You remember your first big poker session, right?
It likely didn’t go well. You didn’t know anywhere near as much as you know now, but no matter how much you lost, there was something about the game that you knew you loved.
You wanted to improve, you wanted to win, and you wanted to get back your money from that first session as a noob.
But you probably didn’t lose $1.5 million either.
That’s how it started for Chang Lee, who you may know better as Jack from Hustler Casino Live’s highest-stakes streams. Lee made his debut on HCL less than two years ago as an unknown ‘VIP’ with a couple of smaller appearances before taking on the Million Dollar Game and getting crushed.
He’s now a World Series of Poker bracelet and Asian Poker Tour Mega Lion winner. How things can change.
Lee, who owns a venture capital company and works with investment businesses in Japan, Hong Kong and San Francisco, saw the game as an opportunity to network, so in he went.
This wasn’t exactly springing for dinner with potential clients.
“I played and lost $1.5M the first time,” Lee told us when we spoke to him at the recent APT Incheon series. “After that, I was so shocked. Playing poker was not easy for me, and I needed to be serious. Before the next game, I tried to find out how I could learn to play poker. Then I watched a lot of live streams and used GTO Wizard.”
From ‘VIP’ to bracelet winner
That first big session on HCL was indeed a million-dollar cash game for Lee, and although he ended up on the wrong side of it, he had the bug and was more motivated than ever. He loved poker, and as someone fortunate enough to take that kind of financial hit and come back for more, he threw himself into studying the game. And then he discovered tournaments.
He was hooked, discovering a love for the different style of play and changing dynamics of tournaments.
Oh, and one other thing.
“I love to say ‘all-in!’ On the river, the turn, it’s more exciting for me. I can say it a lot in a tournament. But in cash games, it’s boring; I need to wait a lot of hands and be patient. I must fold on the river against huge bets. That’s not fun for me.”
Lee wasn't done with cash games, but tournaments spoke to him. Already with a $156K runner-up finish in the $3,500 Bay 101 Rising Star Main Event under his belt, it was time to take on the challenge that poker dreamers around the world pursue. The World Series of Poker. Lee was now one of those dreamers, just with a more sizeable bankroll.
Still a virtual unknown, but with no fear of saying those two magic words, Lee entered the $25K High Roller and proceeded to put many of the best in the world into the blender. He tore his way through 392 entries, all the way to a bracelet and a payday of just under $2M.
He'd come a long way from that eye-opening initiation a few months back, thanks to the combination of his newfound knowledge, ruthless aggression and a little rungood.
“There’s not only luck, but I think in a tournament, there's huge fold equity. Every player, especially around the bubble and then before the final table. And then there are a lot of pros. They know how to fold in these spots. I make them fold a lot. That’s how I got a lot of chips.”
With those chips, the final table saw Lee outlast the likes of Joe McKeehen, Byron Kaverman, and Andrew Ostapchenko by making hands as well as making opponents fold.
“At the final table, there were no coolers for me. I just opened with a good hand, and then they called. I bet, good hand, they call, and that's all. Easy game.”
Easy game, huh?
Lee’s poker journey was moving fast. Within months, he’d gone from cash game whale to a WSOP champion, and while he’d now tasted great tournament success, a few months do not a poker career make. As many have learned before him and since, taking that big tournament score straight back to the cash games may not be the wisest decision.
“I played the WSOP 25K, and I got the bracelet, and now I think, ‘oh, poker’s easy.’ After that, I went to Hustler again because I thought I was getting better, but I lost a lot again, because when I'm winning, my play is so wide. Wide opens and wide calls.”
For the remainder of 2025, Lee stayed in the lab to work on his game while managing his business interests. He also made the most of his world travels to play in what he says were some of the biggest cash games in the world.
There were wins – $2.6M was his high point – and there were, of course, more losses, but none bigger than that first $1.5M at Hustler.
Even with more wins coming his way than before, Lee was discovering another well-known trait among poker players. The losses stick with you far more than the wins.
“You can win a lot of money in poker if you have a good hand; that's amazing. But I just remember the coolers, only the coolers. Because it's so painful, so stressful. I remember all of the hands from when I lost the $1.5 million at Hustler.”
The losses still stung, but his cash game was improving. Meanwhile, on the tournament side of things, another bracelet run, more accolades and an ascent up The Hendon Mob leaderboard to third among all South Korean players was still to come.
