During the recent APT Series at the APT GOLD COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS, a feat that has never been done, fell agonizingly short, and well…..went relatively unnoticed. For sure, it sort of pales in comparison with an effort such as Dan Harrington making back to back Final tables in the WSOP Main Event in 2003 and 2004, when poker began to boom, but yet even in a series of our size, this is of particular note. Ruiyang Wang, or Ray to his mates, nearly pulled off an amazing run of great poker during our recent APT Gold Coast festival with winning the Mini Main Event, then backing up with the runner-up slot in the Main Event. Navigating himself through 249 entries in the Mini, and then a bumper crowd in the Main Event of 592 takes some doing.
First there is to position yourself with the Day 1 flights, bag up and return to then navigate through Day 2, first past the money bubble, final table and eventually heads up. Not since the famous APT Brisbane Grand Final in 2022 where the GOAT Sam Adams, won just about everything that week, have we seen such an eye-catching performance. And like the swings of the game of poker, both events were extremely different in Ray’s journey to poker glory.The Mini Main at a much smaller buy-in, was in fact the struggle.
Struggling early on and late registering with a third bullet, Ray finally gained a stack after recalling taking a big pot from Day 1 monster chip leader Freddy Fares. “I flopped a set of 8’s versus Freddy’s A-A and got a big stack.” But then as it happens Ray started to lose flips and got down to just two big blinds! “Then I won 3 flips in a row, it was very up and down”, said Ray. Making the final table, Ray was no sure bet, as he had his friend and APT crusher Jonathan Levy to his right. “So, I had to be very cautious, he’s a great player. But I made a few good plays and ran really well. I began to feel like a win was coming when I stacked Levy. It gave me the chip lead with about 40% of the chips and it was easier from there.
”Reflecting on his Main Event journey, Ray said it was a lot smoother and easier event for him. “That was fun yeah, because I came 5th in the main in January at Eatons Hill, so I was really keen on improving my standing in it. It was less turbulent than the mini main for sure, I had a big sized stack the entire way basically.” Not even a few ups and downs in the last two tables would stop Ray, as he proceeded to the final table, with his large stack intact. Finding himself heads-up against the eventual winner Neng Zhao [who incidentally is also on an APT heater, with 3 wins in the past two APT series], Ray was down 3-1 chips before play started. Play ensued for a 2 hour grind heads up, before Ray took the chip lead twice, with lots of ups and downs. There were two key moments as Ray recalls. “I had like a 2.5-1 chip lead against him, he jammed about 10bb with Q7off and I had KK, he won with a straight on the turn, then 2 minutes later he jams 1010 and I called off with AQ and he won the flip to win the main!” “I really wanted it, but poker is just brutal, so oh well”, uttered Ray.
The 27-year-old first played poker in his native country of Singapore.“I started playing poker about 10 years ago in Singapore in my room 3 handed with 2 best friends for 10c/20c stakes. It’s because we saw a video of Daniel Negreanu calling out players’ hand on YouTube, was the influence for us to start playing”, Ray said.With a lack of poker anywhere in his homeland, Ray really only started playing “real” poker at the treasury in 2019. When asked about how his game has improved as is evident in the stakes he plays in, and his future aspirations with poker, Ray said he has a lot of poker in front of him, with playing APT, APL Millions and WPT Australia in coming months. “Hopefully, I will also travel overseas to a few series in Southeast Asia, next year, with WSOP in sight for 2024.” Ray’s biggest highlight came in the APL Million last year, when three handed, did a deal for a line share of the money which netted him over $300,000. Ray also participates locally within Brisbane cash games and is a regular at Brisbane Poker United. After nearly getting the “double” at Southport Sharks recently, we think Ray has an incredible future in poker, with a great level of skill, an awesome attitude and respect for the game. He may not have gotten a taste of Neng’s lucky orange, but still Ray you can take a bow.