Chance Kornuth Wins 2021 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian $1,600 Main Event For $412,086

Chance Kornuth has won the 2021 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian $1,600 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, defeating a massive field of 2,011 entries to secure his first MSPT title and the top prize of $412,086.

This was Kornuth’s 19th recorded tournament title, including his two wins in World Series of Poker bracelet events. He now has more than $8.6 million in career earnings to his name.

In addition to the title and the money, Kornuth also secured 1,080 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. This was his second POY-qualified score of the year, having also finished fourth at the World Poker Tour Gardens Poker Championship for $195,085 and 510 points. With 1,590 total points and $607,171 in year-to-date earnings, Kornuth now sits in 23rd place in the overall POY race standings sponsored by Global Poker.

The final day of this event began with 15 players remaining, with Peter Braglia leading and Kornuth in fourth chip position. Kornuth had more than twice as many chips as the next largest stack by the time the final table of nine was set, sitting with 21 million for over 80 big blinds.

WSOP bracelet winner Raman Afanasenka lost a preflop race against two-time bracelet winner Eric Baldwin to finish in ninth place ($44,991). Korntuh then extended his lead when his AJ beat out the AK of Bobby Po (8th – $55,881) to narrow the field to seven.

Brock Wilson’s run in this event came to an end when his A-Q ran into the A-K of Michael Zulker. Wilson was unable to come from behind and settled for $71,642 as the seventh-place finisher. This was his sixth final table of 2021, with $851,328 in earnings so far this year. He climbed into 21st place in the POY standings as a result.

Kornuth secured his second knockout at the final table when his A-4 beat out the J-7 of short-stack Ryan Torgersen in a battle of the blinds. Torgersen cashed for $93,134. Michael Zulker became the first player awarded a six-figure payout in this event when his QJ butted heads with the KQ of Peter Braglia. Zulker failed to improve and was knocked out in fifth place ($120,358).

Nick Phoenix was unable to resurrect his stack from the bottom of the leaderboard during four-handed play, despite earning one double up. He got all-in again on a A107 flop with K10, only to find himself up against the 107 of Kornuth. The two pair held up through the river and Phoenix finished fourth for $157,612.

Eric Baldwin was looking to earn his 32 live tournament title, but fell just short when his pocket threes ran into the pocket fours of Braglia. Neither player improved and Baldwin was sent to the rail with $209,194 for his third-place showing in this event.

Kornuth held roughly a 4:3 chip lead over Braglia when heads-up play began. The battle didn’t last long. In the final hand, Kornuth raised to 1.4 million on the button with 77 and Braglia called holding Q3 in the big blind. The flop came down 873 and Braglia checked. Kornuth bet 1.1 million with his set of sevens and Braglia check-raised to 3.4 million. Kornuth made it 9.7 million to go and Braglia called. The 6 on the turn prompted Braglia to shove for around 12 million. Kornuth called with his set of sevens and Braglia was left drawing dead heading into the 5 river. Braglia took home $282,269 as the runner-up finisher.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: Venetian Poker Room Twitter account.

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