Thomas Kornechuk only picked up poker two years ago. Despite his limited experience, the 57-year-old software engineer from Auburn, Washington managed to outlast a field of 608 entries to win the 2019 World Series of Poker Circuit Thunder Valley $1,700 no-limit hold’em main event. Kornechuk was awarded the $193,439 top prize and his first WSOPC gold ring as the champion. He also earned 840 Card Player Player of the Year points, enough to see him climb into 25th place in the overall POY race standings for the time being.

Kornechuk entered the final day of this event in eighth chip position with 17 players remaining. He got things off on the right foot, finding a double up through start-of-day leader Jeremy Joseph with pocket queens. By the time the unofficial final table of ten was set, Kornechuk had climbed to third chip position.

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Kornechuk scored the first two knockouts at the final table to take the outright lead, picking up pocket aces to eliminate Paul Chai (10th – $14,443) and then winning a race with AQ against the 66 of Paul Camby (9th – $17,943).

Kornechuk notched his third knockout of the final table when his AK beat the KJ of Chris Tham (6th – $37,259).

Jeremy Joseph had begun the day as the chip leader, and he still had a healthy stack with five remaining. He knocked out Tony Bracy (5th – $48,847) to enter four-handed play near the top of the chip counts. After that 2018 WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley main event champion Brett Murray began to go on a run. He eliminated short-stack Yifu He in fourth place $64,921), and then followed that up by doubling through Joseph. Both players had made trips on a Q5357 board, but Murray’s A5 beat out Joseph’s J5 to secure the sizable pot. Not long after that Joseph got all-in with top pair on a nine-high board, only to lose to Murray’s overpair of 1010. Joseph took home $87,488 as the third-place finisher.

Murray took the chip lead into heads-up play, but the two traded the advantage back and forth for quite a while before either player managed to truly separate themselves. By the time the final hand arose Kornechuk held more than a 30-to-1 advantage. Kornechuk picked up the 74 on the button and moved all-in, putting Murray at risk for his last 2.25 or so big blinds. Murray made the call with the 43. The board came down 98472 and Kornechuk made two pair to secure the pot and the title. Murray took home $119,644 for his runner-up finish, falling just short of becoming a two-time WSOPC main event champion at Thunder Valley Casino Resort.

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

Thunder Valley Poker Schedule

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