World Series of Poker Champ Wins Big

Marc Naalden was a derivatives trader for 10 years. However, in 2005 he left that world for the high stakes game of professional poker, and he got a cool new nickname along the way – Needle King. In Event #38 of the World Series of Poker Sunday afternoon, "Needle King" came up big to win his first WSOP gold bracelet.

The hold 'em event had a $2,000 buy-in limit, with 446 entries. Of that number, 45 participants won a sum of money, the highest being $190,770, and the lowest $3,953. Naalden came into Sunday's action holding 755,000 worth of chips, more than his two closest competitors, Danny Qutami and Steven Cowley.

Naalden controlled the contest throughout. With seven players still in the game, he held over half of the chips in play, proceeding to drain each of their stacks. That is, until he reached heads-up play with Steven Cowley. Over the course of 30 minutes, Cowley took the chip advantage on a wave of momentum. However, Naalden recovered his lead and, after two hours of the one-on-one, battled his way to victory.

Poker is a game of psychology and Naalden didn't allow himself to get to high on the big lead during the weekend event, despite dominating since the action was at 25 players. He kept his focus and, as a result, won $190,770. Combining this win with his other earnings this year, including another tournament victory, Naalden has won $444,070. Not bad for someone who used to trade derivatives on the options exchange.