Chance Kornuth Wins 2016 EPT Grand Final High Roller

Chance Kornuth extended the list of his poker achievements by adding the 2016 EPT Grand Final High Roller victory to his resume. With this win, Kornuth’s live tournament earnings have eclipsed the $4 million mark.

2016 EPT Grand Final High Roller attracts all usual suspects

When it comes to European Poker Tour high roller events they, as a rule, tend to attract a number of high-profile players. This one was no exception, as a total of 164 players (not counting reentries) put up the €10k buy-in for the privilege to battle it out for the prestigious title and a big six-figure payday.

Some of the players in the room included the likes of Anthony Zinno, one of four triple WPT winners, German super stars Philipp Gruissem, Fedor Holz (all three made the final table), Adrian Mateos, and Isaac Haxton.

The event offered a single reentry for those who fancied another shot after being eliminated, and fifty players reached inside their pockets for the second time.

A year of Kornuth

Chance Kornuth has had a tremendous 2016 so far. In January, he first finished seventh in the PCA High Roller event (banking $190k), and then proceeded to take down the $25,000 Aussie Millions challenge, pocketing just shy of $550,000 for his efforts.

The following month, he finished runner-up in the EPT Dublin High Roller event, which was good for another $400,000 and change.

Adding another victory

Although things have been going well for Kornuth on the green felt, he was probably not that comfortable once the official 8-handed final table of the PokerStars 2016 EPT Grand Final High Roller was formed. If he was to win, he had to outlast some of the best players around, including already mentioned Holz, Gruissem and Zinno.

However, one by one, they fell. First went the Russian Dmitry Yurassov, followed by the Brazilian Filipe Ramos, and Anthony Zinno who lost a flip against Sergey Lebedev.

They took 40 pics and this is the one w my eyes the most open ????????????????. #teamRunGood is so strong. #Can‘tStopSmiling https://t.co/7ynEsTaSl5

— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) April 29, 2016

Then Murad Akhundov of Azerbaijan followed the suit. He was already on the verge of elimination when Zinno busted, but managed to move up one more spot before Kornuth took the remainder of his chips.

Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz was the next to go, despite the fact that he was able to build a considerable stack. Holz made a super thin hero call for his tournament life on a double paired board with only a Queen high. His heart was in the right place but his timing was way off, as Kornuth turned over a full house, and that was all she wrote for the young German.

Pay that man his money

With three players left, Chance Kornuth had slightly more chips than the remaining two opponents combined. At this point, they decided to use ICM to chop the money and give the title to Kornuth. Lebedev took home €292,750 for his official third place finish, while the runner-up Philipp Gruissem earned just a few hundred less than €300k.

Chance got the trophy as well as €351,000 for his outstanding performance.

This is great. I got my first one of those beautiful trophies, so I’m pretty excited. It’s just a dream year. Chance Kornuth for PokerStars Blog