World Poker Tour

Paul Lee

Hometown
San Juan Capistrano, CA

Total Winnings
$1,082,920

Paul Lee grew up in sunny Southern California and learned to play poker in high school. At the age of 18, he and the friend who taught him the game took a trip to Commerce Casino, dressed up to look older, and played in the L.A. area casino. After winning $140 on that first trip, he knew that he had a knack for the game. Even so, he never envisioned himself playing as a professional, only as a recreational gamer who had a talent for poker.

In Paul's adult life, he took an interest in a career helping Asian students who wanted to study in America. As the director of an English academy, he saw the demand for a program that would help those students, so he established a dormitory facility for international students who want to study abroad and enroll in a boarding program. Poker has remained a hobby that takes its turn on events, weekends, or vacations, and his successes in small buy-in tournaments through the years show that he has the ability to do well. Dating back to the 1990's, the list of cashes in $100 or $200 buy-in events goes on, with his biggest accomplishment through 2006 being in a WSOP circuit event where he placed second for over $26,000.

April of 2007 would change everything for Paul, as he outdid himself at the Five Star World Poker Classic events. He won the $2,000 no-limit hold'em event for more than $200,000, took eighth place in the $5,000 buy-in event, then made it to the final table of the $25,000 World Poker Tour World Championship. Taking away over a million dollars for that performance may have helped convince his family, as well as himself, that he should try a career in professional poker while the cards are in his favor.