Yunkyu Song claimed the respect of Season 22 World Poker Tour Player of the Year due to a powerful run in 2024 that noticed him money 5 instances on tour whereas making three closing tables. He additionally gained the WPT Prime Playground championship close to Montreal, Canada. That rating in late October was good for $164,251 and his first recorded event win on the dwell circuit. The 25-year-old is a local of South Korea who grew up in Washington state, and his profession earnings are actually near $1.5 million after his spectacular run over the previous 12 months.
Song’s largest qualifying rating was for his runner-up end on the WPT bestbet Scramble $5,000 buy-in most important occasion in November. He earned a career-high payday of $252,059 after navigating by way of a discipline of 361 entries to make the ultimate two. Song’s third final-table look was a fourth-place end on the WPT Rolling Thunder most important occasion in March, which was good for $105,000.
In addition to that trilogy of six-figure scores, Song additionally completed fiftieth on the WPT Prime Voyage championship and took 145th place within the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker most important occasion to place his closing POY factors tally at 2,275.
That gave Song a slight edge over POY runner-up Dylan Smith, who put up 2,150 factors whereas cashing 4 instances with two final-table appearances, each scored at Seminole Hard Rock in Florida throughout April and November. Smith gained the title on the Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker most important occasion the place Song additionally cashed.
“It is amazing to see the ledger of Yunkyu’s accomplishments throughout the year, earning points in so many different events across North America,” stated WPT CEO Adam Pliska. “We congratulate the young competitor and look forward to seeing him next season.”
Song was awarded $15,000 in WPT Passports for securing the Season 22 WPT POY title. Smith nabbed $10,000 because the runner-up, whereas $5,000 went to three-time WPT champion Eric Afriat, who completed third with 1,750 factors. These passports can be utilized to purchase in to WPT occasions in the course of the upcoming season.
Season 23 kicks off in February after the tour will take your entire month of January off. The WPT Cambodia pageant is first up. It is highlighted by the $1,100 WPT Prime Cambodia occasion (Feb. 14-18) and the $3,500 WPT Cambodia most important occasion (Feb. 19-24).
Song was not the one participant to lock up a tour-specific POY award on the finish of 2024. The Mid-States Poker Tour crowned Umut Ozturk for a second straight yr. The MSPT Hall of Fame member recorded 19 in-the-money finishes, breaking his personal earlier report of 17 cashes in a season.
The Minnesota resident got here up clutch down the stretch, making two closing tables in December to assist clinch the back-to-back POY honors. He completed with 6,825 factors. 2022 POY winner Joshua Reichard ended up ranked second within the closing standings this yr, with 12 cashes totaling 5,425 factors.
Photo Credit: World Poker Tour
