Danny Wong Tops Three-Way Chop in Bike Mega Millions XIX
The Mega Millions series at The Bicycle in L.A. always brings out one of the biggest prize pools on the West Coast, and Mega Millions XIX was no different as over 8,600 entries produced a prize pool of nearly $1.7 million, with much of that coming from $130 buy-ins and $100 rebuys.
When that massive field was whittled down to just three players, Danny Wong, DJ Alexander and Tony Chu elected to chop up the remaining prize money. Wong took $234,297, Alexander $168,900 and Chu $136,325 as each player banked six figures, with Wong adding to over $3.6 million in live cashes with his 12th score of at least $100K.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danny Wong | $234,297* |
| 2 | DJ Alexander | $168,900* |
| 3 | Tony Chu | $136,325* |
| 4 | Bill Collins | $77,025 |
| 5 | Joseph Szegedy | $58,655 |
| 6 | Daniel Chung | $45,670 |
| 7 | Shant Marshlian | $35,915 |
| 8 | Nicholas Ronyecz | $28,125 |
| 9 | Dathan Kuppin | $21,410 |
*reflects three-handed deal
Just shy of 300 players qualified for Day 2, according to the live updates, after a pile of starting flights tallied more than 8,500 entries. Another 97 bought in directly to Day 2 for $4,000, swelling the prize pool even further.
Allan Le, Ryan Daut, Marvin Rettenmaier and Allen Cunningham were some of the well-known players who made it into the money. Ari Engel, who won $315,000 at this event in the spring, made a spirited run for back-to-back titles but fell in 21st.
Wong held the lead at the start of the penultimate day but fell to the shortest stack when it was time for the final table, while Bill Collins held a sizable lead going in with the winner scheduled to bank $280K.
Final Table Action
After the first elimination at the final table, scored by Collins against Dathan Kuppin, Wong had just 10 big blinds remaining. He saw an 8♥6♦2♦ flop and got his money in with A♦8♦ against Shant Marshlian's kings. A diamond on the river gave Wong new life and began his comeback.
Collins then busted another as Nicholas Ronyecz squeezed all in for 4.5 million over a raise to 900,000 and two calls. One of the callers was Collins and he went nowhere with ace-queen holding against Ronyecz's king-jack.
Marshlian was next out when his ace-eight couldn't hold against K♠Q♠ of Joseph Szegedy, who isolated him with a reshove and turned a queen.
After Daniel Chung busted in sixth, Wong picked up another double. This time, he got all in on an ace-high board with ace-ten, dominating the ace-seven of Chu. Though Chu turned a gutshot, he improved no further and Wong stacked up to 18 million.
Collins finally lost the chip lead when Szegedy doubled through him in a flip. That put Wong on top with 28.5 million at 300,000/600,000, while Collins sat second with 23.5 million.
Despite his double, Szegedy's upswing wouldn't last when he ran eights into Wong's tens.
Wong and Collins clashed half an hour later on a board of Q♦6♥3♥2♦. Wong bet the flop and shoved the turn with 6♣5♣ and Collins called with his own pair and gutshot, 4♣3♣. Unfortunately for him, Wong had the better pair and a six on the river only improved the chip leader to winning trips.
The final three players then opted to take a look at the numbers, and a short time later, the deal was struck to end the tournament with Wong atop the massive field as the champion.
