Sung Joo Hyun Wins 2021 WPTDeepStacks Venetian Main Event

Sung Joo Hyun came from the bottom half of the final table to win the WPTDeepStacks Venetian Main Event Monday and the $208,335 first prize. The South Korean with the refreshingly non-poker Hendon Mob profile picture upped his lifetime recorded live tournament earnings to over half a million dollars.

Going into the eight-handed final table, Hyun had 1.625 million chips, way off the pace set by Wayne Harmon, who had 8.200 million. Just two players had fewer chips than did Hyun.

Hyun really made his move to the championship when he eliminated Curtis Powell in sixth place to grow his chip stack to 8.725 million. A short time later, he tangled with Harmon, nearly crippling the Day 2 chip leader. Harmon had raised pre-flop to 250,000 and Hyun three-bet to 950,000. Harmon called to bring on a flop of Ad-6d-2c, at which Hyun bet 725,000. Harmon called again. The turn produced the Td, to which both players checked (hmm…). The river card was the 8d, putting four diamonds on the board. Hyun bet 3.375 million and Harmon called, showing As-Jd for a flush. Hyun, though, had Ac-Kd for a better flush to take a massive pot.

Harmon did a fantastic job to grow his chip stack back, making it to third place.

“We have a history because last night he was sitting next to me and bluffing almost every single pot and tabling the cards,” Hyun told WPT.com of Harmon. “There was something going on between us, so instead of value betting small or checking I overbet every single spot when I had value because I knew he was going to hero call me a lot. That was my strategy again him and it worked out.”

Going into heads-up play, it was close, with Hyun leading Roman Shainiuk, 13.310 million to 11.050 million. Hyun immediately widened the gap and that was essentially that.

On the last hand, the second of Level 33, Shainiuk raised pre-flop and Hyun put him all-in. Shainiuk called with Kc-6c, while Hyun had him dominated with Kh-Qc. It was an interesting flop, as Hyun paired his Queen and Shainiuk picked up a flush draw, but that was all the excitement that there was to be had, as Sung Joo Hyun won the tournament and $208,335.

“It’s like a dream come true actually, everyone wants to win right,” Hyun said later. “I always tell my friends I’m going to win, but it doesn’t happen often. It’s my first win in a live tournament so it feels very special for me, more than the $200k does.”