Kijoon Park Wins 2022 World Series of Poker $2,500 Nine-Game Mix Event

Kijoon Park came into the 2022 World Series of Poker with 27 recorded tournament cashes to his name, all of which were made in online events. The Woodside, New York native is a frequent contender on the New Jersey online poker, and had even won a WSOP Circuit gold ring in a $320 buy-in event last May. While Park had found some tournament success, he had yet to record a single cash in the live arena. That all changed when he entered the 2"022 WSOP $2,500 nine-game mix event":https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-tournaments/9391-2022-world-series-of-poker/1140516/results in Las Vegas. Park navigated his way through a field of 456 players, emerging victorious with his first bracelet and the top prize of $219,799 after three days of mixed-game action.

“I play a lot of eight-game [mix] on PokerStars New Jersey, so it paid off I guess,” Park told WSOP reporters after securing the title.

The 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year points Park earned as the champion were enough to move him inside the top 200 in the 2022 POY race, sponsored by Global Poker.

There were plenty of big names among the 69 players to cash in this event, including three-time bracelet winner Chance Kornuth (60th – $4,394), bracelet winner Randy Ohel (45th – $5,022), four-time bracelet winner Max Pescatori (43rd – $5,022), 2021 champion of this event Nicholas Julia (40th – $5,464), two-time bracelet winner Calvin Anderson (36th – $5,464), two-time bracelet winner Mike Wattel (25th – $7,096), 16-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth (24th – $7,096), four-time bracelet winner Scott Seiver (22nd – $8,455), six-time bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu (13th – $10,367), two-time bracelet winner Mike Gorodisnky (11th – $13,070), bracelet winner Scott Bohlman (8th – $16,929), and bracelet winner Nick Guagenti (7th – $22,512).

The official final table of six featured saw Park joined by four prior bracelet winners, including Michael Chow (6th – $30,713) who was knocked out by three-time bracelet winner David Bach to narrow the field to five. Andre Akkari, also a bracelet winner, doubled up through Park to start his climb up the leaderboard. He continued to accumulate, picking up A-K against the A-8 suited of bracelet winner Taylor Paur (5th – $42,965) and holding to close the gap a bit on Park.

Park managed to lean on the other three remaining players to further extend his advantage, though. He then busted Bach in third place, flopping middle set after much of Bach’s stack was committed preflop. Back earned $61,588 as the fourth-place finisher. The 2009 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. champion increased his lifetime earnings to nearly $4.2 million.

Not long after that, the UK’s Phil Long got the last of his short stack in preflop with K-4 playing limit hold’em. Park called with 9-5 and flopped two pair. Long was drawing dead after the turn. He secured $90,411 as the third-place finisher. This was his second third-place finish at the series this week, having also managed a podium showing in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. championship just three days earlier for $209,424.

Heads-up play began with Park holding more than a 10:1 lead on Akkari. He was able to convert that advantage into the title fairly quickly. Akkari lost a good chunk of his stack when his flopped top pair was beater by a rivered higher pair for Park in limit hold’em. On the next hand, Akkari got all-in preflop for his last few chips with 107. Park held K3. Akkari took the lead on a A74 flop, but Park picked up additional outs when the 5 gave him a gutshot wheel draw to go with his overcard. The 2 on the river completed Park’s straight to eliminate Akkari in second place. The Brazilian earned $135,848 for his runner-up showing.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

Winner photo credit: WSOP / Hayley Hochstetler.

You can follow the 2022 World Series of Poker on Card Player’s series landing page, sponsored by Global Poker, the fastest growing online poker room in the world. Check out the series schedule, as well as event recaps, news, and player interviews.

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