YOUNG JI SCOOPS THE PLO HI-LOW BRACELET, POCKETS $231K
2015 World Series of Poker
Event #49: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low
Entries: 815
Prize Pool: $1,100,250
Places Paid: 90
First Place Prize: $231,102 + WSOP Gold Bracelet
Wednesday, June 24 - Friday, June 26

YOUNG JI SCOOPS THE PLO HI-LOW BRACELET, POCKETS $231K


Alaska resident and business owner earns first gold bracelet following $1,500 PLO hi-low victory.

MEET THE LATEST WSOP GOLD BRACELET WINNER:

Name: Young Ji
Age: 52
Residence: Anchorage, Alaska
Birthplace: Inchon, South Korea
Occupation: Business owner
Number of WSOP Cashes: 7
Number of WSOP Final Table Appearances: 1
Number of WSOP Gold Bracelet Victories: 1
Best Previous WSOP Finish: 16th ($1,500 pot-limit Omaha, $10,264)
Total WSOP Earnings: $307,494

The above stats include Ji’s Event #49 victory

TOURNAMENT RECAP:

Las Vegas (June 26, 2015) — Young Ji of Anchorage, Alaska. is the most recent World Series of Poker champion following a victory in Event #49, a $1,500 pot-limit Omaha hi-low tournament, Friday night at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. Ji, a 52-year-old business owner, pocketed the lion’s share of the prize pool — $231,102 — along with his first gold bracelet in what impressively marked just his first WSOP final table.

“[There are] no words. I’m really happy — too excited,” Ji said of the moment. “The way the game was going I had some faith I was going to win. I had a really good, positive feeling that it was coming my way once we got down to heads up.”

The victory marks Ji’s seventh WSOP cash and comes on the heels of a Circuit gold ring victory he carded late last year. Making his Friday night feat more special, though, is the caliber of field Ji overcame to achieve it. In addition to 2014 WSOP Player of the Year George Danzer, who graced the final table before finishing eighth, eight-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel finished 14th, three-time winners Vanessa Selbst 17th and “Miami” John Cernuto 29th, Erik Baldwin 27th and Thor Hansen 29th. The list goes on from there. In the end, it was Ji’s headline for the taking. He masterfully maneuvered his way through the final table in about eight hours and ultimately claimed poker’s top prize — a gold bracelet.

“[My confidence comes from] putting in a lot of hours [of mixed games] over a 25-year period,” Ji said. “As far as Alaska, I’ve lived there for 25 years. We have long winters and everybody finds indoor entertainment. One of them is poker. I did put in a lot of hours the last 25 years […] When I face a stronger player, it gives me the extra motivation to play better. If I’m playing with a worse player than me, I tend to slack off. Every single time I went outside on break or even used the restroom, I was brainwashing myself subconsciously. Telling myself, focus. I was constantly in battle within myself to go through all these pros.”

Despite the plethora of talent that hit the rail prior to Ji, his most difficult test proved to be runner-up Mark Dube. Like Ji, Dube laid claim to a handful of previous WSOP successes. He lead the way during many of the late stages of play and not much changed as heads-up play began. After the better part of four hours of back-and-forth poker, the match was anyone’s for the taking. It wasn’t until Ji hit runner-runner two pair to scoop the pot that he was able to put the finishing touches on what marked his crowning poker achievement. For the runner-up finish, Dube earned $142,449.

Ji was born in Inchon, South Korea and began playing poker 30 years ago with friends. As mentioned above, he resides in Alaska where he owns a business. He contributes his poker success to the long winters of his home state which provide the much-needed time that poker requires to master.

Event #49 was the 49th of 68 events on the 2015 WSOP schedule. The $1,500 pot-limit Omaha hi-low tournament drew a field of 815 players generating a $1,100,250 prize pool. Each of the top 90 finishers received prize money with a min-cash awarding $2,475. Notable in-the-money finishers included Galen Hall (13th, $10,969), Chris Bjorin (37th, $5,061), John Monnette (44th, $5,061), Bart Hanson (47th, $4,268), Jamie Kerstetter (51st, $4,268), Scott Clements (52nd, $4,268), Randy Ohel (66th, $3,080) and Phil Hui (73rd, $2,728).

The event played out over a three-day stretch beginning Wednesday, June 24 and concluding late Friday, June 26.

Here’s a look at the tournament’s final table results:

1st: Young Ji - $231,102 + WSOP gold bracelet
2nd: Mark Dube - $142,449
3rd: Alex Dovzhenko - $92,310
4th: Connor Drinan - $67,555
5th: Bryce Yockey - $50,171
6th: Nick Polydoros - $37,760
7th: Prince of Docness - $28,771
8th: George Danzer - $22,181
9th: Joseph Haddad - $17,284

EVENT FUN FACTS:

The 815-player field was made up of 779 males and 36 females
The average age of participants was 41 years, nine months old
The field was made up of players from 28 different countries (659 from the U.S. and 156 international players)

EVENT DIRECT LINKS:

Young Ji’s official WSOP player profile page is available HERE.

Final results, live reporting log, photos and official winner photo are available HERE.