A Honeymoon Victory: Sungmin Cho Takes the Championship at The Commerce Casino Hold'em Series $1,200 Main Event After Three-Way ICM Chop
After six days that included five Day 1 flights, the $1,200 Main Event at The Commerce Casino Hold’em Series has been completed. There were 517 entrants for this event that generated a prize pool of $542,850. Day 2 started with 51 players and ended in a three-way ICM chop with Sungmin Cho taking home the championship trophy and the top prize of $87,315.
At the time of the ICM chop, Cho from Seoul, South Korea, was the chip leader and was crowned the champion of the tournament. Cho is celebrating his honeymoon with his new wife in Los Angeles at The Commerce Casino. After being unable to play poker for the last six months, his wife agreed to let him enter a tournament while on their honeymoon. He seized that opportunity and emerged with the Day 1b chip lead. Near the money bubble, he remarked, “I’m just really having fun; I haven’t played a tournament in so long.” The fun didn’t stop as he cruised through Day 2, and by the time of the ICM chop, he held 9,800,000 of the 20,680,000 chips in play and was named the champion of the $1,200 Main Event. After an exciting tournament experience, Cho is now wrapping up his honeymoon in Los Angeles and going to spend some time with his wife.
Brian Hastings was second in chips at the time of the ICM chop, but was nearly even with the third-place finisher Paul W. Lee. However, after seeing the numbers, Hastings ended up receiving $5,000 more than the original number. Given Hastings's impressive track record—over $5,000,000 in tournament earnings and six World Series of Poker bracelets — both players were more than willing to accommodate and Hastings took home $80,100. As mentioned earlier coming in third, Lee was the chip leader heading into Day 2 and received $72,495.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sungmin Cho | South Korea | $87,315* |
| 2 | Brian Hastings | United States | $80,100* |
| 3 | Paul W Lee | United States | $72,495* |
| 4 | Naoya Morozumi | Japan | $33,440 |
| 5 | Katherine Brandt | United States | $25,730 |
| 6 | Michael Nia | United States | $21,310 |
| 7 | Martin Carnero | Peru | $17,890 |
| 8 | Alexander Farahi | United States | $14,520 |
| 9 | Yan Yan | United States | $11,160 |
*denotes three-way ICM chop
Early Day 2 Action
Several dramatic moments unfolded early on Day 2. The action kicked off when Sanjeev Kapoor eliminated Peter Cross in 47th place ($2,410), jamming with a gut shot straight draw against Cross’s set of jacks. Miraculously, the gut shot hit on the river, knocking out Cross.
Next, Di Wu, who came into Day 2 among the top 10 in chips, found himself all in on the turn with a straight, facing off against Preston Patzs's trip threes. Unfortunately for Wu, the river paired the board, sending him to the payout desk in 41st place ($2,740).
Joshua Prager had a healthy stack coming to the three table redraw, but ended up finishing in 25th place ($3,770) after running his pocket queens into the pocket aces of Hastings.
The final table bubble popped when Day 1c chip leader Bradley Harris, who had fallen to just 8,500 chips early on Day 1c, made a remarkable comeback to secure a 10th place finish and a payout of $9,390 for his efforts.
Final Table
The first casualty at the final table occurred when Yan Yan was all in for her last 575,000 with ace-king suited, facing Hastings with queen-jack suited. The flop brought a jack, giving Hastings the advantage. Yan was ultimately sent to the payout desk, collecting $11,160 for her ninth-place finish.
Out in eighth place was Alexander Farahi, who was short-stacked and committed his remaining chips after flopping a pair of fives. Unfortunately for him, Sungmin Cho flopped top pair and sent Farahi to the rail, as he was unable to improve his hand.
The seventh-place finisher was Martin Carnero, who ran his pocket nines into the pocket tens of Lee. Lee flopped a set, sealing Carnero's fate and sending him home with $17,890 for his impressive run.
Out in sixth was Michael Nia, who is known for his appearances on live-streamed cash games in LA. He was the short stack at the table and went all in from the hijack with king-eight, only to be called by the ace-high of Hastings in the big blind. When the board ran out, Nia wasunable to improve and was eliminated in sixth place.
Finishing in fifth place was Katherine Brandt, who was eliminated after a brutal cooler from Hastings. She defended her big blind after Hastings opened and check-called bets from him on the flop and turn. After she checked on the river, Hastings went all in for her remaining stack, which she eventually called, revealing trip queens made on the river. However, Hastings made the nut flush on the river, sending her out in fifth.
Naoya Morozumi is a poker YouTuber from Japan who played on every single Day 1 flight with his film team by his side. He finally managed to find a bag for Day 2 after surviving with only 48,000 chips on Day 1e, the final Day 1 flight. Sitting in 50th out of 51 players coming Day 2, Morozumi spun his short stack into a fourth-place finish before being eliminated by Hastings.
That concludes our coverage here at The Commerce Casino. But be sure to follow PokerNews for live updates and coverage from tournaments all around the globe.