The ambiance of big buy-in tournaments is usually marked by a super serious atmosphere full of top pros hiding behind scarves, avoiding any movement, and maintaining a pin-drop silence. Well, that wasn’t the case in Event #47: $100,000 High Roller at this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP), thanks to longtime pro Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen, who won the largest buy-in event so far of this summer for $2,838,389, and the atmosphere was electric, supported by one of the loudest rails ever.
“No one’s ever due in poker, but I feel like I was due,” Hunichen told WSOP after the win. “And I’ve been in this position a couple of times, got unlucky, a couple of seconds. It was my time.”
Hunichen had previously been the runner-up twice for the WSOP bracelet. In 2017, he narrowly lost to Nadar Kakhmazov in the $5,000 6-Handed event, and in the COVID year of 2020, he had to settle for second place after a virtual heads-up against Christian Rudolph in GGPoker’s Event #70: $25,000 NLH Poker Players Championship, earning $1.3 million.
This time, he sealed the deal in a heads-up match against Jeremy Ausmus. This marks Ausmus’ third final table at the 2024 WSOP, having previously finished fourth in the $1,500 SHOOTOUT event and third in the $2,500 NLHE Freezeout event. Despite his second-place finish, it seems Ausmus is edging closer to his seventh bracelet, but that milestone will have to wait for now.
The third-place finisher was Swedish online sensation Viktor “Isildur1” Blom, who, along with Hunichen, was one of the only players without a bracelet entering the final day of the $100k event. This was Blom’s fourth deep run at this year’s WSOP, having finished 14th, fourth, third, and now third again, as the elusive bracelet continues to elude him.
Event #47: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize |
| 1 |  Chris Hunichen | United States | $2,838,389 |
| 2 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | $1,892,260 |
| 3 |  Viktor Blom | Sweden | $1,311,091 |
| 4 | Chance Kornuth | United States | $932,725 |
| 5 |  Aleksejs Ponakovs | Latvia | $681,796 |
| 6 | Justin Saliba | United States | $512,465 |
| 7 | Daniel Aharoni | United States | $396,396 |
| 8 | Isaac Haxton | United States | $315,805 |
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Event #47: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em Final Day Recap
The final six players from a field of 112 entries returned for the final day of Event #47: $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em, each guaranteed at least $512,465, but all with their eyes set on the massive $2,838,389 first-place prize. Viktor “Isildur1” Blom held a commanding chip lead with 92 big blinds, followed by Chris Hunichen with 55, and Chance Kornuth with 30 big blinds. The shortest stack belonged to Justin Saliba, who quickly fell when his king-jack couldn’t outrun Jeremy Ausmus’s ace-queen, securing sixth place for $512,465.
Kornuth doubled up twice through Aleksejs “Aponakov” Ponakovs before delivering the final blow. Ponakovs, holding K♦J♦, missed the 6♠A♥2♥ flop against Kornuth’s top pair of aces, leading to his fifth-place elimination. Despite acquiring Ponakovs’ chips, Kornuth was the next to go when his pocket nines couldn’t hold against Ausmus’s king-six, with Ausmus flopping a pair of kings. Kornuth exited in fourth place with $932,725.
At this point, Ausmus had over half of the chips in play, but the tide turned in a critical hand. Hunichen open-jammed with pocket fives from the small blind, and Ausmus called with ace-jack. “I’m feeling I’m winning this one,” said Hunichen before the flop 10♥2♣7♠ hit the board as he was still ahead. However, the turn brought A♥, putting Ausmus in the lead. Hunichen, down to two outs, was already trying to shake Ausmus’s hand, but then the 5♠ hit the river, securing a big double-up for Big Huni.
But the drama was far from over as Blom then experienced a series of dramatic hands against Hunichen. First, Blom misclicked with ace-seven as he tried to call but instead min-raised, and Hunichen put him all-in with ace-jack. Blom begrudgingly called, feeling he was committed. The poker gods awarded him as the case seven hit the turn, and Swede doubled up.
However, Hunichen soon retaliated, as they found themselves all-in again. Hunichen was dominated with ace-six against Blom’s ace-king. The flop 3♠7♣10♣ kept Blom well ahead, the turn brought 8♦, giving him some additional outs with a straight draw. When the river revealed a 6♦, Hunichen, and his rail erupted in celebration as he managed to secure another double-up against all odds.
The third all-in confrontation between the two was equally electric. Blom open-jammed with K♣J♠, and Hunichen isolated with A♦7♦. The flop came 4♦2♦J♥, pairing a jack for Blom but also presenting Hunichen with a flush draw, making it essentially a coin-flip situation. The turn, J♦ completed Hunichen’s flush, but Blom still had ten outs for a full house. Unfortunately for Blom, the river bricked, and he faced another near miss, finishing in third place yet again.
Hunichen entered the heads-up match with a 2:1 lead over Ausmus, eventually extending it to more than 3:1. Ausmus managed to stay alive by hitting a three-outer, but Hunichen ultimately sealed the victory. Hunichen opened with 9♦7♦ in the final hand and Ausmus three-bet with pocket jacks. The flop came 2♦9♥5♠. Ausmus bet half the pot, Hunichen moved all-in, and Ausmus quickly called. The turn K♣ kept Ausmus ahead, but the river 9♣ gave Hunichen trips, leading him to victory, and celebration with the rail began.
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* Images and hands courtesy of WSOP, PokerNews, and PokerGo.
