Daniel Smiljkovic moved in his remaining short stack for about two big blinds from the small blind and Diego Sanchez called in the big blind.
Daniel Smiljkovic:
Diego Sanchez:
"I didn't even look," said Sanchez, who didn't have to call for much more and happened to pick up aces to leave Smiljkovic in a rough spot for his tournament life.
The board ran out to change nothing, eliminating Smiljkovic in eighth place, good for $86,119.
Stephan Nussrallah opened to 650,000 from the cutoff and Andrew Moreno announced all in out of the big blind. Nussrallah called off for his tournament life.
Stephan Nussrallah:
Andrew Moreno:
Nussrallah was flipping to survive and pulled way out in front on the flop. The turn did give Moreno a gutshot and it came in on the river to send Nussrallah to the rail in gut wrenching fashion.
Jinho Hong opened to 600,000 from under the gun and Arsenii Karmatckii three-bet to approximately 2,500,000 in the hijack, representing the majority of his stack. Action folded to James Romero in the small blind and he cold four-bet jammed for approximately 9,800,000. Hong called and had Romero covered, and Karmatckii thought about it and folded.
James Romero:
Jinho Hong:
A crowd of people gathered around to witness the massive flip with a huge amount of equity on the line.
The dealer spread the flop as the rail started to get even louder with anticipation. The turn left Romero needing an ace or king to survive, but the river bricked out and Hong's rail exploded as the South Korean player took a sizable chip lead.
Meanwhile, Romero was eliminated in sixth place following his deep run, good for $129,041.
Arsenii Karmatckii shoved for 1,475,000 from under the gun and was called by Andrew Moreno in the cutoff as well as Jinho Hong out of the big blind.
Action checked through the flop and the turn to the river where Hong checked for a third time. As Moreno was counting out betting chips, Hong mucked his hand.
Arsenii Karmatckii:
Andrew Moreno:
Moreno had rivered two pair to send Karmatckii out of the tournament in 5th place, a result good for $165,791.
Ankush Mandavia opened to 3,000,000 from the button, leaving himself around 900,000 behind. Andrew Moreno called out of the small blind while the big blind folded to send the two players heads-up to the flop.
Moreno bet enough to force his opponent all in on the flop and Mandavia called to put himself at risk.
Ankush Mandavia:
Andrew Moreno:
Mandavia was in bad shape and would need a lot of help to survive. Any hopes of a double up were dashed on the turn, which left Mandavia drawing dead to the meaningless river.
Diego Sanchez moved all in for 12,100,000 from the button and, after asking for a count, Andrew Moreno made the call out of the big blind with the covering stack.
Diego Sanchez:
Andrew Moreno:
It was a coinflip for hundreds of thousands of dollars in equity. The flop pushed Moreno into an almost unassailable lead, though the turn did give Sanchez a gutshot. He could not find the required jack, however, on the river, ending his impressive run in third place that comes with a career-high score of $316,407.
Jinho Hong raised to 1,900,000 and Andrew Moreno called.
The dealer spread the flop, Moreno checked, and Hong bet 1,100,000. Moreno then raised to 4,100,000, Hong moved all in, and Moreno called for his remaining stack.
Andrew Moreno:
Jinho Hong:
Moreno ran into Hong's kings and needed to improve to stay alive. The turn left him needing a queen or deuce, but the completed the board to send the South Korean rail into a frenzy, while Moreno was eliminated as runner-up for $460,529 following a great run.
South Korea's Jinho Hong has defeated Andrew Moreno in heads-up play to win $696,011 and the Wynn trophy in the 2022 Wynn Summer Classic $3,500 NLH Championship.
Stay tuned for a full recap.
2022 Wynn Summer Classic $3,500 NLH Championship Final Table Results
The Wynn Summer Classic $3,500 NLH Championship attracted 1,428 entrants, generating a prize pool of $4,605,300. On Tuesday, June 28th, just 24 players returned for Day 3, all looking to outlast their competitors to claim a $696,011 first-place prize.
