WPL X KSOP wraps up in Incheon, South Korea; Joosang Kim clinches Main Event for ₩120M (~$95K); festival highlights inside
Since the start of the pandemic, live poker has been booming in South Korea resulting in incredibly lucrative festivals. Due to this, many new poker brands and organizers have emerged such as the Winjoy Poker League (WPL) and the Korea Series of Poker (KSOP).
To close out the year and kick off the new one, the pair teamed up to bring players a three day series that ran from December 30 to January 1 at the Grand Hyatt Incheon. It featured a hefty ₩777,000,000 (~US$ 615,700) in guaranteed prize pools. Players from Japan and Taiwan flew in to battle it out with the locals, among them was Kitty Kuo. In the end, it was a first time winner claiming all the glory. We’ve got those highlights and other results down below.
Players will be happy to know that the WPL X KSOP has announced a massive ₩5 Billion (~US$ 3,923,850) guarantee for the year, broken down in quarters. The first series takes place in March featuring a ₩1.2 Billion (~US$ 941,700) guarantee. More details to follow.
JOOSANG KIM wins the Main Event for ₩120,000,000 (~US$ 95,100)
The most coveted title was the Main Event which carried a ₩500,000,000 (~US$ 392,385) guarantee. The event reached the maximum capacity of 1,250 entries with the top 125 places earning a piece of the pot. Joosang Kim overcame a deficit at heads up against Minkyu Kim to capture his first known live title and career high payout of ₩120,000,000 (~US$ 95,100).
Briefly recapping the win, at different stages of the final table both Joosang and Minkyu found themselves at the bottom. For the latter Minkyu, he dropped to as low as 10 BB at six handed while Joosang was down to 14 BB at three handed. Heads up arrived when Minkyu got lucky on Taekyun Kim with King-Jack pairing the King to defeat Ace-Jack. This gave Minkyu 37 BB which was ahead of Joosang’s 15 BB. However, it didn’t take long fo Joosang to take the lead, and after a failed deal, he shipped it with a full house. The last hand saw Minkyu limp 
, Joosang checked with 
. The board eventually filled up to 
.
*Notable players in the money: Yohwan Lim (68th – ₩850M), Sungjoo Hyun (119th – ₩700M)
Final table payouts
| 1 | Joosang Kim | ₩120,000,000 |
| 2 | Minkyu Kim | ₩70,000,000 |
| 3 | Taekyun Kim | ₩45,000,000 |
| 4 | Eunji Seo | ₩34,000,000 |
| 5 | Changsub Lee | ₩25,000,000 |
| 6 | Junhyung Kim | ₩19,000,000 |
| 7 | Kyungmin Jeong | ₩13,500,000 |
| 8 | Minjoo Ahn | ₩9,500,000 |
| 9 | Sangbum Im | ₩7,000,000 |
Other results
KSOP 5th X WPL 2nd Anniversary
Guarantee: ￦77,000,000 (~US$ 60,425)
Entries: 140
ITM: 17 places
Winner: HOJUN CHOI – ￦20,000,000 (~US$ 15,700)
Runner-up: Kyuhyuk Lee – ￦13,500,000
3rd: Jaehoon Shin – ￦10,000,000
High Roller
Guarantee: ￦130,000,000 (~US$ 102,000)
Entries : 165
ITM: 20 places
Winner: JUNHO KIM – ￦24,000,000*
2nd: Jinwoo Lee – ￦26,000,000*
3rd: Keunyoung Lee – ￦21,500,000*
*Three way deal
*Notable players in the money: Kitty Kuo (9th – ￦2,800,000)
National Series
Guarantee: ￦50,000,000 (~US$ 39,240)
Entries: 165
ITM: 20 places
Winner: JUNHYUNG KI – ￦13,000,000 (~US$ 10,200)
All information and images provided by Korea media site Bluff & Catch.
