Chance Kornuth (“BingShui”) pulled off one of the greatest comebacks ever in a WSOP bracelet event on Saturday night. But he was unable to capture the gold, and lost heads-up to Raman Afanasenka (“Acrogum”) in the $600 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Deepstack 6-Max event.
The 11th tournament of the 2020 WSOP Online Bracelet Series lasted just over seven hours. At around 10:15 pm PT, Afanasenka finished it off, winning $128,600, thanks to a fortunate river card.
With the blinds at 800,000/1,600,000, Kornuth moved in for 18 million with K-6 with the shortest stack. His opponent made the call in the big blind with pocket threes. The flop and turn ran out beautifully for Kornuth (A-6-K-A). But the trey on the river ended the $600 online poker tournament.
Chance Kornuth with a Memorable Comeback
Kornuth, already a two-time bracelet winner, may not have won the tournament. But he still pulled off one of the most miraculous comebacks you’ll see for quite some time thanks to a series of lucky hands.
Eighteen levels before the final hand, the eventual runner-up was down to just 9,500 chips with the blinds at 40,000/80,000 with an ante bigger than his entire stack (10,000). Improbably, he spun it all the way to a runner-up finish.
Early in heads-up play, Kornuth actually had a fairly sizable lead over Afanasenka. But he bluffed off a bunch of that stack shortly after with 10-high, doubling up “Acrogum,” who flopped a queen-high flush. It’s tough to bluff an opponent off a big flush in heads-up play.
Kornuth earned $79,290 for second place, which certainly isn’t a bad consolation prize. The Chip Leader Coaching founder won his second bracelet last year in another online event at WSOP.com — $3,200 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller. That World Series of Poker title was worth a $341,599 payday. His first and only live bracelet came in 2010, a $5,000 pot-limit Omaha tournament, good for $508,090.
But despite pulling off an incredible comeback on Saturday, he couldn’t quite seal the deal on his third bracelet. Afanasenka, however, isn’t complaining about that.
The 2020 WSOP Online Bracelet Series will be back in action on Sunday afternoon at 3 pm PT with Event #12, $500 No-Limit Hold’em The Big 500.
