About the main event WSOP 2009-2015 champions<\/a> here<\/a><\/p>\n\n Qui Nguyen was born in Vietnam and moved to Las Vegas at the age of 24, where he worked in a nail salon and played cash games ranging from $1-3 to $10-20. However, he couldn’t manage to build a bankroll as he lost all his money at baccarat tables.<\/p>\n\n Before winning the Main Event, Nguyen had never played in a $10K tournament, and his total live tournament winnings amounted to $9K.<\/p>\n\n Qui Nguyen qualified for the Main Event through a $1,100 satellite on his third attempt. His family urged him to sell the ticket, but Nguyen was determined to play.<\/p>\n\n After his victory, Qui Nguyen released a book titled “From Vietnam to Vegas! How I Won the WSOP Main Event,” which mainly features an analysis of 170 hands from the tournament.<\/p>\n\n He continues to play poker and is active on Instagram, where he mostly posts photos with his wife and son.<\/p>\n\n And no more baccarat! Now I only play poker!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Scott Blumstein partly followed the path of Moneymaker. He studied accounting at Temple University.<\/p>\n\n But he got tired of all the taxes and paperwork and decided to start playing poker. Initially, he lacked confidence in his game and played without a plan or strategy.<\/p>\n\n Scott even considered quitting poker, but his father persuaded him to continue playing.<\/p>\n\n In the summer of 2016, Blumstein won the $560 One Million Deepstack Kick Off at Borgata Casino in Atlantic City ($200K) and gave poker a second chance. A year later, he won the WSOP Main Event ().<\/p>\n\n After his victory, Scott Blumstein moved to Las Vegas, lost 45 kilograms, and continues to play poker.<\/p>\n\n John Cynn studied finance and supply chain management at Indiana University in Bloomington. He then worked as an IT consultant in California.<\/p>\n\n His parents did not support his interest in poker:<\/p>\n\n I didn’t tell my parents for six months that I had left IT for poker. I remember my mom being absolutely devastated when I told her. However, after my victory at the WSOP, my mom and dad were over the moon, especially when strangers recognized me in a restaurant and asked for a photo.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The heads-up against Tony Miles lasted 10 hours. Cynn believed that a late friend helped him at the table:<\/p>\n\n I always maintain a positive outlook. After my friend’s death in December 2017, I learned to love life even more. When there were 12 players left in the Main Event, I told my friends, ‘Even if I go on a losing streak and bust out 12th, I will still be happy. I’m playing cards. I’m alive.’ I believe he supported me during the game.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n After his victory, John Cynn traveled around half the world. The last time Cynn cashed money was at the Main Event WSOP 2022. Cynn’s second passion after poker became cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n\n Hossein Ensan was born in Iran. In 1990, at the age of 25, he moved to Germany. He studied construction at the University of M\u00fcnster. Money was tight, so he had to work three jobs simultaneously: as a taxi driver, waiter, and painter.<\/p>\n\n In 2002, Ensan started his own business: he bought three cars and launched a taxi service. At the same time, he began studying poker diligently.<\/p>\n\n At that time, I was 39 years old \u2014 quite late to start a professional playing career. I only knew the hand rankings because I played Five-Card Draw Poker as a child.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Initially, he played $500 tournaments five times a month. His first success came in 2010 when he finally won $20K in a tournament. In 2011, he won $28K and bought a Porsche. That same year, he sold the car for $74K and his business for $75K \u2014 this gave him his first bankroll, and he became a professional player.<\/p>\n\n In 2014, he took 3rd place in the \u20ac5K Main Event EPT Barcelona and received \u20ac650K \u2014 this was the most significant cash of his career.<\/p>\n\n Before winning the WSOP, Hossein Ensan secured several titles:<\/p>\n\n At 55 years old, Hossein Ensan became one of the oldest Main Event champions. Only the 1999 WSOP Main Event champion Noel Furlong, who was 61, was older.<\/p>\n\n I will never say that poker is a young person\u2019s game. In poker, the most important thing is memory. It’s crucial to remember every hand and every situation and learn from your experience. Success in poker absolutely depends on experience.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Hossein Ensan continues to play actively to this day.