The last time we talked to Doug OU_dlanger610Lang (pictured), he had just claimed a coveted online poker Triple Crownfor winning three $10,000 prize pool tournaments across three sites tracked by PocketFives.com in the same seven-day period. On December 19th, Lang won the Full Tilt Poker $1 Million Guaranteefor $230,000. The $600+40 buy-in tournament attracted over 2,000 players and ended with Lang, the 54th player in the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings, edging out missgrinder heads-up.

Lang told PocketFives.com that he’s still taking in his $230,000 cash infusion: “I’ve been relaxing and letting it all soak in. Obviously, it’s any poker player’s dream to be in the spot I was and for it to happen to me is incredible. Since I’ve won it, I’ve just taken time to reflect on how fortunate I am.” Lang is a two-time Triple Crown winner who won the Full Tilt $100 Rebuy and PokerStars Hyper-Turbo $75,000 Guarantee in November for a combined haul of $43,000.

When 75 players remained in the $1 million guaranteed tournament, Lang dished out a cooler with pocket aces against pocket queens. He detailed the remainder of the event: “From that point on, I made sure I stuck to my game without fear of how much money was at stake down the line. After winning a massive pot on the final table bubble with pocket queens against A-J, I went into the last table with a significant chip lead. I knew this was the time to keep the pressure on with my stack. Overall, it just seemed I had great timing with my big hands and won the pots with the highest importance.”

Lang has passed $1 million in career earnings from tournaments tracked for the Rankings and reflected on where his latest cash ranks among his various achievements: “It’s funny because I look back and in the summer of 2008, I had my first four-digit cash and was ecstatic. You reach those new levels of success and it’s always that same feeling of ‘Wow, this actually can happen.’ Obviously, this one blows everything else out of the water. Winning a Sunday Major is an amazing feeling.” The top 306 players finished in the money and the tournament’s prize pool nearly lapped $1.3 million.

Lang began playing poker professionally six months ago and reflected on the year gone by: “Poker as a whole in 2010 had very few disappointments. I had downswings like everyone does, but they never seemed to last that long. Since becoming a full-time grinder in June, things have just fallen into place for me. I thoroughly enjoy the grind of online poker and hope I can continue the trend of success in 2011.” Since the beginning of November, he’s amassed a whopping $418,000 in Rankings-eligible tournaments.

Now that he’s played poker full-time for six months, we asked Lang if the profession is all it’s cracked up to be. He responded, “It’s definitely a mentally and physically draining activity, but staying focused and motivated has helped me along the way. When you play this game full-time, it is so important to keep a positive attitude and know you’re a profitable player. When you let that mentality slip, the grind of poker becomes extremely difficult.”

Finally, all of us, including Lang, have had a chance to reflect upon the year that was. With so many poker news stories taking center stage, which one stood out the most to our newest Full Tilt $1 Million Guarantee winner? The Harry Reid(pictured) online poker bill, of course. “There was a legitimate push to regulate and legalize online poker, which was a step in the right direction for the game as a whole,” Lang told PocketFives.com. “Even though it got shot down and isn’t likely to be passed any time in the near future, I think the fact it was considered on that level speaks a lot for the respect the game is starting to earn.”

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