A married father of one, Duy Le hails from San Jose, California. Prior to his monumental run in the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, where he finished 13th, Le had scored just one in they money finish on WSOP felts. That cash came in a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament and was good for $29,000. The event attracted a colossal starting grid of 3,151 players and Chandrasekhar Billavara came away with the bracelet.
Le entered Day 7 of the 2010 WSOP Main Event with the 25th largest stack overall out of 78 players remaining. In a key hand, there was six-way action to a flop of Q-3-4. Tournament veteran William Thorson fired out a bet of 350,000 and only Le was brave enough to come along. Another queen hit on the turn and the action went check-check to a 10 on the river. The action once again went check-check and Le flipped over Q-5 for trips. The hand pushed him over the six million chip mark and likely gave him the confidence that he could hang with the “big boys” down the stretch.
Le was seated at the ESPN feature table on Day 7, where his cast of opponents included $50,000 Player’s Championship winner Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi, Thorson, and bracelet holder Hasan Habib. He boasted just the third largest stack at the table when play began, but successfully navigated his rough and tumble competition to secure a birth in the top 40. Mizrachi steamrolled through the waning moments of the 2010 WSOP Main Event, but seemed to hit a stumbling block when seated with this extremely talented selection of pros. Le ultimately landed in 13th place and banked $500,000.
Following along the lines of players like PokerStars pro Vanessa Rousso, Le attended law school before making the decision to become a professional poker player. Prior to his 2010 WSOP Main Event run, his lifetime WSOP earnings failed to pass $30,000, making the tournament truly the defining moment of his career.
