Ezequiel Waigel is a professional poker player from Argentina and one of the best from his native land. The young online pro has proven to be a force in live tournaments as well.
Entering the 2023 calendar year, the Argentinian had over $1.5 million in live tournament cashes according to Hendon Mob. That put him in 10th place in home nation's all-time list. Ivan Luca leads the way with well over $6.5 million in career earnings.
But Waigel just might one day catch up and take over the lead, especially if he has a few more years like he did in 2021, his breakout year. During those 365 days, he went on a magical run with over $780,000 in live tournament cashes. That said, it wasn't his only impressive year. In fact, he's cashed for six figures four times since 2016.
In 2021, however, he was an absolute beast in live tournaments. Waigel earned his largest career score — $417,004 — in November of that year when he claimed first place in a $2,500 no-limit hold'em event at Venetian in Las Vegas as part of the poker room's regular Deepstack Extravaganza series.
One month earlier, at the Wynn Las Vegas, he finished second out of 2,333 entrants in a $2,200 Mystery Bounty tournament for a whopping $263,627 via a three-way ICM chop. Pete Chen ended up as the champion and was paid $289,193.