PLAYER PROFILE: Michael Soyza
Michael Soyza is a Malaysian high-stakes poker professional with two Triton Poker Championship titles, an Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APT) title, and career tournament winnings that have passed $14.6 million. His path to those results, though, started a long way from a Triton final table.
Humble Beginnings
Soyza’s foray into poker began with casual games with friends, the same entry point as most players who eventually go professional. What set in over those early sessions wasn’t a system or a plan, it was the recognition that poker rewarded a different kind of thinking than the casual gambling he’d assumed it was, one built on reading opponents and managing risk rather than luck.
Rising Through the Ranks
Soyza’s tournament resume includes victories at the Aussie Millions in both 2015 and 2016, the 2017 Poker King Cup Main Event, and multiple 2018 events across the Macau Poker Cup, Asia Pacific Poker Tour, DeepStack Championship, and European Poker Tour.
One of his most notable achievements was at the Triton Poker Series in Jeju, where he won the third event with a prize of $1.421 million, overcoming top players like Sam Greenwood, Bryn Kenney, and Jason Koon, while suffering the effects of a broken hand sustained from snowboarding.
A Stellar 2023 Performance
2023 added to that resume. He secured second place in the $100,000 Main Event of the Triton Super Series in Vietnam for $2,207,000, then won the $75,000 No Limit Hold’em event at the Triton Series in Cyprus for $1,735,000.
Business Ventures
Beyond the felt, Soyza is one of the owners of the Asian Poker Tour (APT), a tour dedicated to promoting poker across Asia. The APT has run several significant tournaments since, building a reputation as one of the region’s major stops.
Game of Gold
Michael Soyza’s participation in the “Game of Gold,” a blend of poker and reality TV, put his poker skills on display in a novel and challenging environment. This show, hosted by Ali Nejad, brought together sixteen elite poker players, including Soyza, in a competition that was as much about strategy and skill as it was about navigating the dynamics of reality TV.
In “Game of Gold,” players were divided into teams based on playing card suits – hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds. Soyza was a part of Team Clubs, along with other notable players like Jason Koon, Daniel Negreanu, and Kevin Martin. The show’s format was unique, with players starting with a certain number of Gold Coins and participating in a series of matches to increase their stash. The number of coins determined their advantage in the final part of the competition.
The show differed from traditional poker tournaments as it incorporated elements of team strategy and collaboration, making it a distinct challenge for the players who are generally accustomed to competing individually. Throughout the show, the players had to navigate not only the poker games but also the intricacies of team dynamics and reality TV-style challenges.
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The show itself was produced in the style of Korean reality TV, with an elaborate set, heavy camera coverage, and constant player interaction, a different broadcast style from a standard poker stream. Soyza handled the shift well, which is its own point in his favor: plenty of strong tournament players look uncomfortable the moment a format stops resembling a normal final table, and he didn’t.
A Versatile and Fearless Competitor
That versatility shows up beyond the Triton stops and reality TV cameras too: Soyza has also emerged victorious in Omaha, Short Deck, and Turbo Hold’em, formats with very different demands from standard No Limit Hold’em. Beating strong fields across that range of games is what separates a specialist from a genuine all-around threat at the table.
Interviews and Insights
In interviews, Soyza has been consistent about his preference for classic No Limit Hold’em over newer variants, and about his appreciation for how organizations like Triton structure events around what players actually want.
$14.6 million in tournament winnings, titles across three different tours, and a reality TV run that could have gone very differently for a lesser player: Michael Soyza has built a resume that holds up from almost any angle you look at it.
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About the Author: Maury Orton is a poker writer and editor contributing to GGPoker. He focuses on clear, reliable explanations of the game, drawing on years of experience in online poker media and digital publishing.
