Quoclong Pham Wins Big

paigow-pokerIt would be fair to say that the relatively sedate game of Pai Gow Poker, a.k.a. Double Hand Poker, rarely attracts headlines. However, so-called Face Up Pai Gow Poker, which is played with a fully-exposed dealer hand, did so at Harrah’s Las Vegas Casino & Hotel in November, 2021.

Professional player Quoclong Pham, from Vancouver, Washington, was visiting Sin City for business and pleasure and, early in his gambling session, turned up the third highest possible hand in the game. His combined seven-card straight flush – that is, seven consecutive cards of the same suit, one of which was substituted with a ‘semi wild’ joker, as allowed by the rules of the game – was sufficient to win the ‘Mega Progressive Jackpot’ of $1,393,273. Fortunately, Pham was shrewd enough to invest an additional $5 on a side bet that allowed him to qualify for the Mega Progressive Jackpot.

The newly-made millionaire reportedly had no extravagant plans for spending his winnings and intended to put the money away for a rainy day. Understandably non-plussed by the whole affair, Pham said, ‘It’s just surreal. It’ll hit me tomorrow once it hits the account.’

Coincidentally, Pham was not the only lucky gambler to become an instant millionaire. Earlier the same day, at Circa Resort & Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, ‘Nikki’, from Southern California, won a progressive jackpot worth $1,075,234 jackpot on a ‘Wheel of Fortune’ slot machine.

November 2, 2023 by Poker Moments

The Longest Run In Vegas

vegas-300x152It is truly impressive to hold the longest winning streak among all of the big wins. As a result of Archie Karas’ incredible run in Las Vegas, the term ‘The Run’ has become synonymous with his journey.

The Mirage was his first stop in Vegas when Karas arrived with $50 in his pocket. In this environment, he bumped into the same poker player he had met in LA and persuaded him to stake him $10,000. With this bankroll, he played $200/$400 limit Razz and in no time his bankroll grew to $30,000. He paid $10,000 to his backer plus another $10,000 for staking him.

With only $10,000 left, Karas was confident of blowing up his bankroll. A bar was more appealing than the poker tables to him, so he decided to play pool instead. His chance meeting with a high-stakes poker player also occurred here. As soon as they started talking, the two agreed to play high stakes 9-ball pool, in which each game would be played for a $5000 wager.

This player was always referred to as Mr. X by Karas and he would never reveal his real name. In the end, Karas won hundreds of thousands of dollars playing pool. Karas continued to win, and Mr. X raised the stakes to $40,000 per game, but Karas still won.

Binion’s Horseshoe then offered poker tables for the two to play at. Additionally, Karas won $3 million here and quickly accumulated his winnings. One of Kara’s biggest strengths and weaknesses was that he was never afraid to put everything on the line. Without flinching, he was willing to stake his whole bankroll. With $4 million in winnings, he finished this marathon betting session.

As a result of his continued play in Las Vegas, he increased his bankroll within three months to $7 million. It wasn’t long before he gained a reputation as one of the most successful high-stakes poker players in Las Vegas.

April 17, 2023 by Poker Moments

Daniel Colman

daniel-colman-300x300Massachusetts-born Daniel Colman currently ranks seventh on the all-time money list, with live earnings of just shy of $29 million. His position is thanks, in no small part, to the second largest payout in poker tournament history, $15,306,668, which Colman took home after winning the World Series of Poker (WSOP) ‘Big Drop for One Drop’ tournament in 2014. In fact, 2014 proved to be a seminal year for the 23-year-old Colman, who collected four titles, including the European Poker Tour (EPT) Super High Roller event in Monte Carlo and the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Hollywood. Nevertheless, Colman caused controversy by flatly refusing to give interviews after Big Drop for One Drop and later calling poker ‘a harmful game’.

Colman began playing poker as a 17-year-old, in online heads-up sit-and-go tournaments, where he attracted the attention of former hedge fund manager Olivier Busquet, nowadays heralded as one of the best players of that form of poker in the world, who became his sponsor. By his own admission, in 2012, Colman was on the verge of abandoning poker to return to his college studies but, having ‘messed up’ his applications, decided to give the game one last try. The following year, he became the first player of hyper-turbo poker – in which blind levels increase every three minutes or so – in online history to win over $1 million in single calendar year; in fact, in just nine months, Colman amassed a total $1,018,708, before rakeback, on the Pokerstars network.

February 1, 2023 by Poker Players

10 Million Poker Pot Winner

hossein-ensan-300x177The main poker event at the WSOP has traditionally gathered thousands of professional punters who wanted to get to the WSOP Main Event every year.

Being the champion of such a special tournament is one of the greatest honours in the world of gambling. This is why the winners of the Main Event will always have a special place in the history of poker.

Hossein Ensan made history in the poker tournament.

Who is Hossein Ensan?

Here are some interesting facts about the man who cashed out a whopping $10 million prize at the final table of the WSOP event in 2019.

This famous German poker player was born in Iran in 1964. At the age of 25, he decided to move to Germany, which has been his home country ever since. Currently, he resides in the city of Munster. Hossein Ensan used to work as a painter before playing poker professionally. He had been playing poker since he was 18, but only began playing professional poker in 2012.

One of the main tournaments won by Hossein Ensan was the seniors’ event at the European Poker Tour in Barcelona. A week later he finished third, scooping as much as €652,000 at the final table in 2014. After his win in Barcelona, he decided to try his luck at the EPT Malta in 2015 and even made it to the final table; but in the end, he finished sixth. His adventures with EPT continued in Prague when he won the main event and bagged €754,000.

The next lucky year was 2017. He became a winner in a WSOP circuit ring in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. After this event, he accumulated around $2,6 million in profits. All in all, he participated in 36 tournaments before his historical win in 2019.

Hossein Ensan’s German and Iranian fans went wild the moment they learned he had won the $10 million prize pool and a golden bracelet worth $500,000.

December 12, 2022 by Poker Players

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