For You Jun Hong, a pandemic and a sputtering start to his live tournament career did not discourage the Malaysian from pursuing his professional poker dreams, figuratively and quite literally. Hong found the most success in the Poker Dream Circuit, clinching the 2023 Dream Player of the Year title to make up for an abbreviated first 2 years of his professional career. He is past the 100K Milestone already in career earnings with a total of $236,080. Seemingly a modest achievement but still significant given that the Malaysian only played a full season beginning the second quarter of 2022.

You Jun Hong – Enters With A Bang

You Jun Hong wins Deepstack at USOP Danang 2024 — You Jun Hong

You Jun Hong began playing professionally at the cusp of the pandemic, recording his first tournament in July 2019 at the Taiwan Millions Tournament sponsored by Tribal Pioneer. Hong played only one other tournament later in the year before the worldwide lockdown. The Malaysian would resume live tournament play more than two years later in July at the Poker Dream Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. It was a slow crawl back for Hong, participating in Manila and Vietnam tournaments including the Asian Poker Tour, PokerStars LIVE and VSOP Championships. His total earnings for 2022 were a modest $ 14,908.

Breakout Year

2023 however, proved to be You Jun Hong’s breakout year. As if making up for lost time, You Jun Hong began with a runner-up finish in January at the Bubble Rush Event of the Poker Dream Malaysia Kuala Lumpur then followed this up with back-to-back second place finishes in the Poker Dream Taiwan, Single Day High Roller and Mystery Bounty events to collect a combined $32,565 cash. In the process, Hong began earning points for the first Dream Player of the Year race.

The Malaysian then shipped his maiden title, clinching the NLH Malaysian Open of the Poker Dream 6 Malaysia and banking (as of this writing) a career best cash of $ 38,366. Entering his next tournament at the Poker Dream 7 Vietnam, You Jun Hong was the race leader for the DPOY award. Hong made 4 event cashes including a 14th place finish at the Vietnam Open Event to earn enough points to clinch the inaugural Dream Player of the Year title which came with a special trophy and cash of $15,000 in 2024 Poker Dream tournament credits. His first full season yielded an accrued winnings of nearly $100,000.

Poker Dream 7 Vietnam highlights: pays out over ₫91.8 Billion; You Jun Hong clinches Dream POY; John Juanda biggest earner; Raina Chakshu Deep most cashes

You Jun Hong continued his success at the Poker Dream circuit in 2024, capturing another title at the Mystery Bounty Hunter Event of the Poker Dream 8 Malaysia for a second-best career cash of $ 38,223. For the first time too, Hong extended his fortune outside the Poker Dream tournament by shipping the NLH Deepstack Event of the U Series of Poker Da Nang Part 1. The Malaysian returned to his comfort zone at the Poker Dream Circuit making back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Mini High Roller Event of the Poker Dream 9 Malaysia and the Vietnam Open at the Poker Dream Vietnam to combine a total of nearly $30,000.

*Profile by Mike Alcazaren