<\/p>\n\n In 2020, the WSOP Main Event was held in a “hybrid format”.<\/p>\n\n First, players from the U.S. played online in their pool on WSOP.com, while players from the rest of the world played on GGPoker. Then, the final tables were played offline: Americans at the RIO, and the rest of the world at King\u2019s Rozvadov. Tournament winners Damian “pampa27” Salas and Joseph Hebert met in Las Vegas to play heads-up for $1M. In the end, Salas emerged victorious, earning $1.5M for his win at King\u2019s plus $1M for his heads-up victory at the RIO.<\/p>\n\n Little is known about Damian Salas’s biography. He started playing poker in 2009. In 2017, he reached the final table of the WSOP Main Event, finishing in 7th place ($1.42M). Despite his poker successes, Salas does not consider himself a poker pro and continues to practice law.<\/p>\n\n Koray Aldemir first played poker at the age of 16 with friends. He then continued playing freerolls on PokerStars.<\/p>\n\n After high school, he enrolled at Brandenburg University of Technology (Cottbus, Germany), where he studied business administration. He then moved to Vienna, where he began studying psychology.<\/p>\n\n During his university studies, Aldemir played poker consistently. His friends included Rainer Kempe, Fedor Holz, Julian Thomas, and the player known as “PlayingWasted” \u2014 they all gathered in a Skype conference to discuss hands. Eventually, all five players became successful poker pros.<\/p>\n\n Before winning the WSOP Main Event, Koray Aldemir had already amassed $10M in winnings. He continues to play to this day. As of the publication of this article, Aldemir has cashed four times at the 2023 WSOP (out of a total of 16 events).<\/p>\n\n The life of Espen J\u00f8rstad is a story of “the ugly duckling turning into a beautiful swan.”<\/p>\n\n During his school years, J\u00f8rstad played WoW for 15 hours a day, skipped school, and ate frozen pizza reheated in the microwave.<\/p>\n\n At 18, he received a call from the military recruitment office with an offer to join the army \u2014 and he agreed.<\/p>\n\n At 29, Espen opened his own brewery, but the startup didn’t take off \u2014 so he decided to focus on poker.<\/p>\n\n Espen J\u00f8rstad overcame social anxiety, started exercising, streaming, blogging, and even became an ambassador for Unibet.<\/p>\n\n In 2022, in addition to his bracelet in the WSOP Main Event, he won another bracelet in the tag team event with Patrick Leonard.<\/p>\n\n Espen J\u00f8rstad continues to actively play poker both offline and online to this day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Discover the unexpected journeys of renowned WSOP champions like Qui Nguyen, Scott Blumstein, John Cynn, Hossein Ensan and others<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1301,"template":"","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n2016: Qui Nguyen \u2014 none of the WSOP champions loved and hated baccarat more than him<\/h2>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pokeroff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2016-qui-nhuen-1.jpeg\")
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2017: Scott Blumstein<\/h2>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pokeroff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2017-scott-blumstein-1-1024x575.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n2018: John Cynn<\/h2>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pokeroff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2018-john-cynn-1-1024x615.jpeg\")
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2019: Hossein Ensan<\/h2>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pokeroff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2019-hossein-ensan-1-1024x683.jpeg\")
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2020: Damian Salas \u2014 one of the oldest WSOP champions<\/h2>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pokeroff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2020-damian-salas-1-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n2021: Koray Aldemir<\/h2>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pokeroff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2021-koray-aldemir-1-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n2022: Espen J\u00f8rstad \u2014 one of the most motivating WSOP champions<\/h2>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pokeroff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/2022-espen-jorstad-1-1024x683.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pokeroff.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2911507-espen-jorstad-1686335332-1-1024x1015.jpg\")