 2018, Tang ran deep at the US$ 10K Main Event Championship earning his largest WSOP payout of US$ 230,475 for 31st place.
Running hot in 2019 & joining Natural8 Team Hot
Enter 2019, prior to his monumental victory, Tang already boasted of a spectacular run. He had accrued over US$ 2.1 Million in live earnings since the year began, a majority of it won at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro where he finished 2nd at the Main Event for nearly US$ 1.8 Million. He was also officially announced as one of the newest members of Natural8 Team Hot joining a roster of pros that include Kitty Kuo, Michael Soyza, and Kosei Ichinose.
After shipping the Final Fifty event, Tang expressed to the WSOP media,
“It means absolutely everything. Being one of the ambassadors for Hong Kong and Asia, and to just win the first bracelet in Las Vegas in a No-Limit Hold’em event. It’s just unreal. Words can’t describe it,”
“I think in general in the high stakes community, a lot of people have won a bunch of stuff, whereas I am relatively new to the community and it’s the first No-Limit Hold’em bracelet for Hong Kong. It’s a dream come true.”
This certainly was a big win for the Hong Kong contingent that brought a team of 30+ players to the series. Tang gave Hong Kong its second WSOP gold with Anson Tsang clasping the first in Rozvadov last year. He is currently situated 1st in the GPI Hong Kong ranking and 31st worldwide. The Hendon Mob has him ranked 2nd in the Hong Kong All Time Money List with just over US$ 6 Million in live tournament earnings.
Blessed pic.twitter.com/YdtFMDvLXB
— Danny Tang (@DannyTang2) July 11, 2019
Final Fifty event recap
The Final Fifty High Roller event was a late addition to the WSOP 2019 schedule. The event ran for three days attracting 123 entrants for a prize pool of US$ 5,904,000. World renowned pros in attendance were Mikita Badziakouski, David Peters, Fedor Holz, Daniel Negreanu, and Rainer Kempe however none of them would reach the money. The final day saw seven players return with USA’s Brandon Adams leading the pack.
After the fall of Almedin Imsirovic (7th), Keith Tilston (6th), and Adrian Mateos (5th). Tang jumped to a big lead on a winning straight against Adams then proceeded to amass 80% of the chips in play when he dusted Adams in 4th place. Next to tumble at his hands was Australian pro Michael Addamo in 3rd place. USA’s Sam Soverel managed to double up at heads up but it still wasn’t enough to claim the title. Tang railed Soverel with A-J over A-3.
Final 7 payouts
1st Daniel Tang – Hong Kong – US$ 1,608,406
2nd Sam Soverel – USA – US$ 994,072
3rd Michael Addamo – Australia – US$ 697,375
4th Brandon Adams – USA – US$ 500,282
5th Adrian Mateos – Spain – US$ 367,186
6th Keith Tilston – USA – US$ 275,874
7th Almedin Imsirovic – Bosnia & Herzegovina – US$ 212,292
The event paid out 19 places, among the other cash finishers were: Ben Heath (10th), Cary Katz (12th), Dan Smith (14th), Ognjen Sekularac (17th), and Steffen Sontheimer (19th).
Article by Tricia David
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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