The Mega Millions XIX poker tournament at The Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles attracted a phenomenal field. Over 8,600 entries were recorded, pushing the prize pool up to $1.7 million. By the time the dust settled, a three-way chop saw Danny Wong awarded the first-place win, with DJ Alexander and Tony Chu settling for second and third, respectively. Wong has now accumulated more than $3.6 million in live action and his 12th pot of at least $100,000.

A number of starting flights helped attract 8,500 players.  97 more paid $4,000 for direct entry into Day 2. However, Day 2 only saw a total of 300 players return to the action. Despite holding the chip lead deep into the game, Wong looked to be on his way out, relegated to short stack by the time the final table was set.

Bill Collins led the final table in chips and increased his pile by taking out Dathan Kuppin, who went home in ninth place with $21,410. Wong, with only 10 big blinds, shoved on the 8-6-2 river after scoring top pair with A-8 of diamonds. However, what he didn’t realize was that his opponent, Shant Marshlian, was hiding pocket Kings. Lady Luck was on Wong’s shoulder, though, and awarded him with his fifth diamond on the turn to win with a flush and the ability to start crawling back into the game.

Collins would take out Nicholas Ronyecz next. His A-Q held against Ronyecz’s K-J and the latter hit the rail in eighth with $28,125. Marshlian would soon follow with $35,915 in his pocket after his A-8 fell to Joseph Szegedy’s K-Q after a Q appeared on the turn.