Christopher Michael Soyza
Christopher Michael Soyzais a well-known poker player from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia who emerged from the Asian circuit to climb staggering poker heights specializing in the high stakes game. The 35-year-old currently ranks 3rdin Malaysia’s all-time money list with total live earnings of $16,002,701. Soyza is also one of the new owners of the Asian Poker Tour that is embarking on bringing innovations to the game.
Michael Soyza – Poker Beginnings
Soyza’s first taste of victory in live poker tournaments started in 2011. Clearly a greenhorn, he barely cashed in those tournaments. In 2012, however, he won two titles: one for a Pot Limit Omaha event in the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Macau for $10,699, and another for a Deep Stack Turbo No-Limit Hold’em event in APT Manila for $3,050.
His early run was cut short but then three years later, he smashed the 2015 Aussie Millions Poker Championship in Melbourne, winning a title and $111,520 to go with it. The following year, he repeated the same feat for $102,118.
Rising in the Ranks
The back-to-back wins represented a huge upswing in Soyza’s poker career. He managed to replicate the run in 2017. In May of that year, he finished 2ndplace in the Main Event of the Poker King Cup in Macau for $145,812. Several months after, he bagged a title for a High Roller event of the Macau Poker Cup 27, scooping $260,552 in the process.
Positively buoyed by this success, 2018 saw an uptick in Soyza’s participation in live tournaments. In April of that year, he won the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Main Event in Incheon, Korea for $148,629 plus a Pot Limit Omaha side event title. The Malaysian then bagged a third APPT title in August at the Asian Pacific Poker Tour Manila, shipping the High Roller Shot Clock & BB Ante Event for $59,891.
The year also saw him take his chances at the mecca of poker, Las Vegas, USA. While there, he took down an astounding $588,249 prize for a title in the DeepStack Championship Poker Series. He also participated in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) circuit with not much success. Barely past the middle of the year, he snagged yet another huge prize amounting to $344,086 for winning a title in the European Poker Tour (APT) Barcelona, Spain.
High Roller achievements
Not quite done with the year and with plenty of ammo to join tournaments with larger prize pools, Soyza took part in Leon’s High Roller event in the WSOP Europe circuit and won $592,594 for his 3rdplace finish. A month later, he booked two high roller events in the Jeju Red Dragon 2018 circuit at 2ndand 3rdplaces for a combined payday of $501,787 to close out the year.
However, this proved merely to be a prelude to the year Soyza will have in 2019. In March, he returned to Jeju to play the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series. Beating tough competition, he managed to win the title and an astounding $1,420,581 – his first million-dollar cash. He immediately backed this up with a fourth Asia Pacific Poker Tour title, ruling the Super High Roller Event for an additional $157,164. In August, he played the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series again, this time in August. He placed 4thin the Main Event and won another handsome $1,363,027 payday.
Triton High Roller Series: Career best score for Michael Soyza!
Just before the health pandemic closed poker tournaments in 2020, Soyza managed to secure three substantial wins. In the Aussie Millions Poker Championship, he placed 5thfor $290,342. Then in Sochi, he finished two Short Deck events in the partypoker MILLIONS Sochi Super High Roller series at 2ndand 4thplaces for $561,780 and $300,000, respectively.
When live poker returned in 2022, Soyza put up a solid year-round performance, finishing at the top 10 of 14 events, although missing out on a major title. All in all, he won $1,779,473 for the year. But the year was most significant for the young Malaysian as his professional reputation grew and became the new co-owner of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) after it was acquired by a newly formed entity called APT Events Private Limited. This augured well for Soyza as the following year would be the best season in his already flourishing career.
On a High
In 2023, Soyza started his campaign in his home country Malaysia. He won 2ndplace in a Super High Roller event of the Poker Dream Malaysia for $119,174. This was a prelude however to his biggest non-title prize money, finishing runner-up to England’s Talal Shakerchi at the Main Event of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Vietnam for a whopping $2,207,000 – a career best cash to date.
Michael Soyza was on a roll when the month after, he shipped a second Triton crown in Cyprus, smoking a field of high roller heavyweights including Australia’s Michael Addamo, Dan ‘The Cowboy’ Smith and the Belarussian crusher Mikita Badziakouski. It was Badziakouski who Soyza beat in heads-up play and walk away with the title and a third million-dollar payoff amounting to $1,735,000.
The Malaysian continued scorching the felt in October with a deep run at the Triton Super High Roller Series Monte Carlo, Mystery Bounty Event, finishing third for an added cash of $333,000. Soyza closed out the year with a record $5,025,016 in earnings for 2023.
Soyza In 2024
Michael Soyza began 2024 with a final table finish at the NLH 8-Handed Event of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Jeju, banking $ 465,000. In July, he then shipped a fifth APPT title at the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Manila 15, snatching the Super High Roller Event. Soyza bested a 38-entry star-studded field and won over Filipino Mike Takayama to hoist the APPT shard trophy and bink $ 105,255.
Riding the wave of his recent success, Soyza carried his winning momentum into the Poker Dream 11 Malaysia, where he captured the Super High Roller event for back-to-back victories, adding an impressive MYR 869,000 (~$195,200) to his ever-growing list of accomplishments.
*Profile by Mike Alcazaren
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