After recently parting ways with GGPoker, Tony “Ren” Lin has found a new home, this time with WPT Global. Lin is an extremely well-known figure in the poker world, ranking 90th on poker’s all-time money list with nearly $17 million in career live tournament earnings. This is all the more impressive, considering his biggest score before the 2021 World Series of Poker was just $13,335.
WPT Global has been quite busy over the last few months, adding Nacho Barbero, Dara O’Kearney, David Lappin, and Fintan Hand to their impressive roster that includes Phil Ivey, Brad Owen, Robin Poker, and Patrick ‘Egption’ Tardif.
Who is Ren Lin?
Ren Lin has been on the high-roller scene for the last four years, making a huge breakthrough at the 2021 World Series of Poker, when he came in third place in the 421-entry $5,000 8-Max tournament for $186,803, 14 times his previous high score. Just 11 days later, he won a 41-entry $10,000 PokerGO Tour Aria High Roller for $147,600. The real eye-opener came a little over two weeks later, when Lin finished second in the WSOP $50,000 High Roller for $903,610. That remains his second-highest score to date, only behind his 2023 WPT Alpha8 triumph that netted him $1,045,781.
With $16,845,540 in live tournament earnings, Lin is third on China’s all-time money list, trailing only Aaron Zang’s $21.9 million and Biao Ding’s $19.7 million. Unlike Zang and Ding, Lin did not start from a high-roller background; rather, he humbly began his poker career in Vegas with several cashes in $100-$400 buy-in tournaments. It took him over three-and-a-half years of tournament poker before he cashed a tournament with a four-figure buy-in.
Lin is known for being very charismatic at the tables, often doing pushups between hands. Lin is almost always seen making plenty of light-hearted jokes, even at final tables of huge Triton events.
Recent Controversy
Back in October, before Day 2 of the WSOP Super Circuit Main Event in Cyprus, World Series of Poker Tournament Director Andy Tillman disqualified Lin from the tournament due to Lin providing real-time assistance to a player only known as RealOA on GGPoker, who was competing at the $10,300 GGMillion$ final table on October 14. The third-place finisher, known as Buzzcut, provided damning evidence that RealOA was on a live call with Lin (while he was playing live) and other poker players receiving assistance en route to winning the $346,903 top prize.
As a result, RealOA was permanently banned and ordered to pay back 100% of his prize winnings. In the end, he returned $250,523, while Lin was indefinitely suspended and personally contributed $96,380. Lin claimed he did not have any financial incentives or benefits. The winnings were redistributed to the affected players.
Lin issued a multi-page apology, which included the following excerpt, where he admitted to personally offering his advice during the $GGMillions to RealOA via Tencent, a virtual meeting service similar to Zoom.
On the day of the incident, I was competing in a WSOP event in Cyprus. During a ten-minute break, I clicked a Tencent Meeting link shared by RealOA. Upon joining, I saw he was playing the GG10300 Final Table. When he asked for my opinion on a hand, I responded instinctively, offering my personal advice simply out of a desire to help a friend. The entire interaction lasted only a few minutes, after which I left the call and returned to my live tournament. As it was my first time entering such a live session, I failed to recognize it as a rule violation at that moment, mistakenly equating it with post-tournament hand discussions common in our chat groups.
Lin’s indefinite suspension was, controversially, lifted just a few weeks later, when he was allowed to compete at WSOP Paradise. Lin would finish 28th in the WSOP Super Main Event for $335,000 and in 11th in the Triton 7-Max tournament for $254,000.
WPT Global defends Lin signing
Shortly after the news of Lin’s signing broke on Monday, there was some pretty big backlash from all corners of the poker media world. Only four hours later, WPT Global released a statement defending their newest ambassador.
At WPT Global, we believe in the principles of growth, accountability, and redemption. The world of competitive poker is not only about winning hands, but also about personal evolution and the courage to face challenges with integrity.
We are honored to welcome Tony Lin as our newest brand ambassador. Tony has openly addressed past controversies, taken full responsibility for his actions, and accepted the consequences with humility. His willingness to learn, improve, and move forward demonstrates a maturity that aligns with our values. His journey reflects resilience—a quality we admire and wish to highlight. We recognize that people can learn from their experiences and contribute positively to the community.
WPT Global remains dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, security, and fairness in online poker. Our decision to collaborate with Tony is rooted in our belief in second chances and our focus on the future. We stand by our platform, our players, and our ambassadors as we continue to foster a respectful and trustworthy poker environment.
We look forward to Tony’s positive contributions and encourage our community to join us in supporting growth, both at the tables and beyond.
Thank you for your trust in WPT Global.
World Poker Tour and ClubWPT Gold distance themselves
In a since-deleted tweet, the World Poker Tour clearly distanced itself from Lin.
“WPT Global is a licensee of the World Poker Tour. We do not officially endorse any of their ambassadors.”
ClubWPT Gold also tweeted out this image, stating that Lin was banned from using its software. The tweet has since been deleted.
