23-year-old American wins $15million at charity poker event

Dan Colman, 23

A 23-year-old online poker star has beaten the reigning World Series of Poker Player of the Year in a $1million buy-in charity poker tournament.

Daniel Colman won $15.3million in the Big One for One Drop poker event in Las Vegas.

It is the second-largest pay-out ever in the series’ history.

Daniel Colman of Massachusetts outlasted 41 other poker players to win $15.3million pile of cash at the Big One for One Drop tournament in Las Vegas.

Just two months ago Mr Colman had just $350,000 in live tournament earnings to his name. Now he’s earned more than $18million, the fourth-most any American has made playing poker, according to the Hendon Mob poker database.

‘Really he’s a class act, a good kid and I really like the way he plays,’ said Daniel Negreanu, the famed poker player and Canada native whom Mr Colman bested, according to Card Player. ‘He plays a lot different than a lot of the other young kids, because he’s a lot more careful.’

Mr Negreanu took home $8million for his second-place finish.

In a 2013 interview with HUSNG.com, Mr Colman said he almost gave up poker the year before to pursue his education.

“Summer of 2012, I was making plans to go back to college and give up poker, but I messed up my applications and then ultimately decided to give poker one last go around,’ he said.

“It was winter in Montreal and I was playing every single day. After that, I moved to Rio de Janiero where I definitely didn’t play as much, and now I am back in Montreal in the summer when the weather is nice so my grind isn’t ideal here, but it’s still pretty good.  I’ve also made a lot of trips to Vegas, New York, and back home in Massachusetts, as well as one trip to Sweden for a week.”

The Big One tournament raised $4.6million for the One Drop Foundation, a nonprofit created by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte and dedicated to providing clean water to developing countries.