The Venetian

We caught up with the new Mid-States Poker Tour champion Alexander Wong after his tournament victory in the $1,100 buy-in MSPT Venetian Main Event for a quick winner interview, and here is what he had to say on a number of topics. Wong is from Ottawa, Canada, and his first tournament win took his career poker earnings up to $284,977.

“I’m not a tournament player, this is my first tournament victory. This was all about fun. I have no idea what I’m doing heads up, so I’m mainly just clicking buttons. Sometimes he’s going to win, sometimes I’m going to win I guess. Luckily I got in their good in the end. I was hoping for the win, but whatever happens, happens. If I had lost that’s just how it goes,” said Wong right after securing the title.

He continued, “I’m dead tired, I’m jet lagged since I’m still on East Coast time. I got in two days ago, but I’m sure at some point we will do something fun to celebrate. I honestly wasn’t even going to play, but my girlfriend convinced me to play. She’s on this tournament heater so she said, ‘let’s play this $1k over at The Venetian. We regged the last Day 1 yesterday, made it through and bagged yesterday to make it to today. This is the first tournament I’ve played in Vegas this summer, and it was super, super fun to go all the way. I’ve played a bunch of Venetian events for the DeepStack Extravaganzas, but I think this is the first MSPT-branded one.

“It was awesome, winning is definitely the highlight of my trip laughs. But the whole thing was well-run. The structure was great. We started the day with like 70 big blinds. We rolled back since 1A ended super early so it was great to get all those extra levels of play to really play poker. Again, I’m not really a tournament player so really just clicking buttons and hoping it came out all right laughs. And it did, and here we are. I used to play cash full-time, but I retired a couple of years ago so I actually don’t play too much poker anymore,” said Wong to end the table-side chat.

Congrats to the new MSPT champion Alexander Wong! Action will pick back up here at the Venetian Poker Room for the next MSPT Main Event that begins on June 2nd right on the Las Vegas Strip. We will see you then with more live reporting from the tournament floor for that $1,600 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament with two starting flights followed by a playdown day to another winner on June 5^th.

In the final hand of the tournament, Nicholas Wang got all in with , and Alexander Wong had him covered holding .

The board was dealt to give Wong a Broadway straight and the MSPT tournament title. He took home $89,544 in prize money for the win, and Wang got the second-place prize money worth $66,019.

Stay tuned for an interview with our new MSPT champion that will be posted a little later tonight.

The blinds are up to 100,000-200,000 with a big blind ante of 200,000 for the start of Level 31 on Day 2 at the Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Main Event. There are now two players remaining from 543 total entries on the final day of play.

The players are taking another 15-minute break.

Alexander Wong was all in for 1,875,000 from the button with in the hole, and Nicholas Wong was behind holding .

The final board read , and Wong doubled up to survive with 4,125,000. Wang was at 9.45 million after the hand.

Alexander Wong - 4,125,000
Nicholas Wang - 9,450,000

Alexander Wong was all in for 2.55 million with in the hole, and Nicholas Wang had him covered holding

The final board read , so heads-up play continues once again.

Nichaolas Wang - 8,100,000 (54 bb)
Alexander Wong - 5,475,000 (36 bb)

The blinds are up to 75,000-150,000 with a big blind ante of 150,000 for the start of Level 30 on Day 2 at the Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Main Event. There are now two players remaining from 543 total entries on the final day of play.

The board read when Nicholas Wang got all in with in the hole from the button, and Alexander Wong had him covered holding .

The river brought the suckout with the for Wang to make a flush and double up to 4.8 million. Wong held 8,775,000 after the hand, and play continues heads up after being one card away from the tournament ending.

Nicholas Wang - 4,800,000 (40 bb)
Alexander Wong - 8,775,000 (73 bb)

Thien Tran was all in with in the hole, but he ran right into the held by Alexander Wong.

The final board read , and Tran was eliminated in third place for a payday worth $49,227. Wong stacked up 9,845,000 after the hand.

Alexander Wong - 9,845,000 (82 bb)
Nicholas Wang - 3,730,000 (31 bb)
Thien Tran - Eliminated in Third Place ($49,227)

The blinds are up to 60,000-120,000 with a big blind ante of 120,000 for the start of Level 29 on Day 2 at the Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Main Event. There are now three players remaining from 543 total entries on the final day of play.