Steve Sung Takes Down the Wynn Poker Fall Classic Championship
Steve Sung won his first major live poker tournament in five years when he triumphed over 593 opponents in the Wynn Poker Fall Classic Championship Main Event, netting himself $170,550.
Wynn Poker Fall Classic Championship Final Table Results
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve Sung | United States | $170,550 |
| 2 | Joseph Cheong | United States | $111,404 |
| 3 | Karen Sarkisyan | Russia | $75,624 |
| 4 | Ryan Yu | Canada | $53,082 |
| 5 | Deijanosch Mahmoudian | United States | $39,324 |
| 6 | Tuan Mai | United States | $30,509 |
| 7 | Katie Lindsay | United States | $24,286 |
| 8 | Ryan Laplante | United States | $20,137 |
| 9 | Alfredo Torres | United States | $17,026 |
Some 594 entries of $1,600 each were processed in the Wynn Poker Fall Classic Championship Main Event and a prize pool of $864,270 was created, which smashed the $500,000 guarantee. The top 62 players received prize money. A min-cash weighed in at $3,665, a final table appearance boosted that sum to $17,026, and $170,550 was reserved for the eventual champion.
A host of top poker players navigated their way into the money. Ireland’s Rory Brown (60th for $3,665), Justin Young (54th for $3,665), Bryan Piccioli (53rd for $4,167), British pro Simon Deadman (47th for $4,167), Jeremy Ausmus (45th for $4,167), Jordon Cristos (34th for $5,453), and Samantha Cohen (22nd for $7,149) being just a handful of stellar names to show a return on their investment.
Star-Studded Wynn Fall Classic Final Table
The nine-handed final table was a star-studded affair although three of the big names were eliminated quite early on.
After Alfredo Torres busted in ninth-place, Ryan Laplante followed suit and was then joined on the rail by Katie Lindsay, wife of British legend Chris Moorman. Tuan Mai followed right after. Deihanosch Mahmoudian fell in fifth-place for a $39,324 score, which left a talented quartet of players to battle it out for the $170,550 top prize.
Canada’s Ryan Yu saw his tournament end in fourth-place, a finish worth $53,082, the fifth-largest live cash of his career. Yu was followed to the cashier’s desk by Russia’s Karen Sarkisyan who drew ever closer to $2 million in live cashes with this $75,624 haul.
Sarkisyan’s exit left Steve Sung and Joseph Cheong to play heads-up for the title. Cheong tweeted to his 30,400 Twitter followers that he was heads-up with Sung, but only had two million chips compared to Sung’s monster stack of 13 million.
Hu vs og steve sung. My 2mil to his 13mil lol. Gl me @WynnPoker https://t.co/yFJKy4e6xS
— Joseph Cheong (@subiime)
Cheong sent another tweet 45-minutes later that simply said “Got 2nd. Congrats to steve.”
Steve Sung: $5.5 Million in Winnings
Sung, known as “muggylicious” when he played online poker regularly, now has more than $5.5 million in live poker tournament winnings, helped by securing two World Series of Poker bracelets.
In 2009, Sung won the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the WSOP in Las Vegas for $771,338 and locked up bracelet number two in 2013 when he topped the 175-strong field of the $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event for a career-best $1,205,324, defeating Phil Galfond heads-up for the victory.
A rather barren spell was endured by Sung in 2015 and 2016 when he cashed for a total of $72,429, but a couple of six-figures score in 2017 got Sung back on track; he won $350,803 that year. Sung now has $333,919 in winnings during 2018.
It's interesting how it's hard for me to smile after winning. I felt a mixture of emotions. I felt joy, relief, and… https://t.co/L9QWcEjqdz
— Steve Sung (@ssung41585)
