Michael Woo “"Mike Woo"“

Birthplace
Hong Kong

Hometown
Los Angeles, CA

Birthday
May 28

Total Winnings
$706,588

Michael Woo was born in Hong Kong but came to the United States early in life. In the pursuit of the American dream, he studied his way through school, entered the corporate world, and worked his way up that business ladder to become the vice president of marketing at a large cosmetics company. During the time that he was working long hours at his day job, he was playing poker during what free time he had left. As soon as poker was legalized in California in 1986, he was making his way to the card rooms of Los Angeles whenever time allowed. Michael was no slouch at the tables. He quickly learned how to make the most of his cash game play and had his eye on tournaments. In 1989, he made his first World Series of Poker cash which also happened to be a final table in the $1,500 Ace-to-five draw event, and later that year, he won his first tournament " the $2,500 Diamond Jim Brady limit hold'em event for more than $82,000. One year later, he won the exact same event for $90,000. By 1997, he had accumulated enough winnings and experience to justify quitting his marketing job and concentrating on poker full-time. While no-limit hold'em wasn't Michael's specialty, he realized that he would need to hone his skills in that game to compete as it became so popular. He did just that, and by 2005 he was cashing in on the World Poker Tour " a 14th and a 23rd place " which only spurred him on to reach a WPT final table. This happened the following year when he played in the 2006 L.A. Poker Classic main event, making it to the final table and finishing in third place for over $570,000. He came close to another final table at the 2006 Mandalay Bay main event, but if his record is accurate, it will only be a matter of time before he's under the WPT lights again.