2022 WSOP: South Korea’s Jinho Hong captures gold bracelet glory, denies Punnat Punsri Event #76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty title

Down to its last week of festivities, the 53rd annual World Series of Poker currently running in the entertainment capital is wrapping up this year’s 88-bracelet event schedule with only a few of the global brand’s gold left to be awarded. Asian runners have reared well across the international field with Event #76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty having featured two established pros – South Korea’s Jinho Hong and Thailand’s Punnat Punsri in a battle for its top spot. After three hours of final table gameplay, Hong carried his lead to the end and walked away with his maiden gold and $276,067 in winnings.

Event #76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty: Jinho Hong – US$ 276,067

Former StarCraft pro gamer Jinho ‘YellOw’ Hong recently added another bracelet win for South Korea after emerging victorious in Event #76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty. Hong was fresh from achieving his recorded best cash of $696,011 after taking down the $3,500 NLH Championship in The Wynn Summer Classic just three weeks prior and was now on the hunt for his share of the official WSOP gold. After beating one of Thailand’s best pros in heads up play, Hong clinched the title and successfully secured a career-first bracelet along with $276,067 in top prize.

“For now I’m so happy, my head is empty, very nervous but I am just so grateful that I’ve won a bracelet. The win at the Wynn Summer Classic was a bigger cash but for me, the bracelet is a lot more meaningful to me and hopefully in the future, a lot more Koreans keep on trying to get the bracelet and hopefully our country grows.“, commented Hong following his victory.

The 3-day event attracted a total of 865 entries and generated a prize pool of $1,495,363 with the final day led by chip leader Hong and only seven players left in the running. Cards continued to fall in Hong’s way as he eliminated two opponents – Yuri Dzivielevski (6th) and George Rotariu (7th) right off the bat. The double knockout saw Hong’s force Dzivielevski’s and Rotariu’s quickly in the muck on a flop of as no help on the turn and river showed up. 5th place finisher Pavel Spirins followed shortly after, having fallen into the hands of two-time World Poker Tour champion Daniel Weinman with Ace-nine, failing to hold against Weinman’s King-Queen.

Tides then turned and Weinman soon found himself on the losing end of a similar situation. Facing a shove from Punsri in the small blind, Weinman called off with and was ahead of Punsri’s . The board however, gave Punsri a pair of Jacks enough to eliminate Weinman in 4th place for his third final table appearance in the series. Punsri carried on to send Jakob Miegel to the rails as his pocket Kings dominated the German’s pocket Tens, giving him a slight lead heading into the heads up battle against Hong.

It didn’t take long before the South Korean managed to snag a crucial double up with both players landing top pair on a Queen-high board, Hong with Ace-Queen and Punsri with the King kicker. Having gained a 25:1 chip advantage, the final hand saw Punsri all-in for his remaining 11 big blind stack with the Rockets against Hong’s . The board ran to crack Punsri’s Aces and give Hong his awaited bracelet victory.

Punsri was left to settle for a runner-up finish and a notable $170,615 in prizes for his impressive run. 2022 remains to be a highly profitable year for the Thai pro having bagged back-to-back high roller wins back in January, and his career-best cash of $593,481 for a third place finish earlier this summer in the festival’s $50,000 NLH High Roller 8-Handed event.

Buy in: US$ 1,979
Players: 865
Prize pool: US$ 1,495,363
ITM: 130 places

Event #76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty Final Table Results