Bracelet winner Sung Joo Hyun on fire with over half a million dollars earned in 2021

Off to a fantastic start this year, South Korean player Las Vegas with two live events shipped and well over half a million dollars in winnings earned. In February, Hyun won the WPTDeepStacks Venetian US$ 1,600 No Limit Hold’em event for US$ 208,335, then just last weekend, he was awarded the victory at The Wynn Spring Classic US$ 3,500 No Limit Hold’em Championship for a whopping US$ 323,409. The latest win surged Hyun to US$ 876K in total live tournament career earnings, catapulting him from 20th rank to 7th rank in The Hendon Mob’s South Korea All Time Money List.

Prior to the pandemic, Hyun had a commendable US$ 333,548 in live tournament winnings collected across 11 deep runs. The bulk of it was earned at the 2018 World Series of Poker when he came harrowingly close to a golden dream at the US$ 1,000 No Limit Hold’em Little One for One Drop event finishing 4th for his first ever six figure payout of US$ 189,098.

Two years later, with the world grounded and the WSOP’s annual series held online, Hyun’s dream of a gold bracelet was finally fulfilled after he triumphed at the US$ 500 Deepstack No Limit Hold’em. In addition, he cashed at 9 other 2020 WSOP Online events for an overall haul of US$ 231,684.

Kicking off 2021 with a bracelet to boast of and a combined US$ 565,232 in live and online recorded winnings, Hyun returned to the live green in Las Vegas where he proceeded to reach another milestone. In early February, Hyun overcame the 812 entry field of the WPTDeepStacks Venetian US$ 1,600 No Limit Hold’em event for his maiden live tournament victory. This earned him his first ever trophy and a handsome payout of US$ 208,335.

One month later, Hyun was at it again. He secured his second live tournament title at The Wynn Spring Classic US$ 3,500 No Limit Hold’em Championship. He conquered the 614 entry field, outlasting fellow WSOP bracelet winners Upeshka De Silva, Joe McKeehen, Barry Shulman, Anthony Zinno, Chance Kornuth, Ankush Mandavia, and Chris Moorman who finished in 8th place.

Based on the Pokernews live reports, Hyun picked up several big pots before facing Matthias Auer at heads up. At 14 remaining Hyun caught a nut flush on the river to burn and bust Chino Reem’s pocket Aces. Another heavy scoop was at 7 handed when Eric Afriat slid out a big bluff bet of around 725K onto a pot of 800K with the board showing . Hyun tank called with straight. Hyun went on to eliminate three players David Polop (7th), Matthew Wantman (5th), and Will Failla (3rd). Despite being behind in chips at heads up, both Hyun and Auer agreed to chop the pot and flip – best out of 3 – for the one dollar more payout and the trophy. Hyun took it in two straight flips to collect his largest live tournament cash of US$ 323,409. To date, he has amassed over US$ 1.1 million in combined live and online earnings.

Date: March 12 to 15
Buy in: US$ 3,500
Guarantee: US$ 1,000,000
Entries 614
Prize pool: US$ 1,985,676
ITM: 63 places

Final Table payouts

1st Sung Joo Hyun – South Korea – US$ 323,409 (deal)
2nd Matthias Auer – Austria – US$ 323,408 (deal)
3rd Will Failla – United States – US$ 173,240
4th Eric Afriat – Canada – US$ 121,450
5th Matthew Wantman – United States – US$ 89,842
6th Mihai Manole – Romania – US$ 69,588
7th David Cabrera Polop – Mexico – US$ 55,291
8th Chris Moorman – United Kingdom – US$ 45,760