Interview: Chance Kornuth Surges to Chip Lead in Level 16

When Level 16 began, Chance Kornuth was hovering around average with the money bubble approaching. Less than 90 minutes later he had busted three players and was the new chip leader with more than 700,000.

We asked the live pro how he managed to triple his stack and how this field compares to some of the others he's played around the globe.

PokerNews: You started Level 16 with around 200,000 in chips and ran it up over 700,000. Can you talk about some of the key spots where you were able to chip up?

Kornuth: Well I got really lucky with an open-ender against an overcard and a flush draw and I turned a straight. That put me up to 250K, and then I just had a lot of really good hands was handed a lot of chips ... made the nuts a ton.

They went hand-for hand a few spots before the money bubble. You already had a big stack at that point ... did you feel like that hindered your ability to abuse the bubble at all?

Just a little bit because my table was playing fast. I would have been able to play a few more hands. But I still played enough so it was a pretty good bubble for me. It’s so funny when you win so many hands with air and then lose with your good hands. But there's a lot of good ways to run good in poker. This has been a fun day so far.

How does this field compare to some of the other tournaments you play around the world?

I would say it's on par for most $10Ks — maybe even a little softer — so I think it's pretty good value. I've seen some really tough tables with a lot of clickers and kids I don't know so it's difficult to play in some spots. But I've tried to "live pro" a couple of them and see if we can keep it going (laughs).

Do you feel like that gives you an advantage with so many online qualifiers here?

Yeah, for me personally I think reading people physically is one of the stronger parts of my game so I think that definitely helps.