Event #76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold'em

After scoring his best-ever live cash of $696,011 a mere three weeks ago, Jinho Hong has now won his first bracelet and an additional $276,067 by coming out victorious in the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty. He defeated Punnat Punsri heads-up in a field consisting of 865 entries. The total prize pool of this event was $1,495,363 with 130 players getting paid in the end.

Hong, also better known as "YellOw" in the StarCraft scene, was visibly touched by the win and his rail. After taking the usual winner shots, his rail flooded the feature table area for the group picture and then spent some time taking selfies while he proudly showed off his bracelet.

"For now I'm so happy, my head is empty, very nervous but I am just so grateful that I've won a bracelet," was his response right after winning. "The win at the Wynn Summer Classic was a bigger cash but for me, the bracelet is a lot more meaningful to me and hopefully in the future, a lot more Koreans keep on trying to get the bracelet and hopefully our country grows."

When asked about his connection to Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier he indicated that they discuss hands and strategy sometimes. He also added this: "The foreign scene is a lot better than the Asian scene, especially the Korean one. Korean players are still slightly left behind due to the language barrier and the skill level but it's good that I finally achieved something for Koreans."

Event #76: $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty Final Table Results

Fast-Paced Action

Hong came into the day as the chip leader with Punsri following him hot on his heels. "It was good that I was the chip leader, but Punsri was sitting directly to my left, it was pretty tough to deal with that, but it was what it was," he reflected back on the start of the day.

Hong increased his chip lead to having almost twice as much as Punsri when he knocked out both Yuri Dzivielevski and George Rotariu in the second hand of the day. Dzivielevski had shoved with pocket fives and Rotariu put his tournament life at risk while holding ace-jack. Hong held the ace-queen and while both Rotariu and Hong flopped top two pair, Hong held with the queen-kicker to get the final table down to five players.

Pavel Spirins was short with four big blinds and managed to double up through Punsri but then lost all those chips to Daniel Weinman with ace-nine versus king-queen of diamonds. Spirins turned the straight draw and hit it on the river but Weinman also hit his flush to knock out the Latvian player in fifth place.

But Weinman failed to hold on to those chips as he had to surrender them to Punsri when his ace-nine failed to connect on the deuce-five-king-jack-seven board while Punsri hit a pair of jacks on the turn with the queen-jack in his hand. Weinman earned 419 points for the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard, not quite enough to overtake Daniel Zack, who also came over for a bit to check out the action.

A few moments later, Jakob Miegel fell in third place when his pocket tens couldn't beat the kings of Punsri to send the young German to the payout desk for his biggest life-time cash while Punsri increased his narrow chip lead over Hong.

After a short break, heads-up play commenced and the action slowed down a bit as small pots went back and forth but things turned around when Hong doubled up when all the chips went in for them on the eight-queen-six-deuce board. They had both flopped top pair but Hong had an ace for the kicker to leave Punsri behind with four big blinds.

Punsri doubled up once but the curtains fell for him when he shoved 11 big blinds in with pocket rockets and saw them get cracked by Hong's ace-four when the board gave him a backdoor flush.

This concludes the PokerNews coverage for this event, but make sure to follow all the action in the other events including the Main Event!

Punnat Punsri shoved from the button for 1,005,000 and Jinho Hong put an extra chip over the line for the call.

Punnat Punsri:   
Jinho Hong:   

The flop came     for Punsri to hit a pair of sevens.

The turn was the   for him to improve to two pair while Hong's rail was shouting for an ace but the river completed the board with the   for Punsri to double up to 11 big blinds.

Jinho Hong	23,690,000	-1,255,000
Punnat Punsri	2,260,000	1,255,000

Punnat Punsri called on the button and Jinho Hong raised to 800,000 for Punsri to call.

They both checked through the     flop to the   on the turn. Hong bet 700,000 and Punsri made the call.

The   completed the board on the river and they both checked again. Hong tabled the    for the king-kicker to go with the pair of deuces on the board but Punsri showed the    for two pair and the pot.

Punnat Punsri	14,350,000	1,175,000
Jinho Hong	11,600,000	-1,175,000

Punnat Punsri completed on the button and Jinho Hong raised it up to 800,000 which was called. The flop came     for Hong to continue with a bet of 800,000 to get a fold.

On the next hand, Hong opted to complete and Punsri checked. The flop came    , Punsri check-raised the 200,000 bet of Hong to 650,000 and got a call. The turn was the   and Punsri checked again. Hong took a few seconds and then bet 1,200,000 for Punsri to fold.

Punnat Punsri	13,175,000	-1,585,000
Jinho Hong	12,775,000	1,585,000

Punnat Punsri opted to complete his small blind and Jakob Miegel shoved for what looked like 2,175,000 which Punsri called immediately.

Jakob Miegel:   
Punnat Punsri:   

The board ran out       for Punsri to stay ahead and even river a full house to send Miegel to the rail in third place for $120,756.

While the dealer pushed Miegel's stack to Punsri, Punsri asked Jinho Hong if they could take a quick break which he agreed to instantly with a big smile and bumped fists.

Punnat Punsri	14,760,000	2,960,000
Jinho Hong	11,190,000	-1,700,000
Jakob Miegel	0	-2,825,000

Pavel Spirins shoved from the button for 1,560,000 and Daniel Weinman three-bet jammed for more in the small blind for Jakob Miegel to snap-fold his big blind.

Pavel Spirins:   
Daniel Weinman:   

The flop came     for Weinman to hit top pair.

The turn was the   for Spirins to pick up the straight draw but Weinman picked up the flush draw.

The river was the   which did give Spirins the straight but it gave Weinman the flush to bust Spirins in fifth place,

Daniel Weinman	4,975,000	2,000,000
Pavel Spirins	0	-1,660,000

Yuri Dzivielevski shoved from the middle position for 2,750,000 for George Rotariu to tank from the hijack. After a minute or so, he made the call for the 1,905,000 he had behind. Jinho Hong was up next from the cutoff. He tanked for just over two minutes before making the call too while the rest of the table quickly folded.

George Rotariu:   
Yuri Dzivielevski:   
Jinho Hong:   

The board ran out       for both Rotariu and Hong to flop two pair but for Hong to score the double knockout with the queen-kicker to bust Rotariu in seventh place and Dzivielevski in sixth place in only the second hand of the day.

Jinho Hong	12,890,000	5,105,000
Yuri Dzivielevski	0	-2,700,000
George Rotariu	0	-1,905,000