A little over three years ago, Shoma Ishikawa had never really played poker. He had friends who played and might have seen some of it on TV or YouTube. He’d just never given it much thought. That all changed in March 2017 when some of those friends invited the then 22-year-old to play in their game.

Now 25, Ishikawa has already done something that many poker players spend their lives dreaming about. On July 19, as the World Series of Poker Online events on GGPoker kicked off, Ishikawa outlasted 2,213 players in Event #34 ($525 Super Turbo Bounty NLHE Six Max) to win his first WSOP bracelet. The structure didn’t give him much of an opportunity to be scared at the final table.

At least, not at first.

“At the final table, the average stack was 10 big blinds, so I had already decided what to do. I didn’t know which player to be conscious of,” Ishikawa said. “I was nervous and excited. I trembled when I won the last all in hand.”

Ishikawa normally plays live and online, but like almost every other serious poker player, he was forced to move all his action online once the pandemic hit. He plays both cash games and tournaments, usually dabbling in the $2/$5 – $10/$20 No Limit Hold’em or $1/$2 – $5/$10 Pot Limit Omaha cash games with up to five MTTs also on the daily schedule.

“I’ve never called myself a pro, but on average I spend at least 12 hours playing poker every day,” Ishikawa said.

Now that he has a bracelet in hand, Ishikawa, who plans to make the trek from his hometown of Osaka, Japan to Las Vegas to play a live WSOP event once the pandemic is gone and live poker has returned in full force. Last year he traveled to play events in Korea and Vietnam for some experience playing live in anticipation of getting to Las Vegas.

“I was thinking of going to Las Vegas this year. That’s why I participated in the tournaments last year in Asia to get used to poker abroad,” Ishikawa said. “I couldn’t go this year because it was held online, but I would like to go there next time.”

That trip will be made easier by his inclusion on Natural8’s Team Bling project. By winning his bracelet while playing on Natural8, Ishikawa earned a package that includes $5,000 for Las Vegas tournament buy-ins and another $2,500 for travel. Making his way to Las Vegas and playing on poker’s biggest stage might give Ishikawa a chance to fulfill another goal of his; growing the game in his home country.

Only two other Japanese players have managed to pick up a WSOP title. In 2012, Naoya Kihara won the $5,000 Six Max Pot Limit Omaha title to become the first and three years later, Takahiro Nakai won a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event. There are 30 other countries with more bracelet winners and Ishikawa hopes his win can change that.

“Poker is still not very popular in Japan, but lately more and more young people are starting to play. I’m 25 years old and I’m the younger of the poker players. I think that this victory has shown that everyone has the chance to win a WSOP bracelet even though he is young and has only three years of experience. I have not decided yet, but I started something and I want more people in Japan to play poker.”