Certainly one of “American Idol’s” most memorable contestants, William Hung, a Los Angeles space poker participant, instructed Individuals journal his playing dependancy led to a failed marriage.
Hung, 41, infamously appeared on Season three of American Idol in 2004. He didn’t advance past the preliminary section after having “one of many worst auditions” decide Simon Cowell had heard after listening to a horrendous off-key rendition of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs.”
Regardless of the general public humiliation, Hung parlayed the looks on the favored musical expertise scouting present into some fame and notoriety. He gave up the musical profession years in the past and has since performed poker repeatedly, though these days now seem like over. However his playing behavior, in keeping with an interview with Individuals, was an dependancy that doomed his first marriage.
“I used to be incomes far more doing that than I used to be at my common job. It was going effectively for some time,” Hung mentioned of his poker recreation.
Playing on Greater than Simply Poker
The one drawback was he didn’t stick to simply enjoying poker. He started to guess on sports activities closely to some extent it grew to become an addition, and a expensive one for a number of causes.
“I do know higher [now]. I wasn’t imagined to do these issues, however I did it anyway,” he mentioned, calling himself “grasping. And I paid for it. I bought divorced, and I discovered I needed to be good about which dangers I selected to take,” Hung continued.
On a optimistic word, Hung has since remarried and now has a secure job in Los Angeles as a knowledge analyst. For the previous decade, he’s performed money video games repeatedly in Southern California, at Commerce On line casino and different LA space card rooms.
Hung does have some small outcomes on The Hendon Mob totaling $108,295 in lifetime dwell match cashes, his most up-to-date being final June at Venetian in Las Vegas, a small money in a $600 buy-in occasion. He’s additionally appeared as a headliner in some charity occasions, together with a 2023 Ante four Autism match at South Level in Las Vegas, a match Hung received in 2022.
The previous American Idol contestant has competed in some World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) occasions however hasn’t recorded a money.
Hung instructed Individuals he knew he was good at poker however “bought grasping” and that’s why he began to guess on sports activities, which apparently was his downfall within the playing world.
PokerNews Podcast: William Hung Tackles Poker
