Cherokee, North Carolina (April 25, 2016) – After three, full days of poker at the Harrah’s Cherokee Circuit stop, Vanessa Truong walked away as the Main Event champion, holding her first World Series of Poker gold ring. The nail tech, from Raleigh, North Carolina topped Event #10: $1,675 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event.
The tournament began on Friday, April 21st, and did not conclude till the wee hours of Tuesday morning. It was a long, winding road for Truong, but she kept her focus and held strong.
“The first day was terrible, because I have no cards… but I bagged so I was happy,” Truong stated. “Then go through the second day it was like… up, down, win some, take some.”
Truong made it out of Flight B with around 90,000 in chips. Then she went on to have a solid Day 2, finishing in the top-five stacks with just over two million in chips.
“And then today [Day 3], was super roller coaster. And I feel super excited that we have final table and I took out like six, seven guys. Literally, I took like six, seven guys out!” exclaimed Truong.
Six, of the eight, knock out blows at the official final table came from the hand of Truong. She even busted the last four players, including her final adversary, Daniel Pearlman.
The heads-up match between Truong and Pearlman was an extensive one. It lasted around three and half hours, and took 115 hands before Truong was awarded every chip in play.
When the final card hit the table, she could not contain her excitement. The 41-year-old let out a burst of joy while embracing her husband who acted as a supporting voice throughout the finale.
“That’s Rusty, my crazy Rusty, my crazy cheerleader,” Truong said with a smile.
When her opponent’s rail was loud, Rusty chimed in with a motivational boost for Truong. And when Pearlman was aided by some coaching from his rail, Rusty confidently claimed that Truong did not need any coaching, that she could do it herself.
In the end, Truong did indeed manage the momentous achievement. The Vietnamese transplant, who immigrated to the United States in 1989, touched on how the victory felt.
“Can’t explain it, kind of like in a dream,” said Truong.
She went on to describe how watching the annual, WSOP Main Event on television evokes visions of winning on a stage of that scale. It may not have been the World Championship in Las Vegas, but Event #10 was a monster tournament in its own right.
With 1,164 entries, the signature tournament set a Harrah’s Cherokee Main Event record for prizepool numbers. The total purse came out to nearly 1.75 million dollars, and paid out the top 117 finishers. Truong walked away with the massive, $318,646 top prize, her first Circuit gold ring, and a personal triumph for the ages.