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Randy 'nanonoko' Lew, 26-year-old member of PokerStars' Team Online, earned his first major live title Sunday, winning the 2011 PokerStars.net APPT Macau Main Event and HKD $3,772,000 in prize money (approx. $480,000 USD).
Lew entered the final table as the short stack and with a little luck, a lot of patience and a sound strategy, he was able to grind out a victory.
"I got queens in against aces, which was kind of a cooler, but after that I was just able to grind my stack really well," said Lew afterwards. "My heads-up opponent was a very competent player. I felt very confident though, in heads-up, because I play a lot of heads-up online against good players."
On how it feels to win a live tournament vs. online, Lew said: "Winning online, it feels kind of virtual. It’s kind of like my training ground for these live tournaments. Live tournaments are kind of like your record, and now I have something to put in my record, and that feels so good."
Jimmy Pan from Macau finished runner-up, pocketing a healthy HKD $2,367,000. Pan is a 24-year-old student who's been playing poker for two years.
