He may be considered an “overnight sensation” in the world of poker, but Webber Kang‘s performance at the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event was anything but that.

Kang, who hails from Dallas, Texas, has been part of the poker world for most of the past decade. He first made a statement on the tournament poker community in 2005 at the WSOP when he drove to the final table of a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament. He would eventually finish in fourth place in that event for a $175,010 score, behind such notables as Bill Gazes, Minh Nguyen, and eventual champion Mark Seif, which would only serve to entrench Kang’s name into the poker scene.

Later that year, Kang would make a similar run in the Main Event, finishing in 86th place for a $91,950 score. By the end of 2005, Kang had added a win in a preliminary event at the Bellagio’s Festa al Lago series, earning over $400,000 in his first year on the tournament circuit.

Since that explosion, Kang has seemingly been in and out of the poker spotlight. From 2006 to 2011, Kang only made slightly more than $55,000, demonstrating how difficult it can be for tournament pros to fade the variance of the game. At the 2012 WSOP, Kang was able to reverse his fortunes.

A 34th place finish in the final $1,000 No Limit Hold’em event on the 2012 WSOP schedulegave him ample bankroll to get into the Main Event, where his skills were once again on display. Coming to Day 6 with only 1.09 million in chips, Kang battled late into the evening before running his A-9 of diamonds into Greg Merson‘s A-K after an A-K-3-6 two-diamond flop and turn.

Looking for a huge double up that would have put him into the running for the chip lead, Kang instead found a useless nine of hearts to knock him out in 41st place. The $191,646 payday was the biggest in Kang’s poker career and pushes him to $777,637 in career earnings.