Roy Thung
Roy Thung is an elite Indonesian-American corporate executive, business magnate, and highly accomplished high-stakes recreational poker player. Based in White Plains, New York, Thung achieved prominent national recognition as the long-standing President, CEO, and Chairman of Independence Holding Co. (IHC), a major financial services and insurance empire listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Career Earnings & Biggest Results
As one of the most successful corporate executives to consistently cross over into professional fields, Roy Thung has accumulated over $884,600 in tracked live tournament earnings according to The Hendon Mob. His career-best cash occurred during the 2026 WSOP $50,000 Mixed Games Poker Players Championship, where he navigated a field of the world’s absolute finest mixed-game professionals to finish 13th for a spectacular $109,459 score.
Thung also holds a historic win from the 1998 Carnivale of Poker in Las Vegas , capturing the $1,000 No Limit Hold’em title. Driven by his highly lucrative executive career and direct corporate equity ownership, his combined business and poker net worth is estimated at over $18 million.
Major Tournament Results:
| Year | Event | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship (13th) | $109,459 |
| 1998 | Carnivale of Poker $1,000 No Limit Hold’em (1st) | $52,400 |
| 2023 | WSOP $10,000 Razz Championship (10th) | $23,850 |
| 2011 | WSOP $2,500 No Limit Hold’em (34th) | $15,500 |

Biography & Business Background
Immigrating to the United States from Indonesia , Roy Thung built an iconic American success story, scaling the ranks of the corporate world through unmatched financial precision. He stepped into the role of CEO at Independence Holding Co. in 2000, famously transforming the small firm into an insurance giant with assets climbing past $1.3 billion and ringing the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange.
A dedicated poker hobbyist since the late 1990s, Thung has viewed the poker table as the ultimate sandbox for high-pressure risk evaluation. Balancing public company governance with elite cardroom strategy, he has frequently been profiled by major outlets like Forbes for using the game’s core concepts of patience and resource deployment to guide his high-stakes commercial acquisitions.
Play Style & Strategy
Thung brings an incredibly “analytical, risk-managed, and patient” style to the table, mirroring his corporate leadership philosophy. While highly competent in standard No Limit Hold’em, his specialized expertise lies within complex mixed games and lowball structures, most notably Razz and Stud variants, where edge is determined by technical memory and rigorous multi-street card tracking.
Unlike standard recreationists who prioritize table action, Thung operates with extreme mental discipline, treating tournament chips as precision capital assets to be risked only when equity leans firmly in his favor. His calm demeanor under intense final table pressure makes him an exceptionally tough veteran to exploit, even for modern, high-volume online professionals.
Derick Elomina is SoMuchPoker's Lead Content Writer and Interview Specialist, reporting live from WSOP bracelet events and Asia Pacific poker festivals such as TMT, APT, RDPT and APL Jeju, alongside player features and interviews for the site's Stories section. He discovered poker at 14 playing home games with friends, and by 21 he had entered the industry as a field reporter, starting as a hand reporter before building his current role on the tournament floor.













