Chip and a chair: Poker pro wins BetMGM title with stunning comeback

Nguyen Le completed a remarkable comeback Friday to win the BetMGM Championship at Aria.

The tournament pro was down to one chip with 11 players remaining, but rallied and defeated Asish Ghosh during heads-up play for his second major poker title.

Le collected $777,777 after the final three competitors struck a deal to divide the remaining prize money. Ghosh earned $752,282 for second place, while Yaniv Peretz took home $590,348, which was well above the original payout for third place thanks to the chop.

“I felt very confident going into the final table,” Le told Poker.org. “The situation, the way things played out, I think it was beneficial to me.”

The $3,500 buy-in BetMGM Championship, in its fourth year, had 1,853 entries and smashed its $3 million guaranteed prize pool. First place was set to pay out more than $1 million before Le, Ghosh and Peretz agreed to the three-way deal.

Le was nearly out of the tournament on Thursday’s Day 3 after a hand against eventual fourth-place finisher Hassan El Hakim. Le put all but one chip into the pot, but El Hakim tabled his hand thinking his opponent was all-in.

After the dealer put out the river card, El Hakim bet to put Le all-in. But knowing he was beat, Le folded his hand and was left with one big blind.

However, Le doubled up several times and then won two big pots against Andrew Moreno and El Hakim to rebuild his chip stack. When the final table of seven players began, Le had the chip lead and held it for most of the action Friday.

“When I was back to one chip, I just thought, I’ve got to do what I need to do — try to ladder and survive,” Le said. “I didn’t think I could make it that far. But I just kept doubling. Kept binking rivers.”

On the final hand against Ghosh, Le held top pair after the flop but faced a difficult decision when his opponent went all-in following the turn.

Le eventually called and picked off the bluff. The river card was no help to Ghosh, who was holding only king high.

Le now has more than $1.4 million in career live tournament earnings, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database. In January, he shared first place in the Borgata Winter Poker Open with Joseph Neiman after the two made a deal during heads-up play.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.