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The phrase “a chip and a chair” has been commonplace among tournament poker players for decades, referencing Jack Straus’ 1982 Main Event victory after being left with a single chip.

Longtime tournament grinder Michael Wang found himself in a similar position yesterday after doubling up Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel in a hand that left Wang with just 65,000. Down to his last five chips, worth two-thirds of a big blind at the time, Wang was all in automatically the next hand just from posting the big blind. His elimination seemed all but guaranteed.

Instead, Wang pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in WSOP history, earning double up after double up until he ended the night with the second-largest stack on the penultimate day. Wang followed that up with a dominant final day performance leading to a victory in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for his third bracelet and a career-best score of $1,394,579.

Event #74: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship Final Table Results

Winner’s Reaction

“It still doesn’t feel real,” the newly crowned champion commented following his victory. “The first one felt amazing. It was my first year of doing this full-time, and it happened right away. It felt like I didn’t deserve it. The second one was more validating, and now that it’s number three… It’s that feeling, but even more so. Obviously, I ran amazingly, but it doesn’t feel like a fluke anymore.”

Wang described being left with less than one big blind the day before, and on keeping a level head once he began making a comeback.

“Honestly, it felt like a freeroll at that point. I already thought I had busted because when I lost that all-in that left me super short, I didn’t realize that I covered him by a little bit. With two-thirds of a big blind, there were no expectations, no pressure. The very first hand after I was left short, I was automatically all in from the big blind. I won that to triple up. I thought it would be funny if I somehow won. For that to happen, it’s just so unreal.”

Although the majority of Wang’s biggest cashes come from no-limit hold’em events, he’s no stranger to Omaha and he touched on his experience with the four-card variant.

“I have a bit of a background in PLO cash, more recently PLO tournaments. I’m not going to say I’m the best PLO player in the world. Wait, can I say that after winning this? I feel comfortable, and I’ve done some studying.”

Final Day Action

Just seven players remained going into the final day from a field of 874 entries, all of whom were guaranteed at least $182,983. Start-of-day chip leader Quan Zhou and Sean Rafael exchanged several pots early on for the chip lead but Wang scored the first knockout of the day. Alex Foxen had started the day short-stacked and got his last chips in with a pair of queens and a wrap, but failed to improve against Wang’s top pair. Foxen was immediately followed out the door by fellow start-of-day short stack Javier Francort, who lost a preflop race to Rafael immediately after laddering up.

Following Francort’s elimination Zhou, Wang and Rafael were close together at the top of the counts while Melad Marji and Michael Zulker were short. Zhou started to extend his lead over the other two players after making the nut-flush to eliminate Marji in another preflop race, but Wang closed the gap between him and Zhou after getting value with trip fives against Zhou’s two pair.

Rafael’s stack had slowly dwindled over the last few levels, but he found himself in an excellent spot to double holding aces against Wang, who had ace-king and two fours. A miraculous four on the flop left Rafael drawing thin and he became the next final table casualty after failing to improve while Wang pulled nearly even with Zhou going into three-handed play.

For nearly two hours the final three players battled, with Zulker doubling through Wang, and then Zhou to stay in contention. Wang remained near the top of the counts, winning several pots postflop off of Zhou who found himself short-stacked for the first time since play began. Zhou needed to make a move but did so at the wrong time, committing his stack against Wang with pocket queens and an open-ended straight draw on a king-high board. Wang had him crushed with pocket aces and the same straight draw, and held to send the high roller out in third.

Wang entered heads-up play with nearly a 2:1 chip lead over Zulker and it only took a few hands for a massive cooler to develop. Wang flopped top boat in a single-raised pot only for Zulker to turn an inferior full house. Wang bet the flop and turn before asking for all of it on the river. Zulker couldn’t get away and called with tens full of aces only for Wang to turn over jacks full of tens. Wang raised his hands in the air in celebration of his third bracelet victory before shaking his opponent’s hand and going on to celebrate with his rail.

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