A Singaporean has become an overnight millionaire from having mad skills in playing poker.

S$170,000 entry fee

The 2018 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series was held in Jeju, South Korea from July 23 to August 1, 2018.

On July 30, Kenneth Kee made it to the final table where he knocked out the other finalists from US, Malaysia, Canada and Belarus to take home the massive first place prize money and a trophy.

His prize is a cool HKD 22.5 million (about S$3.9 million).

Just a week ago on July 25, Kee finished as the runner-up in the first event playing HKD 100,000 short-deck ante-only hold’em. He won HKD 1.3 million (about S$225,000).

It was his first poker tournament in six years.

Win was "surreal"

To prepare for the matches, Kee said that he "watched a lot of tapes" to understand his opponents better.

Each time they made a move, he would try to figure out the rationale for them doing so.

But it all paid off with the win which Kee described as "surreal."

View this post on Instagram

Surreal .

A post shared by Kenneth Kee (@kennethkeewk) on Jul 30, 2018 at 3:48am PDT

Little support from mum initially

On another Instagram post, he also wrote about how his journey as a professional poker player started out as a hobby that soon turned into an ambition.

"The journey was tough," he said, and "the reality was harsh."

View this post on Instagram

“ Nothing is fair in this world “ The journey was tough , started off as a hobby , became a dream , the reality was harsh , you make mistakes along the way but you learn . Many stories on and off the felt . Some that actually know the facts , some that only know rumors . Am grateful to those who trusted their judgement in me , and to those that put me down there are bound to be ups and downs in life , the ups don’t mean much , but you get to see someone for who he actually is during the downs . Would like to dedicate this post to my bro , Darren P who has been there with me during ups and downs in my career ,thanks for having the faith in me and giving me advice and everything . Time will prove everything , come what may .

A post shared by Kenneth Kee (@kennethkeewk) on Jul 29, 2018 at 10:44pm PDT

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Kee shared that he had little support from his mother in the beginning due to the misconception that playing poker was just "gambling."

Over time, however, Kee said that she has "kinda accepted it."

He also said that he intends to give this trophy to his mother, as it will assure her that he's "in control" of his life and not "being a degenerate."

This was what he said in a video interview with Pokernews:

"During the early days of my career, she didn't really approve of me playing poker. Like [she] doesn't know what's poker, and [she] thinks [I'm] gambling? Over the years she kinda accepted it ... This is good because it kind of assures her more that I'm doing something that I'm in control of, and not being a degenerate or whatever."

You can watch the full video here:

Top photo screengrab from video.