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The Best Poker Players From Japan

2,620 Views on 19/3/21

Tsugunari Toma, Masaaki Kagawa, Kazuhiko Yotsushika, Yuri Ishida and Takashi Ogura

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Tsugunari Toma

His name might not ring any bell, even for those who play poker, but Tsugunari Toma is the biggest winner in Japan when it comes to tournament results.

Currently, he is at the top of the country’s All-Time Money list since he has $2.2 million in earnings.

His first major win happened in December of 2018 when he ended with €25,000 in the Prague High Roller event, winning €191,840 for his performance during this tournament.

However, Toma was only warming up for 2019 since that was the year when he was able to post his two biggest career cashes until now.

In August he finished in 5th in the €100,000 EPT Barcelona Super High Roller event, taking home €500,000 and the again in Prague, but this time in the Main Event.

After a year he finished in 2nd, he was back in Prague. In a competition with over 250 top poker players, he was able to be the last one, winning €10,300 Main Event and also earning €523,120 during this process.

Masaaki Kagawa

Although Masaaki Kagawa hasn’t been active when it comes to poker for several years, he’s likely the most known players from Japan. For some time, he was at the top of the country’s All-Time Money list.

He still is in the top 5 with lifetime winning that are above $1.5 million, although he wasn’t played in any tournament since 2013, his results weren’t the only thing that gave him popularity in the community. The Japanese pro poker player was involved in many big scandals, including one that led to his arrest in 2013.

Kazuhiko Yotsushika

Kazuhiko is an amazing Japanese poker player who has been present in many big events all over the world.
He rarely misses a high roller tournament, and he has had a lot of great results along the way.

His biggest winning to date was during the 2018 EPT Prague €25,000 high roller. In order to claim first place, he had to face harsh competition at the last table, such as the known Portuguese pro João Vieira and US David Peters. The latter occupies the 7th positions on the global money list with more than $33 million in tournament winnings.

However, Yotshushika was able to defeat both of them and managed to win €370,000. This victory, combined with the series of other six and five-figure scored back in 2014, brings his earning to more than $1,6 million.

Yuri Ishida

Yuri is a successful representative of female poker players from Japan. Her first official result was in 2012 when she finished in third place in a small APPT event, winning over $4,000. However, this was only the beginning of the Japanese star. Over the next couple of years, Yuri Ishida has had notable results, bringing her total career earnings to more than $500,000.

Although this might not seem like plenty of money, it’s still an impressive result that she’s been playing in small tournaments, and her biggest single victory was $41,600.

Takashi Ogura

Ogura is a young professional and he’s sitting in third place on the money list, slightly behind Yotsushika, threatening to overtake his spot very soon.

He is definitely a true grinder that has been playing for many years and took played in smaller buy-in events, steadily building up to his lifetime earnings.

Takashi’s best results came from his performances in the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, which includes the win during 2018 single high roller event for $350,000 and the 3rd place finish in the 2016 APPT Main Event worth more than $177,000.

Poker isn’t definitely what people think of when they think of Japan. However, this country has really amazing poker players. Of course, they might not be as good as some European or North American players, they have incredible skills. And Poker is an incredible game that is available to play in Japan through competitions only. Through a lot of practice, knowledge of this game and skills there is the possibility of you becoming one of the Poker Stars in Japan. So, if you really want to invest in this game, visit Casimaru.com the best thing you can do is to start learning about it and then competing in Japan.

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