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Taiwan’s Carlos Chang has claimed victory in WSOP Event #41: $2,500 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em, winning his first bracelet and the third by a Taiwanese player. He topped a field of 896 entries and will add a $364,589 prize to his bankroll.
The Best Amateur in Taiwan
This great result, a career best, takes Chang’s live tournament record past the $1.5 million mark."I think this is my biggest cash, yes, this is my fourth final table. I told myself, this year if I make a final table, I will win the bracelet. And it happened! I am pretty excited. I was focused all day and yesterday."
He also alluded to the fact that he isn’t a professional player, mostly playing what looks like mid-stales events throughout eastern Asia. He is, however, a WSOP regular, appearing every year since 2015 and always cashing at least once.
"I don't know if I can count myself to the greats of Taiwan, I am a hobby player, I'm probably the better non-pro out there."
Brady Osterman, from the United States, was the last man standing to try and wrestle the win from Chang, but after a great fight he was forced to concede.
The heads-up battle was a protracted affair, lasting an unusually long three and a half hours. The advantage swung both ways repeatedly until a standard coin flip, eights versus ace-king, set up the final momentum shift.
"I had to pick out some spots. Brady was pretty aggressive and I wasn't getting any cards. He was taking a lot of chips from me. We flipped once with eights versus his ace-king. I doubled up, from there it went back and forth. And finally, the flush helped me. He called. I knew he calls a lot, so I figured out, I'll just go all-in, he'll call. And he really called, because he never folds actually."
Final Results:
| 1 | Carlos Chang | $364,589 |
| 2 | Brady Osterman | $225,333 |
| 3 | Adrien Delmas | $161,731 |
| 4 | Sergi Reixach | $117,650 |
| 5 | Arthur Conan | $86,757 |
| 6 | Sung Joo Hyun | $64,864 |
| 7 | Gerald Cunniff | $49,179 |
| 8 | Quang Ngo | $37,820 |
| 9 | Christopher Basile | $29,506 |
| 10 | Uri Reichenstein | $23,358 |
