PocketFives had the opportunity to chat with Michael miw210Wang (pictured), a 26-year-old poker pro from Livingston, New Jersey who made his dreams come true by capturing his first World Series of Poker gold braceletin Event #2, a $5,000 buy-in NLHE tournament.

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Wang bested a field of 422 of the world’s top No Limit Hold’em specialists to take home an impressive $$466,120. He found himself at a final table with the likes of Bryn BrynKenneyKenney, Amir Lehavot, and 2012 Main Event Champ Greg Merson.

At first, Wang thought he would not make it to Vegas in time to even play this event due to flight delays, let alone win it. The win is still sinking in for him, but it’s business as usual as he continues his quest for more bracelets. Wang has over $2 million in combined live and online cashes on his resume. Visit PocketFives’ New Jersey poker community for the latest news and discussion from New Jersey players.

PocketFives: Congrats on your first bracelet! Tell us how you are feeling and what this win means to you.

Michael Wang: Thanks! It’s a surreal feeling and most of the time I almost don’t believe it. Luckily, the bracelet is a nice reminder. In-game, you’re so focused on how to win that you don’t really think about the win itself and what it means in a larger sense. At least that’s how it usually is for me. So, it’s still sinking in.

A WSOP bracelet is the most coveted prize in poker, and the $5K No Limit Hold’em event has one of the toughest fields. Let’s just say that I won’t be forgetting about this win anytime soon. And hopefully it’s just the start of an amazing summer.

PocketFives: Were you nervous going into a tough final table? Did you have a specific strategy?

Michael Wang: I was more excited than nervous. It was my first WSOP final table and the stakes were among the highest I’ve ever played for. Also, I really wanted to book the win since I’ve made several final tables so far this year but had yet to close any of them.

It was a scary lineup for sure. The final table had a lot of incredibly tough players, but I’m confident in my game. I didn’t have a specific strategy going in other than to play good poker and capitalize on any spots I could find. Those spots are going to be tougher to find when you’re talking about players such as Bryn Kenney and Greg Merson (pictured), but they are there no matter who is at the table.

PocketFives: Do any hands from the tournament stick out?

Michael Wang: So many hands stick out for different reasons. The one freshest in my mind is the final hand, where I over-flushed Bryn Kenney on the river. It was a dramatic end to the tournament, where a lot of heads-up matches might just end in standard pre-flop all-ins. It was also a roller-coaster equity-wise, where the lead changed hands every street until the river sealed the win for me.

I think sometimes about the variance in tournament poker. It’s everywhere – in the cards and run-outs, in your table draws, it’s in how you choose to play your hands and how your opponents choose to play their hands. The slightest change can easily mean the difference between a win and just a deep run.

I played a hand on Day 3 with two tables left blind-versus-blind with Merson. He completed in the small blind, and I raised J-8 of spades in the big blind. He called and we saw a flop of J-T-9 with two spades, giving me top pair and an open-ended straight flush draw. He checked, I continuation-bet 60% of the pot, and he flat called. The turn was an offsuit 9. I bet a little more than half-pot and he called. The river was an offsuit 8. It went check-check on the river. He showed Q-6 of spades, giving him a rivered straight and the pot.

This is a hand that would’ve went very differently against the vast majority of players. Merson flopped the top end of an open-ended straight draw and a queen-high flush draw blind-versus-blind. The fact that he chose not to raise and get it in with me on the flop, as most players would have done, meant the difference between me having 600,000 chips left after the hand and me busting out of the tournament. In a way, it was the difference between $466,000 plus a bracelet and $27,000.

PocketFives: Do you have any plans for the money?

Michael Wang: Not yet. I think that if you’re ever fortunate to come into some serious money, you shouldn’t change up anything in your routine for a while. Let the dust settle a bit and see how things go from there with a balanced perspective.

Nothing’s changing for me poker-wise. I’ve had some success this year prior this score, so there was never a tournament that I really wanted to play but couldn’t. Especially since I could always sell off action for bigger tournaments. So, my Vegas schedule isn’t changing.

PocketFives: What have your friends and family said about the win?

Michael Wang: I called my Mom up after I won (my Dad was away), which was around 4 in the morning on the East Coast. Naturally, she was worried that something was wrong that I was calling at that hour. She actually said her first thought was that I had been kidnapped! After I told her the news, she wanted me to end my Vegas trip and save all the money so there was no chance I could lose it. She’s a worrywart sometimes. I reassured her by saying I was taking it all straight to the blackjack table.

I have awesome friends and I’ve definitely felt their support throughout my deep run. It makes the win that much sweeter when it feels like a win for the team.

On the day that I was scheduled to fly out to Vegas and play the $5K event, bad weather caused a long delay on the runway. I was sure to miss my connecting flight and didn’t know if I’d be able to get on another flight in time to late register the tournament. I Tweeted that I would probably have to miss the event. I’m getting a lot of comments from friends about the ridiculousness of this Tweet now that I won. Funny how things turn out sometimes #flightdelay

PocketFives: Give us your thoughts and experiences of regulated online poker in New Jersey.

Michael Wang: It’s good to see that sites like PartyPoker and WSOP.com are stepping up to the plate to offer decent tournaments and cash games. I play on those sites occasionally when I’m not on the road. I’d like to see more liquidity and I’m hoping that will become a reality as more states regulate online poker. I haven’t been following developments on that front super closely, but I’m somewhat optimistic that we’ll be looking at significant progress over the next several years.

The only drawback for me right now is that other good sites that aren’t licensed in the state have closed their doors to New Jersey residents, sites like Bovada and those on the Merge and WPN networks, I believe. So I haven’t really played online poker in any substantial way for a long time because I am usually out of state.

PocketFives: How did you get started in poker originally? Why was it appealing?

Michael Wang: I got started playing $5 sit and gos on PartyPoker back in high school, well into the Moneymaker boom. I gave $20 cash to a friend, who transferred that to me online. I think I took to it quickly because I’ve always enjoyed playing strategy games. It also kind of blew my mind that you could play a game on your computer and make money at it. So, online poker was my introduction into poker world like it was for many other poker players, especially those around my age.

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