Ryan Riess, a professional from Las Vegas, has just won the world championship of poker. He won a total of $8.4 million in the main event. The match lasted over 3.5 hours, and he defeated Jay Farber, who was his last opponent in his quest for the title.
Riess is a native of Waterford, Michigan, and a graduate of Michigan State. As a 23-year-old, and a recent college graduate, he is the youngest player to have won the title.
The event finished late on Tuesday night when Riess watched,along with his supporters, as his opponent flopped at the end of the match with an all-in call. He put his opponent away with an Ace-King.
After winning the title, Riess backed up into the crowd, and after being embraced by his girlfriend, he said “I want to thank my family and my friends, they’re the best friends in the world.” The young champion also mentioned that he was able to have such confidence because he feels that he is the best player in the world, and after last night, that has become the truth.
Congrats to @Michigan_State grad Ryan Reiss on winning the World Series of Poker. With over $8 mil in his pocket he def bleeds green now
— Keely K (@luv4elcaminos) November 6, 2013
Michigan state alum Ryan Reiss won the World Series of poker last night. 8.4 mil! Holy cannoli! #GoGreen
— Mikey Gradinscak (@Mikey_Sb) November 6, 2013
The two players entered the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino off the Las Vegas Strip like prizefighters, being introduced by announcers as “Riess The Beast” and “The Panda” Jay Farber.
Riess, Farber, and seven other finalists beat out a field of 6,352 entrants in order to advance in July. Reiss has kept a lower profile at the final table in comparison with the others, and he attributed his survival on Monday to lucky cards.
As soon as the young star turned 18, he started playing in charity poker rooms around his hometown, and also got a job as a dealer. As he sipped a beer after the match, he recalled his younger days when saying “In my basement, I had a $10 home game that I ran twice a week, just playing with my friends. I won all the time, which I thought was kind of weird, so I thought maybe I should do this more often.”
MSU grad Ryan Reiss won the WSOP Main Event last night #GoGreen
— Andrew Novak (@andrewnovak22) November 6, 2013
Love all the support for my Spartan Ryan Reiss, partied with that mofo for 4 years good for him
— Kyle Farmer (@farmerbyname) November 6, 2013
After a very successful night earning him over $8 million, a time that he has always seen coming, Ryan Riess has stunned everyone at the age of 23.
WebProNews is an iEntry Publication