Michael Wang Made ‘One More Shot’ Count with WPT Playground Title

After spending two months crisscrossing the globe, playing poker across four continents, it would have been easy for Michael Wang to fly home once he finally set foot back in North America.

But after Spain, Australia, Taiwan and Cyprus, playing World Poker Tour, European Poker Tour and Asian Poker Tour events along the way, Wang left the door open for one more stop.

“I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I knew I’d be coming back to the States,” Wang said. “I booked the flight from Cyprus to New York, and from JFK I could basically fly anywhere in the States pretty easily. I wound up going to a concert in Chicago, and from there I had the option to go back home to Vegas or go to Montreal.”

After traversing the world together playing poker, Wang and his girlfriend decided to diverge – Wang headed north, and his girlfriend returned to Las Vegas.

“I was a little bit unsatisfied, because most of the stops hadn’t panned out great financially,” Wang said. “Even though they were a lot of fun, I was stuck – Barcelona, I was down a little bit, but Australia, Taiwan and Cyprus weren’t pretty. So I was like, ‘Oh, you know, let me give it one more shot and see what I can do’.”

Going to Montreal was a decision that ultimately worked out spectacularly well for Wang. After adding a Canadian stamp to his passport, Wang’s trip to Playground ended with him as a member of the WPT Champions Club. Wang banked $276,634 USD, the signature title belt and the third major live title of his career.

The first thing Wang did after winning WPT Playground was to reconnect with his girlfriend and traveling companion via FaceTime.

Thus far, 2024 has been one of the busiest years of Wang’s career, and he’s well on track to cross $1 million in live cashes for the third consecutive year with career live earnings of over $6.6 million. But until he stepped into the winner’s circle at WPT Playground, across 50+ cashes Wang had managed just two outright victories this year, both in side events during festivals in Houston. There had been close calls abound, including a narrow miss of a third career WSOP bracelet at the start of the summer.

That intensified during his trips to Europe, Australia and Asia, with only one final table along the way. Some players might have retreated to Las Vegas to reset and get ready for a busy final two months of the year. But between his experience and confidence, Wang did what felt right in making the trip to Montreal.

“For me personally, I guess I feel like I always have a shot in tournaments,” said Wang. “No matter how much you’re stuck, you always have a chance to crawl out. I’ve never felt bad with a bad result – I feel the worst when I feel like I punted or played really bad, because that’s the only thing you can control in the long run. You’re going to drive yourself crazy if you sweat the day-to-day.

“At the same time, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t affecting me a bit. The swings that you can go through in poker are absolutely nuts. I was like, ‘Man, this, you know, this really sucks.’ There were a couple days where I was like, ‘Oh man, am I even good at poker?’ But it’s nice to finally run good in this last stop, so it all worked out.”

Wang’s been after a WPT title for a decade, with a ninth-place finish in his first ever Championship event back in 2015. He also had a seventh place finish and an 11th in the ensuing years, and despite success on almost every other front in his career a final table and a victory simply eluded him on the WPT. Over the last three years he’s been particularly vigorous in that pursuit, recording cashes in Florida, all over California, Las Vegas, Korea, and Oklahoma.

Montreal would ultimately serve as the breakthrough on both fronts. In the 12 hours between winning WPT Playground and departing for home, the victory sank in for Wang in ways he couldn’t have anticipated.

“Seeing the money laid out in front of me in multiple ways made it feel real,” said Wang. “I received the payout in cash, and I exchanged all the Canadian dollars for US dollars. Then at customs, they wanted to count out all the money. Luckily, they didn’t actually follow through with that – they started and then they realized it was going to take forever without a counter.

“I’ve also been taking this big belt trophy around with me. All of these physical reminders, and I’ve been getting a lot of well wishes and congratulations on social media. People are really thoughtful and supportive.”

Wang will be quite active as WPT Season XXII reaches its crescendo. He’s planning on being at both the WPT bestbet Scramble in Jacksonville and the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open, before heading home to Las Vegas, where he’s already got his seat in the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas locked up for December.

Between the financial opportunities and the destination all over the world, Wang has become one of the most active players on the World Poker Tour over the last few years. Wang’s victory in Montreal was his third WPT Championship Event cash of 2024, putting him in the top five of a race for another major milestone to cap off a potential career year – WPT Player of the Year honors.