Hong Jin-ho (born 31 October 1982) is a South Korean television personality, poker player, and former professional
StarCraft
''StarCraft'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance am ...
player who plays under the alias
C..YellOw or simply YellOw. In 2012, he became the coach of the Xenics Storm ''
League of Legends
''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for War ...
'' pro gaming team. As a television personality, he is most known for his appearances in the
reality
Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...
survival show ''
The Genius'' and the variety show ''
Crime Scene
A crime scene is any location that may be associated with a committed crime. Crime scenes contain physical evidence that is pertinent to a criminal investigation. This evidence is collected by crime scene investigators (CSI) and law enforcement ...
''.
StarCraft career
Hong, nicknamed the "Storm Zerg"
and "Kong (means
bean
A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...
in
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
) Jin-ho", is known for his aggressive and harass-style play, and for his rivalry with
BoxeR Boxer most commonly refers to:
* Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing
*Boxer (dog), a breed of dog
Boxer or boxers may also refer to:
Animal kingdom
* Boxer crab
* Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans
* Boxer snipe ee ...
.
He is famous for never having won first place in major StarCraft tournaments despite his strong performances. Hong managed to finish second place six times in events which earned him the title "King of Silver". While there are some tournaments in which he finished first, these records were invalidated when the
KeSPA
The Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) is a South Korean body established to manage esports in South Korea. It is a member of the Korean Olympic Committee and the International e-Sports Federation. , it was the managing body for 25 e-sports in ...
announced that it would accept only OnGameNet Starleague (OSL) and MSL records. His notable victories include first place in the 2003 ITV 5th Starleague, the Snickers All-Star league in 2005,
and the first
BlizzCon
BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including ''Warcraft'', ''StarCraft'', '' Diablo'', '' Hearthstone'', ''Heroes of the Storm,'' and ''Overwatch''.
The first BlizzCon was hel ...
invitational tournament.
Hong suffered his last major defeat against Han "Casy" Dong-wook in the semi-finals of the Shinhan Bank Season 1 OSL in 2006, and claimed 3rd place. Due to his poor performance in the following OSL, Hong has fallen into a slump from which he has not recovered. Hong reached the round of 32 in the GOMTV Averatech Classic, but was eliminated by oDin(Joo Young-Dal). He enlisted in the Korean Air Force in November 2008 in the StarCraft team Air Force ACE.
![Hongjinho](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Hongjinho.png)
After being a member of ROKAF ACE, Hong recovered his form slowly but steadily. The trigger was an old-fashioned 'storm-like' victory against
Bisu ">hieldon 20 June 2009 in the Shinhan Bank ProLeague 08–09, after 735 days of silence. He could not qualify for either OSL nor MSL since the Shinhan Bank OSL season 2 in 2006, but at the end of Shinhan Bank ProLeague 09–10 season, Hong ended the season securing a 3-game winning streak, including a dramatic victory against
Jaedong.
Hong officially announced his retirement from professional gaming on his website on 16 June 2011. At his retirement ceremony,
BoxeR Boxer most commonly refers to:
* Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing
*Boxer (dog), a breed of dog
Boxer or boxers may also refer to:
Animal kingdom
* Boxer crab
* Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans
* Boxer snipe ee ...
jokingly handed him an empty ''StarCraft 2'' box. BoxeR said that the box was empty, but the account was at the SlayerS clan house, and if Hong ever considered transitioning into ''StarCraft 2'', he knew where to go.
In August 2011 he appeared on a reality TV series entitled ''Project A'' on
GOMtv
GOM Player is a media player for Windows, developed by GOM & Company. With more than 100 million downloads, it is also known as the most used player in South Korea. Its main features include the ability to play some broken media files and find ...