Once the dust settled after a grueling 15 hours of play, South Korean ex-pro gamer turned poker player Jinho Hong emerged victorious, besting 2021 Wynn Millions winner Andrew Moreno in heads-up play.
"I feel great," said Hong when asked what the win meant to him. "I have been to Vegas three times and this is the time I actually got some results".
This tournament was not the primary reason for Hong's visit, who says he now has his eyes set on loftier goals. "Hopefully this win will lead to another win in the WSOP Main Event," he said. "I'm going to go for the bracelet".
Hong attributes much of his recent success in poker to his background as a gamer, specifically playing Starcraft.
"I think it's definitely helped being a pro-gamer because it requires a lot of multi-tasking," He points to other successful poker pros such as Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, who first played Starcraft before transitioning into poker as examples of what he sees as a wider trend.
2022 Wynn Summer Classic Championship Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize (in USD)
1
Jinho Hong
South Korea
$696,011
2
Andrew Moreno
United States
$460,529
3
Diego Sanchez
Mexico
$316,407
4
Ankush Mandavia
United States
$224,508
5
Arsenii Karmatckii
Russia
$165,791
6
James Romero
United States
$129,041
7
Stephan Nussrallah
United States
$103,850
8
Daniel Smiljkovic
Germany
$86,119
9
Jampa Dothar
United States
$72,764
With a number of short stacks coming into the day, it was no surprise that play began fast-paced with a slew of eliminations in the first couple of levels including Michael Rossitto (22nd - $30,483), Terence Reid (16th-$40,068) and Nicolas Noguera (15th - $46,159). Once stacks had flattened out somewhat and pay jumps became a bigger consideration, that pace slowed down considerably. Still, the final table of nine was set before the dinner break when Yuki Kashihara (10th - $61,950) got the rest of his chips in with a dominated ace against Hong and failed to improve.
Final Table Action
Jampa Dothar was one of the shorter stacks coming into the final table and ultimately fell when his ace-jack could not overcome Hong's cowboys. German online phenom Daniel Smiljkovic was the next to go, first losing the majority of his stack when, in a blind-on-blind confrontation, his pocket threes could not improve against James Romero's pocket tens, and then hitting the rail after running his remaining stack into Diego Sanchez's rockets.
Just a couple of hands later, Stephan Nussrallahhit the rail after losing a flip against Moreno. At that point, the remaining six players discussed a deal but no consensus could be reached and so play continued.
What followed was one of the major turning points at the final table and in the tournament in general. Romero and Hong got their two large stacks all in preflop in a classic race with Hong's ladies holding against Romero's Big Slick to propel the Korean into a massive chip lead while sending Romero home.
Soon after that huge confrontation, Arsenii Karmatckii was rivered by Moreno and as a result was forced to the exit. Following the Russian's elimination, deal negotiations resumed but as before, no agreement was reached.
The short-stacked Ankush Mandavia was the next to fall, getting most of his chips in preflop with pocket sixes against Moreno, who held ace-ten and ended up turning a full house to force Mandavia out of the tournament in fourth.
Three-handed play continued for quite some time with Sanchez, who began and consistently remained the short stack, repeatedly finding ways to survive, most notably when his ace-six put a beat on Hong's pocket tens. His luck did eventually run out, however, when he lost a flip for the rest of his stack against Moreno.
Moreno entered heads-up play with a nearly 2:1 chip advantage. That did not seem to bother Hong, who gradually wore away at Moreno's stack. It was mostly a battle of attrition, with the two settling into exchanging many small pots. With the blinds ever-increasing, eventually, something had to give and that happened when Moreno got the rest of his chips into the middle with bottom pair on the flop only to see Hong turn over pocket kings for the overpair. The kings held, handing Hong victory and his largest-ever live cash. Moreno, meanwhile, was forced to settle for a not too shabby $460,529 consolation prize.
Congratulations to Jinho Hong on winning the Wynn Summer Classic $3,500 NLH Championship. The 2022 Wynn Summer Classic continues — click here for a look at the remaining schedule — and PokerNews will return on July 17 to offer live updates from the $1,600 Mystery Bounty.