Michael Wang Wins Event #6 for 3rd Stairway To Millions Title

Michael Wang became the first player to win a Stairway To Millions title at two different venues on Tuesday, and today he becomes the first player to win three Stairway To Millions' events. By winning Event #6: $1,640 No-Limit Hold'em at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas, Wang becomes the third player to win back-to-back Stairway To Millions titles in 2022, following in the footsteps of Chance Kornuth and Nick Petrangelo. 

After winning a combined $45,444 in Event #5 and #6 of the 2022 Stairway To Millions, Wang pushes his lifetime tournament earnings to more than $4,485,000, according to The Hendon Mob. It is Wang's fourth victory of 2022; a year in which he was won more that $1.31 million that includes a second WSOP bracelet to go along with his three PGT-affiliated tournament victories.

Event #6: $1,640 No-Limit Hold'em marked the end of the double buy-in levels at the Stairway To Millions as 75 entrants created a prize pool that swelled to $112,500 and saw 12 players earn entry into future Stairway To Millions events. Some of the players earning $2,740 seats into today's Event #7 included Jesse Lonis, Philip Shing, Qing Liu, Daniel Sepiol, Landon Tice, and Gus Kalathakis, who all fell short of the final table.

The final six returned today with Freddy Heller holding the chip lead ahead of Kenny Huynh. Both players were the only ones with an above-average chip stack, as the final six also included Brett Kennedy, Stephen Song, Fred Tada, and Wang. After taking the chip lead on one of the first hands, Huynh quickly relinquished it after losing a pot to Song. Wang then found a double against Song when he was all-in preflop and went runner-runner two pair. Song was now the short stack but doubled through Kennedy with ace-king against ace-queen before Kennedy became the first to be eliminated after running into Song's pocket kings.

Tada exited shortly after when he was all-in with king-jack for top pair but Wang held pocket aces. No help came for Tada on the turn or river, and he exited in fifth place. Song was the next to exit when he shoved from the small blind with ace-four and Wang called with ace-eight. Both players turned top pair, and when Song failed to hit a four on the river, he would ensure the final three all locked up a $5,350 seat into Event #8. Wang held more than 60% of the chips in play three-handed, but when Huynh exited at the hands of Heller, Wang's lead shrunk to just a few big blinds as heads-up play started.

Immediately it would be Heller surging out ahead winning several pots off Wang before a giant cooler saw Heller flop trips against Wang's top pair. Wang check-raised the flop and Heller called. The turn improved Wang to a full house; sevens over threes, while Heller held the inferior full house with threes full of sevens. Both players checked as the final three rolled off on the river to give Heller quads. Heller bet big and Wang called and saw the bad news.

Wang started to chip away at his nearly five-to-one deficit and managed a double with pocket nines when he was all-in on the turn. Heller called with a pair of eights and was unable to improve on the river. Once Wang regained the lead, he would put the pressure on Heller as the break began. Wang shoved the river and Heller used all six of his remaining time extensions before folding top pair. Once play resumed, Heller found one double, but was eliminated the next hand when his ace-five was outdrawn by Wang's eight-seven suited after all the money went in preflop.

Stairway To Millions Event #6 Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Michael Wang	United States	$22,458
2nd	Freddy Heller	United States	$14,044
3rd	Kenny Huynh	United States	$9,149
4th	Stephen Song	United States	$6,220
5th	Fred Tada	United States	$4,422
6th	Brett Kennedy	United States	$3,293

2022 Stairway To Millions Schedule

Date	Event	Type	Buy-In	Fee (On-time)	Fee (Late/Reentry)	Starting Stack	Prize Pool Guarantee
9/14/22	Stairway To Millions #7	NLH	$2,500	$240	$240	100,000	$100,000
9/15/22	Stairway To Millions #8	NLH	$5,000	$350	$350	100,000	$100,000
9/16/22	Stairway To Millions #9	NLH	$10,000	$200	$400	125,000	$200,000
9/17/22	Stairway To Millions #10	NLH	$15,000	$400	$800	125,000	$300,000
9/18/22	Stairway To Millions #11	NLH	$25,000	$500	$1,000	150,000	$500,000
9/19/22	Stairway To Millions #12	NLH	$50,000	$1,000	$2,000	200,000	$600,000

Currently underway from The Venetian Resort Poker Room is Event #7 of the Stairway To Millions with Thursday seeing the $5,350 buy-in level of the series. Follow along with all the live updates from the entire Stairway To Millions which will be provided by the PGT.com Live Reporting Team.

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