Michael Wang earned one of the biggest wins of his life at the PokerGO Studio Monday afternoon. The poker pro shipped Stairway to Millions Event #5, a $15,800 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament, for $219,300.
With the conclusion of Event #5, only two tournaments remain before the highly anticipated $102,000 buy-in tournament that begins January 19 at Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
The sixth event of the series, which cost $15,800 to enter, began Monday afternoon with 24 players. All seven who cashed in Event #5 received a free entry into the $25,100 buy-in Event #6. Each step along the way to the six-figure finale awards an automatic entry into the following event. No player made it from Step 1 all the way through unscathed, however.
Stairway to Millions Event #5 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Wang | $219,300 |
| 2 | Larry Greenberg | $135,450 |
| 3 | Bill Klein | $90,300 |
| 4 | Vikenty Shegal | $64,500 |
| 5 | Stephen Chidwick | $51,600 |
| 6 | Sean Winter | $41,150 |
Stairway to Millions Event #5 Final Table Results
Wang entered the final table in the $15k with the chip lead, and he never lost that advantage against a tough final table that included high roller crushers Stephen Chidwick and Sean Winter.
After eliminating the first four players at the final table — Winter, Chidwick, Vikenty Shegal, and then Bill Klein — Wang found himself heads-up with a massive chip lead (4-1) against Larry Greenberg.
Although Wang was up big, both players had enough chips to play around with. Greenberg started heads-up play with around 25 big blinds, plenty to spin it up, but he couldn’t ever make up any ground. On the final hand, Greenberg shoved preflop with 
and was quickly called by 
No help came for the underdog hand when the board ran out 
, and Greenberg was eliminated in second place ($135,450). The full final table results were as follows:
Wang earned his first win inside the PokerGO Studio and one of the biggest of his career. His largest score ever came in 2015 when he shipped his one and only World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, a $466,120 score in a $5,000 no-limit hold’em event. He now has $3.5 million in lifetime live tournament cashes.
Stairway to Millions Schedule and Updated Results
| Date | Buy-In | Guarantee | Winner | Prize | Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan. 12 | Event #1: $1,100 NLH | $100,000 | Daniel Sepiol | $28,500 | 190 |
| Jan. 13 | Event #2: $2,150 NLH | $100,000 | Chance Kornuth | $51,600 | 129 |
| Jan. 14 | Event #3: $4,200 NLH | $100,000 | Chance Kornuth | $80,640 | 84 |
| Jan. 15 | Event #4: $8,400 NLH | $200,000 | Salim Admon | $138,880 | 56 |
| Jan. 16 | Event #5: $15,800 NLH | $300,000 | Michael Wang | $219,300 | 43 |
| Jan. 17 | $25,100 | $500,000 | |||
| Jan. 18 | $52,000 | $500,000 | |||
| Jan. 19 | $102,000 | $1,200,000 |
*Image courtesy of PokerGO.