Sung Arte Joo Hyun: Rising Star in South Korean Poker

– General Introduction –

Sung Joo Hyun is a South Korean professional poker player. He was born in 1990.

Hyun won a WSOP gold bracelet in 2020, when all the events were forced to be played online due to the Coronavirus pandemic. He took down Event #46: $500 Deepstack No Limit Hold’em for $161,898. He plays under the screen name “ArtePokerTV” on Natural8-GGNetwork.

As for live poker, he has $876,165in tournament cashes.

– Key Career Dates –

2015: He starts cashing in live tournaments in the US.
2020: He wins his first WSOP gold bracelet after finishing first in the $500 Deepstack No Limit Hold’em online event for $161,898 on Natural8-GGNetwork.
2021: He finishes first in the $3,500 No Limit Hold’em Championship at The Wynn Poker Classic for $323,409. That is the biggest single live tournament cash of his career to date.

– Sung Joo Hyun’s Career –

Despite being born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Hyun’s first recorded live cashes are from events played in the United States. At the 2015 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, NV, he finished 147th in the $777 No Limit Hold’em Lucky 7s event for $2,723.

Two years later, in 2`017, he was back at the Rio for an even biggest score. He made it into the money in the biggest poker tournament in the world, the $10,000 buy-in WSOP Main Event. He eventually busted in 232nd place in a field of 7,221 players for $40,181. That year, the American Scott Blumstein won the Main Event title.

In early 2018, he traveled to “down under” and racked up two scores at the famous Aussie Millions. He came in 109th in the A$1,150 NLHE Opening event for A$3,150 (which equaled around $2,500 at the time); then finished 10th in the A$1,500 NLHE Deep Freeze event for A$9,760 (~$7,800).

However, Hyun’s biggest accomplishments have always come from WSOP events.

In 2018, he made it to the final table in the $1,000 Little One for One Drop event. He eventually took 4th place in another massive field of 4,732 players and bagged $189,098. That was the first time he ever claimed a live tourney cash for over $100K.

Later that year, in August 2018, he also delivered a cash from EPT Barcelona. He came in 49th for €2,470 ($2,825) in the €1,100 No Limit Hold’em tournament.

His biggest break so far came during the 2020 WSOP.

That year, due to the dreaded coronavirus pandemic, all the events had to be played online. Hyun, playing under the screen name “ArtePokerTV” on Natural8-GGNetwork, performed superbly. He cashed in 10 different events, and won his first WSOP gold bracelet as well.

He took down Event #46: $500 Deepstack No Limit Hold’em for $161,898, beating Yi Yu from China heads-up for the title at the end.

After his great victory, he also gave one of his rare English interviews to Pokernews.com.

“[Winning a] WSOP bracelet was my dream for many years and I think I might cry if I see it. It means more than money to me. I would rather win a 200k 1st place bracelet even than a 300k non-bracelet event” – Hyun told the site.

We’ve also leant that he felt very disappointed after his 4th place finish in the 2018 $1K Little One for One Drop event, despite cashing for over $100K; and that he’s a big fan of the English soccer club Tottenham Hotspur where his fellow South Korean Son Huen-Min is a prominent player.

His bracelet win was actually his first cash at the 2020 online WSOP. Out of the other 9, his largest one was for $42,189, which he got for coming in 21st in the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em – Super MILLION$ event.

He also finished ITM in the $5,000 WSOP Online Main Event, finishing in 402nd place out of 5,802 entrants for $16,274.

After his great online wins, Hyun reached career highs on the live felt as well soon after.

In January 2021, he took down another major title, the $1,600 No Limit Hold’em event at WPTDeepStacks Venetian for $208,335.

It’s over! Sung Joo Hyun wins #WPTDSVenetian for $208,335 at @VenetianPoker 🏆

🦁https://t.co/BYzqmCMk7c pic.twitter.com/7H1NjMwDTN

— @WPTDeepStacks (@WPTDeepStacks) February 2, 2021

Only a few weeks later, in March 2021, Hyun claimed yet another great victory. He finished first in the $3,500 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Championship at The Wynn Spring Classic and pocketed no less than $323,409. That is the biggest single live tournament score of his career to date. He beat the Austrian Matthias Auer heads-up for the title.

Overall, Sung Joo Hyun has cashed for $876,165in live tournaments during his career. That puts him firmly in the top 20 on the South Korean all time money list on the HendonMob, the most prominent live tournament results database.