Irvine, CA (Jan. 7, 2025) – There were many impressive player performances during Season 22 of the World Poker Tour®, but overall, it was Yunkyu Song with enough combined scores to take home the WPT® Player of the Year (POY) title.
Song, a native of South Korea who grew up in the state of Washington, finished the season with a total of 2,275 POY points. The 25-year-old cashed in five WPT events with three top-five finishes, including a championship run in the CAD $1,150 WPT Prime Playground where he won CAD $222,270.
“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 began the year strong with a fourth-place finish in the $3,500 WPT Rolling Thunder Championship in March for 450 points, followed by a 50-point grab on the WPT Voyage. It was not until October when he banked 900 points for his victory in Montreal. Incredibly, Song almost won another title at the WPT bestbet Scramble but fell in second place for 800 points. An additional 75 points from the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Championship rounded out Song’s total.
Many players were chasing Song’s leaderboard position during the WPT World Championship festival at Wynn Las Vegas. Fabian Gumz, winner of WPT Prime Slovakia this season, made a deep run in the $10,400 WPT World Championship but needed to win the entire tournament to overtake Song. When Gumz busted out in 14th place, Song was officially crowned WPT POY.
For securing the Season 22 WPT POY title, Song is awarded $15,000 in WPT Passports. Finishing in second place with a points total of 2,025 was the 2024 WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Champion Dylan Smith who is awarded $10,000 in WPT Passports. And $5,000 in WPT Passports goes to the three-time WPT Champion Eric Afriat who finished third with 1,750 points. The passport prizes must be used in the upcoming Season 23.
Season 23 of the World Poker Tour begins in February with the WPT Cambodia festival, which consists of the $1,100 WPT Prime Cambodia event (Feb. 14-18) and $3,500 WPT Cambodia Championship event (Feb. 19-24).
For more information regarding this and all World Poker Tour events, visit WPT.com.
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