Hunichen all-in
He was the most accomplished player at this final table. With over $17 million in career earnings and a WSOP bracelet won in the prestigious $100,000 High Roller in 2024, Chris Hunichen was clearly among the elite.
As mentioned earlier, he even found himself chip leader four-handed after winning a three-way pot with Q-J against two A-K hands. But he’ll have to settle for 3rd place and €800,000, pushing his total live earnings past $18 million on Hendon Mob.
The turning point came in a massive pot against Akihiro Konishi.
By then, Marius Kudzmanas had regained the chip lead after eliminating Nikolay Bibov. Hunichen just calls Kudzmanas’ button raise with 7♦ 7♠. Perfect timing for Konishi in the big blind, who wakes up with Q♦ Q♠. He 3-bets both opponents to 8,000,000 (6.6 BB). Kudzmanas folds quickly, but Hunichen believes Konishi is exploiting the situation and shoves, covering him.
Bad timing.
Konishi is holding pure value with queens. The board J♦ J♠ 8♦ 5♦ 4♥ changes nothing, and Hunichen is left with under 10 big blinds.
Two hands later, down to 7.5 BB, he shoves 8♥ 7♦ from the small blind. Konishi calls with K♦ J♣. No miracle this time—Hunichen is eliminated just short of the heads-up.
Visibly disappointed, he admits to having some regrets during his post-match interview with Jeff Platt. He’ll have to wait until this summer in Las Vegas for another shot at redemption.
Photo credit : WSOP-E
Paul Koessler