Jason Mercier with 4,259.98 points, Anthony Zinno with 4,021.32 points, and Byron Kaverman with 3,988.80 points are at the top of the GPI leaderboard after its weekly update. Paul Volpe reached his career highest rank this week. The player is 4th with 3,735.02 points. Scott Seiver with 3,726.19 points is the last one to comprise top 5 of the ranking.
A notable player to re-enter GPI’s top 20 was Joseph (Sanghyon) Cheong. He has accumulated a total of 3,241.95 GPI points since the beginning of 2015 and now ranks 20th in the leaderboard. The 29-year-old poker pro, originally from South Korea and currently residing in California, is among the most highly respected young players. And with live tournament winnings of $10,866,692, this is hardly a surprise.
Cheong cashed in 12 different events this year, winning almost $500,000. He collected $251,653 for his 15th place in the $111,111 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller for ONE DROP, one of the events in the schedule of this year’s edition of the WSOP. In July, the player finished 6th in the Bellagio Cup XI $10,400 No-Limit Hold’em for a payout of $124,087. Earlier in August, Cheong also took 34th place in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $5,250 No-Limit Hold’em Championship Freezeout to scoop $25,000 of the $5 million guaranteed prize pool.
As mentioned above, the player has collected a little less than $11 million in live tournament earnings since the beginning of his poker career. In addition, he has topped the fields of numerous prestigious events and has had a number of final table appearances. It could be said that his best career achievement was his 3rd place in the 2010 WSOP $10,000 Main Event. Cheong received $4,130,049, his best live cash, for being one of the 2010 November Niners.
Other notable achievements are his 1st place in the 2013 APT HK$1,000,000 Manila Millions event for a payout of HK$10,428,000 ($1,343,370), his runner-up finish in the 2013 WSOP APAC A$50,000 High Roller for A$511,000 ($534,776), and his 5th place in the 2014 APPT Asia Championship of Poker HK$500,000 Super High Roller for HK$4,100,000 ($528,663).
Apart from his success on the felt, Cheong has been quite profitable online as well. His online earnings currently amount to $2,805,332. The player can be spotted at the tables of PokerStars, Full Tilt, and other online card rooms under the screen name ‘subiime’.