. The series follows Hong as he attempts to qualify for the
GOMTV Global StarCraft II League
Global StarCraft II League (GSL) is a '' StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void'' tournament hosted by afreecaTV and Blizzard Entertainment in South Korea. This event is broadcast up to 2 nights a week. GOMeXp (formerly GOMTV) had hosted it until the ...
and relaunch his pro gaming career in ''StarCraft 2''. The series premiered on 12 August 2011.
Post retirement
On 16 June 2011, Hong announced his retirement from his ''StarCraft'' career. He is now currently a coach for League of Legends.
In 2013, he was cast along with thirteen contestants in the first season of the Korean reality television game show, ''The Genius: Rules of the Game''. The series debuted on tvN starting on 26 April 2013. It featured weekly game challenges involving team politics and individual tactical play. Hong quickly became a fan favourite as he demonstrated his mental fortitude in strategic game play. He finished the series as the final champion, beating out other participants including celebrities, Harvard graduate and politician Lee Jun Seok, Mensa member Choi Jung Moon, and legendary pro gambler Jimmy Cha. The prize money was KRW 79,000,000 (approx. USD 70,000). With this achievement, he received positive comments that he had enhanced the image of pro gamers, not to speak of his own recognition as a genius.
In November 2013, the second season of the programme, which was named ''The Genius: Rule Breaker'', began broadcasting. Hong was recast as a returning contestant, along with Lim Yo-Hwan (SlayerS_`BoxeR`), his longtime ''StarCraft'' rival. He was eliminated in Episode 7. He was eventually invited as a guest to appear on a new spin-off programme ''Genius Behind''. This programme focuses on analyzing the episode that transpired in the previous week, and is meant as a lead-up to the airing of each new episode.
In 2014, Hong appeared on popular TV programmes such as ''Radio Star'' and ''I Live Alone'' on MBC TV; ''Happy Together'' on KBS 2TV; and was recruited as a cast member of ''Crime Scene'' on JTBC.
He also collaborated with other veteran ''StarCraft'' players to organise tournaments featuring former pro gamers, with the eventual goal of setting up a league for veteran ''StarCraft'' players and reviving the fortunes of ''StarCraft''. The first activity was the inaugural "Star Final Four" event match held on 5 February 2014. Hong competed with Kang Min (Nal_rA), Park Jun-Suk (Reach) and Lee Byung-Min (GoodFriend). He eventually won the event.
YellOw came out of retirement after he was one of eight players invited to the GOMtv classic in February 2014, one of the first televised ''Brood War'' tournaments in years. His final placement is unknown.
In 2015, Hong returned for the fourth season of ''The Genius'' entitled ''The Genius : Grand Final'' and the second season of ''Crime Scene'', getting 4th on ''The Genius: Grand Final'' and 1st on ''Crime Scene 2.''
Poker
Hong Jin-Ho has recently made a successful transition to professional poker, even though he has been playing online poker since the 2000s, especially on
PokerStars
PokerStars is an online poker cardroom that was a part of The Stars Group until it was sold to Flutter Entertainment on May 5, 2020. It can be accessed through downloadable poker clients for the Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It is the large ...
.
He is currently sponsored by the online Japanese Brand J88Poker.
He has won major Asian tournaments such as Asian Poker Tour Championships Event in Taiwan and the J88Poker Tour Shanghai Main Event.
In 2022, Hong won his first
WSOP
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...
bracelet
A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a wikt:supportive, supportive function to hold other items of ...
in the $1,979 Poker Hall of Fame Bounty No-Limit Hold'em event, winning $276,067.
Major achievements
Television appearances
Web shows
See also
*
StarCraft professional competition
The real time strategy (RTS) computer game ''StarCraft'' had an active professional competition circuit, particularly in South Korea. The two major game channels in South Korea, Ongamenet and MBCGame, each ran a Starleague ( Ongamenet Starleague ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yellow
1982 births
Living people
South Korean esports players
South Korean television personalities
StarCraft players
Sportspeople from Daejeon
Air Force ACE players
KT Rolster players
The Genius (TV series)
League of Legends coaches