Jinho Hong Wins Wynn Summer Classic

There was a very special victory at the poker table earlier this week, as former professional gamer Jinho Hong claimed a first notable win in poker. Many will be familiar with Hong from his days as a pro gamer, but his career in poker now looks to have take off after winning the lucrative event called the Wynn Summer Classic NLH Championship.

It was a close finish to the competition, with the ex-gamer eventually seeing off last year’s Wynn Millions victor Andrew Moreno in a heads-up challenge. But, there’s little doubt that Hong is likely to be a main player in the poker scene over the coming months.

Hong Credits Gaming Experience

Hong has already shown himself to be an extremely talented player, and he has often cited his experience gaming as one of the key factors that he has effortlessly progressed into a solid contender at the poker table. However, after winning the event earlier this week, he has already earmarked where we could see him next, as he claimed that he will be ‘going for the bracelet’ at the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas.

It was also revealed that Hong’s main reason for visiting the United States wasn’t down to the competition that he won earlier in the week, but instead, the end focus has always been on the WSOP event that he looks to win. He was made to work extremely hard in the event at the Wynn Summer Classic though, as play finally wrapped up after 15 hours.

A total field of 1,428 players were involved in the competition, which meant that there was a total prize fund of $4.6 million available to the top players. As the top player in the event, Hong won the most amount in the competition, as the South Korean star walked away with prize money of $696,011. However, the attention will swiftly turn towards his challenge in Vegas and the WSOP Main Event.

Final Table Results

Andrew Moreno pushed Hong to the limit in the event earlier this week, but he eventually needed to settle for second spot. Moreno had won the Wynn Millions in 2021, but this wasn’t to be his day in the Summer Classic Championship. Still, he was able to collect prize money of $696,011 in returns, which pointed towards a successful day for the player from the United States.

Diego Sanchez narrowly missed out on a place in the heads-up challenge, as he finished in third place overall. The Mexican still won returns of $316,407 for his excellent performance. Ankush Mandavia and Arsenii Karmatckii rounded off the top five in the standings, with the latter winning just over $165,000. James Romero and Stephan Nussrallah finished in sixth and seventh respectively, with the latter being the final play on the final table to win more than $100,000. The final two places on the final table were made up by Daniel Smijkovic and Jampa Dothar. Dothar won $72,764 in returns as he finished ninth overall.