Kornuth scores second bracelet, joining Nipun Java as only players to have both a live and online WSOP title
Las Vegas, NV (July 1, 2018) - Chance Kornuth became the second player in the short history of World Series of Poker online bracelet events to win a bracelet live and online.
The Colorado native and Las Vegas resident won the $3,200 WSOP.com online high roller event in the early hours of Sunday morning. He defeated a field made up of 356 players with 124 rebuys to earn his second bracelet and $341,598.
Kornuth, a poker pro and one of the founders and coaches of Chip Leader Coaching, won his first bracelet in 2010 in the $5,000 pot-limit Omaha. He joins Nipun Java as the only online winner to also have a bracelet in the live arena. Last year, Java was a part of the $1,000 tag team win, and then won the $1,000 online championship weeks later.
His win in the online high roller event wraps up the 2018 WSOP’s online bracelet events. It was the fourth and final event on the online schedule, with cards getting in the air at 3:30 p.m. in Las Vegas and 6:30 p.m. on the east coast.
Just over nine hours after cards got in the air, the final table was reached with Chance ‘BingShui’ Kornuth and David ‘bewater’ Goodman battling for the top spot on the leaderboard, both with a massive chip lead over the other seven players.
When the final table started, the average stack was 1.3 million in chips. Kornuth and Goodman were the only two players above average with around 4 million each and Noah ‘ThePunter’ Bronstein in third with about 750,000.
The chips were far from equally distributed among the final nine and the beginning of the final table, it was a lot of short stacks shoving all in and taking down small pots. Pete ‘petechen’ Chen was the first to go when he got all in on a king-high flop on the button with against Timoth ‘poker.’ Nuter’s .
Nuter’s big slick held up and Chen busted just before a break. He was the first player to depart and earned $21,596 for his ninth-place finish. That propelled Nuter to third in chips but was still well behind Goodman and Kornuth.
Coming back from break, it was more of the same. Kornuth and Goodman stacking chips, virtually at least. Jonas ‘LobyPewis’ Mackoff got all in against Kornuth with pocket fives against Kornuth’s pocket queens.
The board ran out favorably to Kornuth’s bigger pair and Mackoff busted in eighth, which only exacerbated the differences in chip stacks between the two big stacks and the rest of the field.
A couple hands later, the chip disparity increased when Goodman knocked out Justin ‘kingfortune’ Liberto. Goodman raised from the hijack and Liberto defended his big blind. On a runout of , Liberto check-called three streets, including a shove on the river from Goodman.
Liberto showed and Goodman won the pot with . This put a little distance between Goodman and Kornuth, but the big difference was still between the top two stacks and the rest of the field.
On the very next hand, Goodman continued to pick up chips. Taylor ‘ReadyGambo’ Black moved all in for about six big blinds and was called by both Goodman in the cutoff and Kornuth in the big blind. Kornuth check-folded to a bet from Goodman on a queen-high flop.
Goodman showed king-queen and was in the lead against Black’s king-jack, which flopped a gutshot straight draw. Goodman faded the straight draw and busted Black in sixth.
Nuter scored the next knockout, albeit a small pot. Frank ‘flcrivello’ Crivello blinded down to just two big blinds and committed the last of his chips in the big blind against Nuter’s button raise. Crivello tabled and didn’t have much chance against Nuter’s pocket eights.
Crivello turned a gutshot that never materialized and Nuter won the pot. At the start of four-handed play, Kornuth and Goodman held 10.5 million of the roughly 12 million in play.
Bronstein and Nuter both doubled up through Goodman, but that didn’t stop Goodman from extending his lead and winning most hands with preflop aggression.
Bronstein made his last stand by shoving all in from the small blind for about 16 big blinds against Goodman’s button raise. Goodman called with pocket nines and was in great shape against Bronstein’s .
Bronstein flopped a gutshot and still had an overcard that was live, but the turn and river bricked off. Bronstein was eliminated in fourth and Goodman had about three-quarters of the chips in play at the start of three-handed play.
With the rush of early knockouts, three-handed play featured deep stacks and lots of play. Without any significant showdown, Kornuth won a bunch of pots and overtook Goodman for the chip lead over the next two levels.
The trend continued over the following levels as Kornuth pulled away from the pack. He won a sizable pot without showdown against Goodman and then was constantly shoving on Nuter’s big blind. Kornuth chipped up to about 100 big blinds while Nuter had about 13 and Goodman about 35.
Just before what would be the final break of the night, Kornuth busted Nuter. Kornuth shoved from the small blind and Nuter called out of the big blind for his last 13 big blinds. Kornuth tabled and needed help against Nuter’s .
The board ran out which sent the pot to Kornuth and Nuter to the rail in third. Kornuth started heads-up play against Goodman with better about a 3-to-1 chip lead.
On one of the first hands of heads-up play, Kornuth and Goodman both flopped middle pair. Kornuth checked back the flop, called a turn and river bet. Kornuth’s kicker was bigger and he quickly extended his lead to 5-to-1.
They returned from break and Kornuth didn’t waste much time in finishing him off. Kornuth raised on the button and Goodman defended his big blind. They both checked a flop of and the came on the turn.
Goodman bet and Kornuth called. The river was the and Goodman bet again, leaving himself with 11 big blinds behind. Kornuth moved all in and Goodman activated his time bank, thought for some time, and then called.
Kornuth showed pocket sixes and won the pot with a set against Goodman’s . Kornuth won the pot and his second bracelet.
Full results will be posted on Sunday afternoon after all of the accounts can be properly linked to their respective WSOP profiles.
Final Table Results:
1st: Chance ‘BingShui’ Kornuth - $341,598
2nd: David ‘bewater’ Goodman - $212,021
3rd: Tim ‘poker.’ Nuter - $144,168
4th: Noah ‘ThePunter’ Bronstein - $99,809
5th: Frank ‘flcrivello’ Crivello - $70,625
6th: Taylor ‘ReadyGambo’ Black - $50,926
7th: Justin ‘kingfortune’ Liberto - $37,355
8th: Jonas ‘LobyPewis’ Mackoff - $28,016
9th: Pete ‘petechen’ Chen - $21,596
Relive the action with the live updates