Young Sik Eum Captures First Bracelet In 2022 World Series of Poker Mini Main Event

Young Sik Eum was one elimination away from winning his first World Series of Poker bracelet back on June 10, 2022. He ultimately fell just short, finishing second in that $1,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em freezeout event for a then-career-high payday of $203,949. Just over three weeks later, Eum managed to make it back to heads-up play with a bracelet on the line. This time around, Eum emerged victorious, topping a field of 5,832 entries in the WSOP $1,000 mini main event to secure the gold and the top prize of $594,189.

Eum now has more than $1.3 million in career cashes to his name. With his runner-up showing and this victory, the Los Angeles resident has accumulated 2,320 Card Player of the Year points at the WSOP. Those two scores were enough on their own to move Eum into 32nd place in the 2022 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

The sizable turnout for the mini main event built a prize pool of $5,190,480 that was split up among the top 875 finishers. Big names to make it deep in this event included two-time bracelet winners Joao Simao (187th – $4,133) and Steven Wolanlsy (167th – $4,133), Andrew Ostapchenko (38th – $15,413), bracelet winner Ran Koller (30th – $18,817), World Poker Tour champion and bracelet winner Tyler Patterson (27th – $18,817), five-time bracelet winner Shaun Deeb (18th – $23,148), and Jesse Lonis (10th – $45,079).

The final day began with just five players remaining and Romania’s Cosmin Joldis out in front. Eum began as the second-shortest stack with just 11 big blinds.

Kei Nitta (5th – $158,515) was the first to fall, with his pocket fours being outrun by the K-9 of Joldis. The next key hand saw Eum pick up pocket kings in a battle of the blinds with the chip lead. The overpair held up against the Q-4 suited of Joldis to see Eum start his climb up the leaderboard.

Phillip Lee’s run in this event came to an end when his A-9 was beaten by the A-8 of Eum, who flopped an eight and turned two pair. Lee had the nut flush draw, but missed on the river to finish fourth ($208,240).

Eum overtook the chip lead during three-handed action when his A-10 won a preflop race against the pocket fives of Jolids, who slipped to second place. Eum extended his advantage even further when his A-3 neat out the pocket fours of bracelet winner Kartik Ved, who finished third when Eum made aces up on the turn. Ved took home $275,593 for his strong showing in this event.

With that, Eum took more than a 3.5:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Joldis. An early double-up saw that gap narrowed considerably, but it wasn’t long until the final hand of the event arrived. Eum raised from the button with K9 and Joldis three-bet with 1010. Eum four-bet shoved and Joldis made the call. The 754 flop kept Joldis ahead, but the K turn saw Eum make a higher pair to take a big lead with one card coming. The 2 on the river changed nothing and Joldis was eliminated in second place, earning a career-high payout of $367,233.

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

Winner photo credit: WSOP / Alec Rome.

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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