All that sat in front of the American tournament pro were five chips — in total they amounted to two-thirds of a big blind.
He had just doubled up Erik Seidel and was in the big blind the next hand, automatically all-in, but then the comeback kicked in and he was unstoppable.
He began the final day third in chips, continuing to steamroll his way through the field until it was all over and he was in possession of his third WSOP gold bracelet.
“It still doesn’t feel real. 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.”
When asked how he kept it all together being on the brink of elimination, Wang said:
“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.Â
“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.”
Action Recap
After three days of intense action, it all came down to the final seven contenders from a starting field of 874 entries.
There was $1,394,579 up top for the winner and each player at the table was guaranteed at least $182,983.
Alex Foxen started with the smallest stack but was still seen as a major threat, but alas, his pocket queens and a wrap draw wasn’t good enough to overcome Wang’s top pair.
Javier Francort’s situation wasn’t much better than Foxen’s. He started with a similar size stack and pretty much followed the American away from the table.
Quan Zhou, Wang and Sean Rafael were all now jockeying for position at the top of the counts, making a favourite tough to call. But it was Zhou who bolted first, extending his lead by knocking out Melad Marji.
Wang then pulled him back in, winning a nice pot with trip fives against Zhou’s two pair.
During the previous hands, Rafael failed to capitialise on his chances before running into a flopped set held by Wang to leave him bereft of chips, setting up a three-way battle for the bracelet and title.
This next period of play took more than two hours and ended with Wang taking pot after pot from Zhou until the man from China picked the worst spot to fight back.
Zhou thought his pocket queens and straight draw would be enough short-stacked on a king-high board, but Wang’s pocket aces and an identical open-ender sent his rival home and set up the heads-up match for the title.
Wang started with a 2-1 advantage over Michael Zulker but it really didn’t affect much in the end. Only a few hands after the match started, Zukler suffered a massive cooler when his inferior full house looked good enough to stack off with.
Wang walked over to shake his opponent’s hand before raising his arms in triumph and celebrating with his family, friends, and fans on the rail.
Event #74: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Michael Wang | United States | $1,394,579 |
| 2 | Michael Zulker | United States | $929,688 |
| 3 | Quan Zhou | China | $650,567 |
| 4 | Sean Rafael | United States | $462,451 |
| 5 | Melad Marji | United States | $334,017 |
| 6 | Javier Francort | Netherlands | $245,194 |
| 7 | Alex Foxen | United States | $182,983 |
| 8 | Simeon Tsonev | Bulgaria | $138,863 |
