Dreams still can come true for the amateur players in the modern game.

The 2016 World Series of Poker has been very much a year of the pros with lots of big names winning gold, but it is nice to see that amateurs can still win big.

Hung Le, originally from Vietnam but now living in the US, is an amateur player who runs a nail salon and has five children.

Money is tight for Le, who has never played a major poker tournament before in his life, nor had he ever cashed in a live event, until now.

Event #54: $888 Crazy Eights 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em is a new edition to the WSOP calendar and guaranteed $888,888 to its eventual winner. There were 6,761 entries and re-entries.

Le made some very odd moves at the final table, admitting that he had to gamble against his heads-up opponent because he was too good. First he took the chip lead by shoving over Michael Lech's reraise with Q3, and spiking a 3 to beat the A10 of his opponent. Then he won the bracelet by calling down a stone cold bluff with just a pair of deuces on an Ace high board with a possible flush on it.

However he managed to win, it was a fitting tribute to anyone who believes in the American Dream on the 4th of July. Le commented after that “I have five kids. We are a lower middle class family. We work hard. This is life changing money for us.”

Event #54: $888 Crazy Eights 8-Handed No-Limit Hold'em Position Player Prize 1st Hung Le $888,888 2nd Michael Lech $401,888 3rd Dimitar Danchev $297,888 4th Rafael Yaraliyev $222,888 5th Henry Grunzweig $167,888 6th Loni Harwood $126,888 7th Aurelien Guiglini $96,888 8th Yang Zhang $74,888 Players 1 (6,761)

Barry Carter Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2. Twitter

Google+

Share this with your friends