Yunkyu Song Wins Season 22 World Poker Tour Player Of The YearSong Won The POY Title By Making Three Final Tables Throughout 2024 |
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Yunkyu Song claimed the honor of Season 22 World Poker Tour Player of the Year thanks to a strong run in 2024 that saw him cash five times on tour while making three final tables. He also won the WPT Prime Playground championship near Montreal, Canada. That score in late October was good for $164,251 and his first recorded tournament win on the live circuit. The 25-year-old is a native of South Korea who grew up in Washington state, and his career earnings are now close to $1.5 million after his impressive run over the past 12 months.
Song’s largest qualifying score was for his runner-up finish at the WPT bestbet Scramble $5,000 buy-in main event in November. He earned a career-high payday of $252,059 after navigating through a field of 361 entries to make the final two. Song’s third final-table appearance was a fourth-place finish at the WPT Rolling Thunder main event in March, which was good for $105,000.
In addition to that trilogy of six-figure scores, Song also finished 50th at the WPT Prime Voyage championship and took 145th place in the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker main event to put his final POY points tally at 2,275.
That gave Song a slight edge over POY runner-up Dylan Smith, who put up 2,150 points while cashing four times with two final-table appearances, both scored at Seminole Hard Rock in Florida during April and November. Smith won the title at the Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker main event where Song also cashed.
“It is amazing to see the ledger of Yunkyu’s accomplishments throughout the year, earning points in so many different events across North America,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. “We congratulate the young competitor and look forward to seeing him next season.”
Song was awarded $15,000 in WPT Passports for securing the Season 22 WPT POY title. Smith nabbed $10,000 as the runner-up, while $5,000 went to three-time WPT champion Eric Afriat, who finished third with 1,750 points. These passports can be used to buy in to WPT events during the upcoming season.
Season 23 kicks off in February after the tour will take the entire month of January off. The WPT Cambodia festival is first up. It is highlighted by the $1,100 WPT Prime Cambodia event (Feb. 14-18) and the $3,500 WPT Cambodia main event (Feb. 19-24).
Song was not the only player to lock up a tour-specific POY award at the end of 2024. The Mid-States Poker Tour crowned Umut Ozturk for a second straight year. The MSPT Hall of Fame member recorded 19 in-the-money finishes, breaking his own previous record of 17 cashes in a season.
The Minnesota resident came up clutch down the stretch, making two final tables in December to help clinch the back-to-back POY honors. He finished with 6,825 points. 2022 POY winner Joshua Reichard ended up ranked second in the final standings this year, with 12 cashes totaling 5,425 points.
Photo Credit: World Poker Tour
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