Chance Kornuth has been having a good poker year. Now he seems to be having a good poker week, cashing in the Stairway to Millions Event #1 and winning Event #2.
Event #2 garnered 129 entries, 28 of which came from the players who cashed in Event #1. That made for a prize pool of $158,000, with $51,600 up top.
The Stairway to Millions series allows players to run their buy-in up from $1,100 to a $102,000 entry to Event #8.
The way it works is this: Event #1 started the series with a buy-in of $1,100. Each subsequent event then roughly doubles the stakes of the previous event. The twist is that everyone who cashes one event gets part of their payout in the form of a buy-in to the next event.
Kornuth won $51,600 for his first-place finish in this event. But $4,100 of that came in the form of a seat at the $4k, which was already underway across the room.
Chance Kornuth wins
Kornuth came into the final table with a middling stack. But he was able to chip away at his opponents. Doubling up in just the right spots and knocking out Jeremy Ausmus and Brock Wilson along the way.
Heads up play started off close to even with Eric Balswin. However, Kornuth soon pulled ahead. The final blow came when Eric Baldwin moved all-in with the 9♣6 ♣. Kornuth snapped him off with AxKx and got an ace as the first card off the top of the deck. His pair of aces held.
The whole final table took a little over two and a half hours.
Magnanimous in victory, Kornuth paid brief homage to his opponent's skill.
“The cards definitely can make it easy sometimes. Eric’s a very tough opponent and played incredibly well. It just didn’t go his way.” Kornuth said after the tournament ended.
PokerGO News congratulated Kornuth on his win.
"Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) wins @PokerGO Stairway To Millions Event #2 for $51,600 as he continues to climb his way through the series."
The final table is available for free on the PokerGO Youtube channel, but viewers will need a subscription to watch the higher stakes stages of the series when they stream on PokerGO.
PokerGO Tour Stairway to Millions Event #2: $2,150 complete final table results
| Position | PlayerName | Payout |
| 1st | Chance Kornuth | $51,600 |
| 2nd | Eric Baldwin | $36,120 |
| 3rd | Jovan Santiago | $28,380 |
| 4th | Joelle Parenteau | $23,220 |
| 5th | Brock Wilson | $18,060 |
| 6th | Jeremy Ausmus | $12,900 |
Featured image source: PokerGO
