Andras Koroknai Poker
Hand #109:
It came to be the Hungarian Andras Koroknai who took home the WPT LA Poker classic. Andras Koroknai dominated the final table, and when it was time for heads-up, he had a lead with 13,450,000 against his final opponent Raymond Dolan's 1,450,000 stack. Andras Koroknai Eliminated In Sixth Place ($1,640,461) Oct 29, '12. With a move that some will certainly call a meltdown, Andras Koroknai, the 2012 World Series of Poker main event’s only non. Hungarian Andras Koroknai outlasted a field of the top players in the game to win the World Poker Tour's LA Poker Classic US$10,000 buy-in Main Event. Koroknai went into the final table as the chip leader and went wire-to-wire to win the US$1.78 million first prize. On the 109th hand late Monday night of the World Series of Poker’s Main Event at the Rio’s Penn & Teller Theater, Andras Koroknai gave Merson an opening. For much of the final table of the $10,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em World Championship, Merson, 24, of Laurel, Md., had been changing the chip lead with Jesse Sylvia, 24, who splits his. Andras Koroknai wins the WPT Commerce LA Poker Classic, earning $1,788,040, a WPT bracelet, a watch, and a huge Commerce trophy. That also includes entry into the $25,500 WPT World Championship at Bellagio in April. Congratulations to Andras Koroknai! 1st: Andras Koroknai – $1,788,040 2nd: Raymond Dolan – $1,002,710.
Greg Merson had the button. Action folded to him, and he raised to one million. Jesse Sylvia reraised from the small blind to 2.6 million. In the big blind, Andras Koroknai reraised and made it 5.3 million to go. Merson didn't go anywhere. He reraised to 9.2 million. That folded out Sylvia, then Koroknai moved all in. Merson quickly called, creating a massive, massive pot.
Koroknai turned over the , but he was very much dominated by the for Merson.
On the flop, the landed, and Merson stayed in front. The turn was the taking away the queen of spades as an out for Koroknai. The dealer burned one last time, and then dealt the on the river.
Merson's cheering section erupted in joy as Merson stormed his way to over 80 million in chips. Koroknai was eliminated in sixth place and took home $1,640,902.
By making the World Series of Poker Main Event final table, Andras Koroknai has become the first Hungarian player to do so. That also makes him eligible to become the first Hungarian Main Event champion the WSOP has ever seen, and he's got a solid chance to earn that honor as he stands second in chips with 29.375 million.
Entering this final table, Koroknai has over $1.84 million in live tournament earnings. The bulk of that comes from one major score. Back in 2010, Koroknai won the World Poker Tour L.A. Poker Classic for nearly $1.79 million after topping a field of 745 players. Other notable cashes on his record include two in-the-money finishes in previous WSOP events. One of those was the 2010 Main Event where Koroknai placed 339th for $36,463.
Koroknai surged into the final table on Day 7 by busting Elisabeth Hille in 11th place, then Gaelle Baumann in 10th place. Interestingly enough, both were women and one (Baumann) was a player Koroknai had a little bit on controversy with prior.
Koroknai and Baumann were involved in a pot where Baumann had raised, Koroknai had announced she was all in, and then Koroknai mucked his hand before Baumann could act. You can read about the hand here, and it generated a lot of chatter from the community. What's even more interesting is that Koroknai told Robert Salaburu, 'The French girl is mine,' upon reaching the 10-handed final table. If anyone's going to be the bad guy at this final table, it's surely Koroknai.
When asked about eliminating both females from the event, Koroknai said:
'I hadn’t thought about it. When I sit down at the table, I don’t care if it’s a male or female player, everybody is equal and everybody wants to win. Everybody is each other’s opponents. There is no friendship at the poker table.'
Koroknai is 30 years old and considers himself a professional poker player.