$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship Event Blinds 80k/160k/20k ante 6 Players Remaining, 8.975 Million Avg (56 bb)
Stout & Pahuja Bag & Tag
The remaining players have a one in six shot at winning $1,081,184 in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship. But no matter what happens, it will be an entertaining televised WPT final table.
Poker friends Matt Stout, Chance Kornuth and Mukul Pahuja enjoyed the play down from 18 players on Day 4, especially Pahjua who has the chip lead.
“It doesn’t seem real right now,” said Pahuja who bagged nearly 19 million, more than 1/3 of the chips in play. “I ran unbelievably pure and it’s everything I could ask for. It hasn’t sunk in yet.”
The pivotal hand of the day came between Pahuja and Jacob Bazeley in a 9.5 million chip pot. Pahuja check-raised Bazeley on the turn and led out on the river of a board showing .
“That was a huge one,” said Pahjua who bet 2.8 million on the river with for the nuts and watched Bazeley deep in the tank. “You have to find the right number to bet and extract the most you can.”
Bazeley eventually called and quickly mucked when Pahjua tabled the winning straight. The hand dropped Bazeley out of the chip lead (13.5M to 9M) and gave Pahjua the big stack (12M to 17M).
Pahuja’s closest competitor is James Mackey who began Day 4 as one of the returning short stacks (14 of 18, 22 bb), but is now at 11.7 million. Bazeley is third at 7.3 million.
Rounding out the final table are Eric Afriat (6.7M), Chance Kornuth (5.3M) and Matt Stout (3.7M), with Kornuth and Stout providing the most entertainment.
“He’s been a good side kick, laughing and having a good time,” said Stout about Kornuth. “Even when we’re going for a big pot, we still go back and forth, and go at each other,” he added with his booming laugh, one of the post recognizable in the game.
Day 4 saw the tournament end for a dozen players including Day 1 chip leader Justin Young (13th), Jeff Gross (10th), Matt Glantz (9th), Barry Hutter (8th) and Blake Purvis (7th) who bubbled the TV final table.
The next player eliminated is guaranteed almost $250,000 on the way to $1 million. And Pahuja has is eyes set on a bigger prize as a win would clinch him the WPT Player of the Year points title.
“That’s always in the background,” said Pahjua, who’s making his third WPT final table. “I show up at each event and do my best. You always try to win and if you do that the other things will take care of themselves.”
Day 5 resumes 3 pm Wednesday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, but Mukul, Stout and Kornuth have plans before then.
“I’m going to have drinks with the same guys who are going to try and cut each others throat tomorrow when we play for the big money,” said Stout on his way to the casino’s Center Bar.
Mukul Pahuja
James Mackey
Jacob Bazeley
Eric Afriat
Chance Kornuth
Matt Stout
Remaining Players
Mukul Pahuja 18.895M (118 bb) James Mackey 11.680M Jacob Bazeley 7.305M Eric Afriat 6.760M Chance Kornuth 5.315M Matt Stout 3.665M (23 bb)
$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship Event Blinds 80k/160k/20k ante 6 Players Remaining, 8.975 Million Avg (56 bb) Remaining Players
Eric Afriat Jacob Bazeley James Mackey Chance Kornuth Matt Stout Mukul Pahuja Remaining Prize Pool
Place-Amount
1st $1,081,184 2nd $691,965 3rd $441,128 4th $371,931 5th $308,501 6th $247,954 7th Blake Purvis $193,174 8th Barry Hutter $141,276 9th Matt Glantz $100,912 10th Jeff Gross $66,313 11th Michael Garraway $66,313 12th Oron Unger $66,313 13th Justin Young $43,248 14th Chris O’Rourke $43,248 15th Jordan Scott $43,248 16th Rajeev Nasta $29,985 17th Frank Russo $29,985 18th Elliott Zaydman $29,985
A brutal beat in the Championship event, a cancelled flight and some solid play added up to a trophy for Shawn Cunix (Delaware, OH).
It was a special win for Cunix who had nearly 3/4 of the chips in play when he negotiated a deal that saw his father-in-law Terry Ryan (Lewis Center, OH) and Michael Noor (Ajax, ON) chop second and third place money.
“It does make me a feel a little better,” said Cunix who busted 28th in the $5 Million Guaranteed Championship event.
“It crushed my soul,” said Cunix who dedicated his Championship Event run to his brother Terry who is going through a tough time. “That’s the most pain I’ve had in seven years of playing poker,” he said about the hand that crippled him in the Championship when his opponent hit an OE straight on the river against his two pairs.
Cunix earned $8,296 for the win in this event.
“It’s a treat,” said Ryan who considers Cunix his son. “We travel together a lot (to play poker) and this was fun.”
Noor, who officially finished second, would have like to have kept playing, but said he had to take the extra money.
“He’s a good player and a nice guy,” said Noor who earned $3,673 as did Ryan for third place. “I would’ve like to try and beat him, but I couldn’t pass up a good deal.”
The event featured 79 entries and a $23,700 prize pool with nine players making the money. Candace Collins (Redding, CA), an up and coming player, busted on the bubble in 10th place.
This was Cunix’s 6th career win and adds to his $1.3 million in career recorded live tournament earnings.
“It’s not about the money,” said Cunix who is also a businessman, “I’m fortunate to say that, but I really love the game and just want people to have fun at the table. To win a tournament with my dad is cool.”
Something that wouldn’t have happened if Cunix and Ryan’s flight back to Ohio wasn’t cancelled because of Midwestern storms.
“I found out it was cancelled at noon and saw this tournament and knew we had to play.”
$3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown Championship Event Play Resumes 8:36 pm Next Blinds 60k/120k/15k ante 8 Players Remaining, 6.7 Million Avg (56 bb)
Jacob Bazeley 13.8M Mukul Pahuja 11.7M Matt Stout 6.6M Barry Hutter 5.6M Chance Kornuth 5.2M Blake Purvis 4.8M Eric Afriat 4.3M James Mackey 1.7M
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for the nuts and watched Bazeley deep in the tank. “You have to find the right number to bet and extract the most you can.”
