Michael Wang Wins Stairway To Millions Event #5, Moves To Top of PGT Leaderboard

Michael Wang wins 2022 Stairway To Millions Event #5 for $219,300. Wang topped the field of 43 entries to take the title, and with his prize came an entry into Stairway To Millions Event #6: $26,000 NL Hold’em.

Wang is no stranger to the poker scene. He’s been in the industry for more than a decade and entered this event with nearly $3,300,000 in live tournament earnings, with cashes dating back to 2009. Wang has enjoyed plenty of success in poker, including a WSOP gold bracelet win in 2015, but this victory was his first inside the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas.

“I’m feeling really good, obviously,” Wang said with a big smile on his face. “It’s really good to be in an event where it’s so well run. The studio is amazing. It’s my first series playing here and I can see why all of the top high-stakes players love playing here. From start to finish, it’s been a great experience. Every little detail that I can think of, I just can’t think of any room for improvement. It’s a great venue, it’s a great series, it’s a great format – a really interesting idea. I’m really glad I ran well to start my series. I haven’t been playing too many high rollers, but I’m starting to get my feet wet a little bit and it’s good to not immediately be stuck 50 buy-ins.”

Stairway To Millions Event #5 Results

There were 43 entries in Stairway To Millions Event #5: $15,800 NL Hold’em, creating a $645,000 prize pool. The top seven finishers made the money. Busting in seventh place for $38,700 was David Coleman.

Here’s How Wang Won Event #5

Michael Wang’s stack saw a nice boost when he doubled through Justin Saliba in Level 7 on Day 1. He continued to chip up from there and then clashed with Michael Lang in Level 9. On the river of a king-six-six-queen-ace board with three diamonds, Lang had an ace-high flush but ran into Wang’s full house with queens over sixes.

After Steve Zolotow went out in 10th place at the hands of Stephen Chidwick, the final nine players combined to one table with Wang in the lead. Wang then eliminated Anuj Agarwal in ninth place to put the tournament on the money bubble. Then, Jeremy Ausmus busted to Chidwick in eighth place to put the players in the money.

Chidwick also eliminated David Coleman in seventh place, prompting the end of play for Day 1. Wang finished Day 1 with 1,465,000 in chips and was the chip leader entering Monday’s Day 2.

On Monday, Wang eliminated Sean Winter in sixth place to get the knockouts started.  He then busted Chidwick in fifth place and Vikenty Shegal in fourth place to take an even larger chip lead into three-handed play. Wang extended his lead over Larry Greenberg and Bill Klein before Greenberg and Klein got their two stacks in against one another. Klein had shoved the button for 550,000 with the blinds at 20,000-40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante and Greenberg called all in for a little less from the big blind. Klein had king-five of diamonds against Greenberg’s ace-ten. That left Klein very short. Although he doubled up a couple of times, Klein was eliminated by Wang shortly thereafter.

The tournament came down to Wang versus Greenberg in heads-up play. Wang had 4,350,000 in chips to start against Greenberg’s 1,030,000. The two traded some small pots back and forth before the final hand went down.

With the blinds still at 20,000-40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante, Wang raised on the button to 100,000 with ace-ten of diamonds. Greenberg moved all in from the big blind for 860,000 with king-ten. Wang quickly called to show Greenberg that he was dominated. An ace-king-four flop kept Wang in front and pushed Greenberg closer to the exit. The turn and river were both queens to secure the victory for Wang.

Not only did Wang win Stairway To Millions Event #5, but the victory pushed him to the top of the 2022 PGT leaderboard. This event was the first of the Stairway To Millions series that qualified for PGT leaderboard points. It’s only the first month of the PGT’s new season, so there’s a long way to go, but we could be seeing the early foundation of a breakout year for Wang on the high-roller scene. Wang now has 354 points on the PGT leaderboard. He’s cashed twice this season, with a second-place finish in a Venetian High Roller as his other result to date.

“At least the $25K for sure, since I’m already registered for that,” Wang said of what’s next. “It helps to have a little bit of success, not only for the bankroll but for confidence. I feel like I did OK. Obviously, I got very fortunate in my run-outs and my hole cards, but I think that more high rollers are on the horizon.”

2022 PGT Leaderboard Top 10

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2022 Stairway To Millions Schedule

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