Lion taming and another run at a bracelet
“The quality of players is very high on the APT – like at the WSOP. They can fold, and they can go all-in without a good hand. So, I need to guess their hand exactly; that’s fun.”
Having fun and making the good players fold. It was the recipe for success when he won a WSOP bracelet, and now Lee was off to his homeland of South Korea, seeking more tournament glory, starting with the Asian Poker Tour.
At February’s APT Jeju Classic, he came within a lion’s whisker twice of claiming one of the tour’s coveted trophies. His second- and third-place finishes in High Roller events were bittersweet, and while still earning him over $175K, a Lion was yet to be his.
The following month, he hit the Triton Jeju series for three more cashes, including another near miss in a $30K event, finishing second for $771K.
More financial success in the tournament streets would come this past summer at his second WSOP, as Lee finished second to Santhosh Suvarna in the $50K High Roller for just under $1.3M.
But it was wins that Lee was now chasing, not just the money. His next major tournament win would have to wait. In the meantime, a cash game he’d been anticipating for over a year was just hours away.
MDG revenge
The next day, Lee was back in the HCL Million Dollar Game for the first time since his rocky debut. This time it was in Las Vegas during the WSOP, with Suvarna also in the game. The disappointment of losing the bracelet to Suvarna was still fresh, but eased somewhat by winning $464K this time around.
Suvarna, though, lost over a million of the $1.9M he had won the day before.
Suvarna had earned just over $600K more than Lee for winning their heads-up battle for the bracelet, but it was now spread among players Lee says he loves playing with, including ‘Texas’ Mike Moncek and Eric Wasserson.
Along with booking a healthy, satisfying win, Lee got a playful apology from the man who denied him a second bracelet and that extra money just hours earlier.
“He said, ‘Oh, sorry, Jack, I lost your money in the cash game.’”
While that first-place tournament money wasn't his, Lee had booked a solid win in the game that truly began his poker journey. With other games over the summer, Lee estimates he won over $5M. Cash games were now proving fruitful, and another signature tournament win was on its way.
A lion roars for Lee
The tournament poker calendar never slows down, and neither did Lee’s desire for that next big win.
Just two months after the WSOP and the disappointment of just missing out on another bracelet, Lee was back in South Korea at APT Incheon, eager to claim a prize that he’d been denied earlier in the year.
Playing as much as he could while honouring work commitments, Lee entered a few of the High Roller tournaments. But as the series wore on, it seemed a meagre $8,800 cash would be all he’d take away, until the very end.
The Mega Lion is the epitome of Asian Poker Tour glory. At APT festivals that award over 100 trophies, just three Mega Lions are presented each series, going to the winners of the Main Event, the High Roller, and the Super High Roller. They are among the rarest prizes in tournament poker. No one has ever won two of them.
But on the final day of the series, Lee was able to lay claim to his first. After just missing out on a Mega Lion in Jeju, he was the last player standing out of 154 in the APT Incheon High Roller, earning $141K. For Lee, it was all about the gorgeous rose gold trophy.
No matter the stakes, we all just want to win
Another disappointment had been rectified. Another goal had been achieved. He doesn’t deny that the money from playing in the highest-stakes games and tournaments is a huge part of his world, but when it comes to wanting to win, the very down-to-earth Lee is just like you or me.
That first big loss? You want to make your money back. That trophy you nearly won? You want it in your hands next time.
With hard work and a true love for the game, Lee has gone from a rookie on the felt to achieving his goals in short order. He’s walking a path familiar to any ambitious poker player, albeit at higher stakes than most, and he’s doing it the right way.
“One year ago, my goal was to get back $1.5M in a cash game. I achieved that one. In tournaments, I achieved another goal because I wanted to show that the bracelet last summer wasn't just luck, but it was my behaviour, my mindset, and my drive.”
Lee says his next goals include a Triton Poker Series trophy, which he’ll have the chance at from September 4-17 in Jeju. He’ll then try to become the first player to win two APT Mega Lions when the next APT series begins there just a couple of weeks later on September 25.
And when the next Hustler Million Dollar Game is announced? Oh, we’re sure he’ll be there too.
Photos courtesy of APT, WSOP, Hustler Casino Live
