James Chen Secures First WSOP Gold For Taiwan At WSOPE 2019

Taiwanese poker pro James Chen emerged victorious in the €250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em during the 2019 Word Series of Poker Europe held at the King’s Casino and Resort in Rozvadov.

Chen outlasted a field of 30 entries, including eight re-entries, to win the lion’s share of the massive €7,125,000 prize pool. The cash-game specialist took home his maiden gold bracelet, also the first for his home country of Taiwan, plus $3,142,848 as top prize.

Chen’s latest victory comes after a number of deep runs over the past few months, including a runner-up finish in the $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha High Roller 8-Handed at the 2019 WSOP in Las Vegas where he won $1,000,253. The event was ultimately taken down by Stephen Chidwick, earning him his first ever WSOP gold.

Chen played cash games for some time before switching to tournaments a few years back. The switch proved to be a great decision for the 35-year-old as he has been winning big in major tournaments since 2014. Add to that his early cashes while he was still playing in Macau. The Taiwanese poker pro is also no stranger to the high-stakes arena as he has been playing in the higher buy-ins in recent times. He even took part in the 2 million HKD Triton Main Event in August 2019.

Chen’s ultimate dream of winning the much-coveted gold bracelet finally came to fruition after defeating fellow Asian Chin Wei Lim heads up on the final day. Lim earned €1,757,857 ($1,951,221), for finishing second.

King’s Resort

Final Results

The rest of the top 5 players who were able to take home a slice of the prize pool, include Germany’s Christoph Vogelsang who finished 3rd for €1,185,161, Lithuania’s Tony G who won €799,045 for finishing 4th and American player Cary Katz earned €538,722 for his fifth place finish. German poker pro Dominik Nitsche failed in his bid to capture his fifth gold after becoming the first player to be eliminated during the first hour of play on the final battle, despite starting the action as the chip leader.

Chen faced tough competition on the final day to secure victory, with a lot of double-ups, and the chip lead being passed back and forth among players. At one point, he was down to just a few big blinds, but he was able to bounce back and eventually climbed to the top. Chen now has $7,337,206 in total live earnings and is now ranked number 1 on Taiwan’s All Time Money List.