Home / Poker News June 2009 / Steve Sung wins $1,000 NL Holdem event, earns first WSOP bracelet
Steve Sung wins $1,000 NL Holdem event, earns first WSOP bracelet
Posted by: James Carter. - Sat, 2009-06-06 14:31
Event #4 of the 2009 WSOP was a record-setter in several respects. Also know as the “Stimulus” event, it was a first-time WSOP event, added in light of the dire economic situation. The buy-in was only $1,000 (which is indeed extremely affordable by WSOP standards) and the event attracted a field of 6,012, a record as far as WSOP side events are concerned.
After 4 days of “Stimulus” action, Steve Sung – a well known presence of many WSOP and WPT final tables, but one without a bracelet to show yet – took down the $771,106 first prize, together with the coveted piece of WSOP jewelry. Due to the large field, the overall prize-pool grew to an unusually massive size for a side event and that allowed for all nine final table finishers to pocket 6-figure prizes.
Day 4 saw the final table action unfold, with Danny Fuhs being the first victim of the day. Fuhs came to the final table on a short-stack and was thus under a great deal of pressure to double up as fast as possible. He decided to take his chances on an A,Jo and got called by Phong Huynh with pocket 10s. The flop came 10, A, J hitting both players, unfortunately for Fuhs though his two pair was not enough against Huynh’s set of 10s. The turn and the river bricked out and Fuhs was done in 9th.
Huynh couldn’t enjoy the fruits of his victory for long though. He was the next victim of the final table, having run his pocket 3s into James Matz’s pocket Js on a flop of J,4,3. The turn and the river changed nothing and Huynh picked up $117,414 for his 8th place finish.
Steve Sung had it going pretty rough for a while, and despite having started the day second in chips, he soon fell to 1 million chips and looked like he’d be the next to head to the rail. He clawed his way back by disposing of Jeff Oaks though and then by scoring a few big pots at the expense of Pete Vilandos and James Matz.
Nathen Mullen was eliminated by Sung next, after the eventual winner outdrew his straight on the river.
Larry Sidebotham was eliminated by James Matz in 4th, and Matz himself would be the next to fall, at the hands of the unstoppable Sung.
In the heads-up stage, Pete Vilandos fought back valiantly against Sung who enjoyed a more than comfortable chip lead. The final hand of the tournament saw Vilandos ram his pocket 8s against Sung’s Pocket kings and failing to improve, to hand the latter the win.
