A 22 year old American won the Main Event at the PokerStars sponsored Asia Pacific Poker Tour held in Macau.

Looking at him many wondered if he was not underage. He entered the tournament through an online qualifier.

Going into the final table he had the second largest chip stack. And he showed the tenacity to battle for twelve hours and emerge on top to claim the first prize of $453,851. This young poker player was Edward Sabat.

Sabat hails from Lancaster in California. He is currently studying accounting in the University of Southern California but cannot wait to finish. He says, “I kind of feel like I’m finishing it for my parents’ sake.” His ambition is to become a professional poker player. However he also realizes the wisdom of having a university degree as a back up plan. Meanwhile Sabat loves hanging out with his friends and family. His favorite movie is Mission Impossible, his favorite celebrity is Kat Williams and his favorite music styles are Reggaeton and Hip Hop.

Sabat has been playing poker since he was 16. He prefers No Limit Hold’em and his poker idol is Barry Greenstein. In the United States the legal age for gambling is 21 and therefore not much is known about Sabat. He usually plays cash games at Commerce Casino in order to build up his bankroll. Sometimes he plays cash games online on PokerStars. 

Sabat started playing live tournaments soon after turning 21. From December 2007 to September 2008, in a space of 10 months, he has had nine cashes, which is great going. All have come in his favorite game No Limit Hold’em. The first was in Harrah’s Atlantic City Poker Tournament, where he placed second. In Harrah’s Rincon Poker Tournament in February 2008 Tournament he placed third. At $70,680 this was his biggest win before the recently concluded APPT event. In this tournament Sabat got the better of established pros like Vanessa Rousso, Gavin Smith, Scott Reese and Lee Watkinson. The other cashes before the big one were nothing great either in ranking or in prize money, but Sabat was always there knocking on the door. His total winnings before the APPT win were $158,810 about a third of his takings in Macau.

In the final table of the $3,200 Macau pokerstars event four of the finalists fell to Sabat before the heads-up. The first victim was Tian Chen. At the Flop Chen had an Ace King two pair but Sabat ended up with a flush after the turn and river. The next victim was Kuok Wai Will Cheong.  Cheong crashed out when he failed to make a straight on the river. Jeppe Drivsholm of Denmark was the next to go when his 4 pair lost to Sabat’s King pair. Finally Sabat knocked out Diwei Huang to set up the heads up with Charles Chua. Chua first established a 3:2 chip lead over Sabat but after that it was downhill for Chua all the way. 

Edward Sabat had made his presence known in the poker fraternity.