Sung lost almost $2million at the 2008 WSOP.Steve Sung is a rare breed of young player who has shown considerable skills both on and offline in all forms of the game.
Korean born Sung has live tournament winnings of over $1.2million and has final tabled numerous WPT & WSOP Events. But it’s the online cash games that are his bread and butter; playing as ‘MuGGyLiCiOuS’ on PokerStars and ‘SteveSung’ on Full Tilt he has turned over significant profits in 12 months, particularly on the PLO tables.
Sung’s family re-located to Torrance, California, when he was seven due to his dad’s job at an international steel company. He saw him playing poker and started to play with friends in high school before starting to realise he could make money from the game. In January 2006 he began a computer engineering & economics degree at the University of California at San Diego but like so many young players dropped out early to pursue his love of poker.
Since then he has gone from strength to strength, with December 2006 being his major breakthrough month. After final tabling the Bellagio 5 Diamond World Poker Classic (3rd for $125,145) a week later he came in 9th in the WPT Doyle Brunson Classic for a further $118,400.
His bankroll was further boosted by another final table in the 2007 WPT Barcelona, eventually busting in 4th place for $164,943. His biggest live cash by far, however, came in the March 2008 Bay 101 Shooting Stars event, where he lost a heads-up battle with Brandon Cantu to finish 2nd for a cool $585,000.
2008 has been kind to Sung and High Stakes DB show he is one of the biggest winners on Full Tilt for the first half of the year, posting profits of over $745,000 up to July. He plays the biggest games that can be found, such as the $200/$400 PLO and the new $2000/$4000 H.O.R.S.E. tables. In fact, it is his all-round game that has most impressed the poker community; Shannon Shorr described Sung as the second best all-round player in the world under the age of 25 (after Tom Dwan). This claim is further solidified by a 3rd in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud event of the 2007 WSOP, a tournament normally considered reserved for casino veterans.
The 2008 World Series hasn’t been as kind to Sung, however, and he wrote in his blog on Poker Road that he lost a total of around $2million through tournament fees and backing players. He writes: “I plan to make it all back with some online grinding in the next couple months.” If it’s anything like his start to the year, he will be in the black soon enough.
Loading ...
