Yilong Wang Beats Countryman Ren Lin On Way to First Bracelet in $3,000 NLH
Day 4 of Event #68: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em saw only 16 hopefuls return from the substantial 2,338 total field.
In the end it was Yilong Wang, who took home the gold and the massive $830,685 first place prize.
Wang defeated Ran Ilani in heads up play despite the latter entering the final two with a near 2:1 chip advantage.
Winner's Reaction
Wang managed to double his career earnings along with earning a shiny new bracelet and when asked what it meant to him, here's what he had to say:
"For, like, seven or eight years I played online [and live] a lot and it just kind of felt like I got unlucky every time, but this time I was lucky enough to get a bracelet."
Wang got into poker in 2011, predominately playing cash games in London while he was at University. He then transitioned to tournaments in 2017, which have since been his main focus.
This was Wang's first ever WSOP final table and his next closest finish was 14th ($11,483) in the $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty in 2019. Wang's initial career trajectory was as a paralegal but since quitting, he has been playing poker full time.
When asked to elaborate what his plans were after such a big win, Wang made mention of the fact that he might quit playing poker professionally and start a new project back home in China.
He does still plan to make the pilgrimage to the World Series of Poker every summer and to play the Main Event.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yilong Wang | China | $830,685 |
| 2 | Ran Ilani | Israel | $553,692 |
| 3 | Ren Lin | China | $406,016 |
| 4 | Yuliyan Kolev | Bulgaria | $300,649 |
| 5 | Kunal Patni | India | $224,833 |
| 6 | Seunghyun Nam | United States | $169,818 |
| 7 | Fabrizio Gonzalez | Italy | $129,563 |
| 8 | Jason Richard | United States | $99,859 |
| 9 | Paawan Bansal | India | $77,760 |
Day 3 Action
Romain Lewis lost a big pot to Illani early in the day, shifting the tide of the event. Shortly after losing the pot, Lewis became the first player to be dispatched on the day. He left in 16th place when he ran his queens into Seunghyun Nam’s kings.
Wang found a huge double with aces over Rohit Mariwalla’s jacks to give him some major momentum as the field thinned.
Upon bagging at the end of Day 3, many eyes were on accomplished poker pro and heads up specialist, Olivier Busquet, who fell in 12th place when his squeeze ran into Paawan Bansal’s pocket kings.
Hamid Toghyan proved to be the final table bubble boy when he went all in with eights and ran into Ren Lin’s tens.
Final Table Action
Play slowed and tensions rose when the remaining ten players redrew for the final table. Steven Jones finally gave the rest of the table elbow room when he bowed out in 10th place as Wang collected his chips.
The pace of play continued to be slow, much to the chagrin of start of day chip leader, Fabrizio Gonzalez, who eventually fell in 7th place.
Gonzalez's exit seemed to trigger a domino effect as Seunghyun Nam (6th), Kunal Patni (5th), and Yuliyan Kolev (4th) all fell in quick succession.
There wasn’t too much disparity in stacks entering three-handed play, and all odds fluctuated as the button quickly rotated around the table. Ren Lin seemed unable to scoop a pot at this phase of the tournament and eventually became the definitive short stack; when he was finally put at risk, he ran into Ilani, who had two pips better and held.
Heads up play was quite a war, as both players were seeking the lion's share of the $6,242,460 total prize pool. Once Wang gained momentum, though — it seemed the majority of the pots were being pushed his way and in the moment when Wang needed some luck most, he found the six he needed to win all the chips and end the tournament.
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