Elton Tsang

Tsang's entry and eventually win in the Big One for One Drop tournament came at the right time. By then he had already established himself in the private world of super high stakes cash games, but still remained largely unknown to the general public. He was very comfortable financially but was finding himself being banned more and more from private games due to his success in those games. “The One Drop was good timing. All the time before that I wanted to stay low profile. Before that tournament happened, people in the poker world already know me. It doesn’t matter anymore. I am already getting the feeling people didn’t want me to play anyway. So it was good timing to win it. When I first started playing poker I wanted to win a bracelet, I wanted the first place; I wanted to be the champion. All the big players already knew about me, and how good I am, so I can’t hide that anymore", Tsang says. “It’s good because it’s a weird mix. The One Drop event made me recognised by the public, and most importantly my family. They can brag about this to their friends. This event made my family realise the accomplishment I have made. When I tell them about playing cash games, they don’t know what’s going on. Being on the news is different. It was in the newspapers in Hong Kong, so I was happy that my family got to recognise ten years of hard work.”

Tsang confirmed this allegation in a 2017 interview, further clarifying that the amount he was owed were much higher. He says he had won from Leon €1,190,000 in the first 3 sessions plus another €3,375,000 in the last session, and Leon had paid €1,200,000, so he was still owed €3,365,000.

In October 2016, Tsang was invited by Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, to participate in the €1,000,000 Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza, an exclusive poker tournament. He defeated 25 other players to win the tournament and received a €11,111,111 ($12,248,912) payout for first, the third largest single payout in poker history. Tsang was coached by professional poker player, Mustapha Kanit.

Tsang went on to become a regular in the world of super high stakes poker cash games, winning and losing pots in excess of one hundred million Hong Kong dollars (US$12.7M). Tsang shares the story of his most memorable game: “One of the games where I still remember until now. It was a game that would have broke me or made me. I was in Macau playing three-handed with Tom Dwan and the Chairman. That game, we were playing HKD Ten Million dollar buy-in (USD$1.2m) HK$50,000/HK$100,000 (USD$6/$12k) No-Limit. After playing 24-hours, I had lost HKD$60 million (USD$7.6m). That was my stop-limit. I was ready to quit. But then I ended up giving it one more bullet. I bought in for another HKD$20m (USD$2.5m) and had I lost it I would have had to move down in stakes and start all over. I was fortunate enough to win all my money back, and HKD$60m on top of that. It was the most important game of my life. I think that was in about 2014 or 2015.”

2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship, Melbourne

Between 2010 and 2012, Tsang continued to live in Macau, playing poker constantly, and living the fun and exciting life of a professional poker player. He made a lot of great poker friends there and he attributes them for helping him improve his game. Tsang was now playing at HK$300/$600 stakes steadily and some HK$1000/$2000 games. When Macau introduced Omaha, Tsang was ready having learned it online previously. He played in the HK$1000/$2000 Omaha games where he grew his bankroll considerably. Armed with a healthy bankroll, Tsang moved up the stakes onto HKD$10,000/$20,000 (US$1.25K/$2.5K) & HKD$20,000/$40,000 (US$2.5K/$5K) No Limit Hold'em games where all the big pros played. "It was a juicy game", as Tsang calls it.

Born and raised in Vancouver, and with a bachelor's degree from University of British Columbia, Canada, Tsang first started playing poker online on partypoker in 2001 in $2/$4 Limit Hold'em games. It was upon returning to Hong Kong after graduating university that he realised poker was still very much non-existent in the neighbouring city-state of Macau, where gaming was legal. With the vision that poker would be instantly popular in Macau, Tsang had the idea of hosting the first ever live poker tournament in Macau. After some research, he discovered that his relative was the owner of the Grand Waldo Casino in Macau. Tsang scheduled a meeting, gave a successful pitch, and went on to become the tournament's founding organiser in partnership with famed tournament director Matt Savage and PokerStars as sponsors. This is how the APPT Macau (Asia Pacific Poker Tour) was started. But having signed just a one-year deal with PokerStars and the casino, Tsang was left out the second year and the tournament continued to become what it is today. This was Tsang's first entrepreneurial move having invested about a million HKD (US$130K) of his own savings.

Elton Tsang Ka Wai (born 1980) is a Chinese Canadian poker player currently residing in Hong Kong. Considered as one of the five best Asian poker players, Tsang has achieved icon status in the international poker scene with his involvement in several achievements including: his role in founding and organising the first ever live poker tournament in Macau, China, his winning the 3rd highest prize in poker tournament history (€11,111,111), and his part in the biggest pot in TV poker history (€2,090,000). Jason Koon believed Tsang to be one of the biggest winners in Macau cash games with estimated winnings of over $120 million. Away from poker, Tsang focuses on charity and is a successful businessman investing and running his various business ventures in technology, finance, travel, trading, property, and Internet companies.