Hung Le pulled off the second big shock of the 47th Annual World Series of Poker after beating a field of 6,671 entrants to win the $888 Crazy Eights 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event. It was his first appearance at the Series.
Dreams keep coming true for the 47th Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP).
Less than a week after amateur Mitchell Towner shocked the world after wandering through 6,927 players to capture the top prize of $1.1m in the MONSTER STACK, the same thing has happened again in the $888 Crazy Eights 8-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event.
Vietnamese-born, Ohio resident, Hung Le owns a nail salon. Married with five kids. Two of them work in his store. He came to Vegas to compete in the WSOP for the first time in his life. He fired two of the 6,761 bullets creating a $5,403,391 prize pool and now has $888,888 in prize money and a bracelet to polish.
“I have five kids. We are a lower middle-class family. We work hard. This is life changing money for us.” Le told WSOP officials after his win.
It’s victories like these that keep recreational players flocking to the city on an annual basis. The deck is the greatest leveller of all. It doesn’t recognise race, gender, or class. It’s what makes poker so unique.
Not only did Le beat such a large field, but he also had to manoeuvre through a final table containing two very special players. Loni Harwood came to the table as a two-time WSOP bracelet winner and with over $1.8m in cashes. Dimitar Danchev was a former PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event winner and has a second place position recorded in a WSOP event and a European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event. The Bulgarian has earned over $4m in live tournament earnings.
Did I mention that Hung Le owns a nail salon?
Harwood’s tournament came to an end in sixth place when her [Ad] [6s] was looked up by the [Ac] [Qs] of Michael Lech after she had moved all-in from the cutoff. Lech turned and rivered trips to seal that particular deal.
Danchev met his demise in third, and once again it was Lech left holding the bloodied meat cleaver. The pair of them flopping a flush, Lech had the nuts and Danchev did not.
That exit sent Lech into a heads-up battle with a man the WSOP officials dubbed a little bit crazy when it came to the way he played. Le had a sound reason for his strategy.
“It’s the only way I can beat him – he’s too good for me.” Said Le of his heads-up opponent.
The last hand was typical of the way heads-up went for Lech.
Le called from the button before calling a Lech three-bet. The flop was [Ad] [Tc] [4d], Lech bet 900,000, and Le called. The turn was the [8d]. Le bet 1.5m and Lech moved all-in. Now that’s a powerful move. The flush draw gets there, and we have an ace on the board.
“Call.” Said Le.
Le shows pocket deuces for the underpair to the board and a bamboozled Lech shows [Qc] [Jc] for the gutshot. It doesn’t hit, and the German is left wondering where on earth this guy came from?
“I tried to come out to Las Vegas to get lucky,” the winner said afterwards.
Did I mention, he owns a nail salon?
Final Table Results
1. Hung Le – $888,888
2. Michael Lech – $401,888
3. Dimitar Danchev – $297,888
4. Rafael Yaraliyev – $222,888
5. Henry Grunzweig – $167,888
6. Loni Harwood – $126,888
7. Aurelien Guiglini – $96,888
8. Yang Zhang – $74,888
Other notables to run deep included Scott Davies (15th), Simeon Naydenov (16th), and Chris Ferguson (26th).
