Player Spotlight: Chris Leong

Season XIV WPT Borgata Winter Open champion Chris Leong (pictured) is playing in the field on Day 1A here at the Borgata, and he is excited to mount his title defense.

“It feels really good,” Leong said. “I actually took the past two months off in Asia visiting family, so it’s nice to be back on the felt.”

Leong topped a field of 1,171 players to take home a top prize worth $816,246 from this event one year ago. All told, Leong boasts a career with $1,274,109 in live tournament earnings entering the Season XV Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship.

“I think people always showed me respect, even if they didn’t know who I was because I was young and Asian, and people tend to think you’re good at poker if that’s the case,” Leong said when he was asked about opponents making different plays at him as the defending champion. “But now they can actually put a name to the face, so I do think so.”

During his two months off in Asia, Leong found time to play in the WPT National event that took place in Cambodia, and it sounded like he had a good time.

“Cambodia was interesting,” Leong said. “It was literally in the middle of nowhere in Asia. There were more local players. I had tons of fun. That was actually the only place I’ve been in the past year where no one knew who I was.”