WSOP: Raman ‘Acrogum’ Afanasenka Takes Down Event #11 for $129K
Raman ‘Acrogum’ Afanasenka eliminated four of the final five players in his way in Event #11 ($500 NLHE Turbo Deepstack) of the 2020 World Series of Poker Online on Saturday night to capture the first gold bracelet of his career and $128,601.
The tournament almost had a storybook ending. At one point, Chance Kornuth was down to 1/9 of an ante before spinning it up to get to the final table sitting second in chips and in position to capture his third career bracelet.
Afanasenka had other ideas and went to work soon after the final table started.
From the hijack, Afanasenka raised to 1,200,000 with 
and Erica Lindgren, who started the final table as the shortest stack, moved all in for 6,160,947 from the button with 
. Afanasenka called and then watched the 
runout miss Lindgren to eliminate her in sixth place.
Five minutes passed before Afanasenka found another victim. Afanasenka raised to 1,600,000 from the cutoff with 
and Neeraj ‘nee0903’ Nayak called all in for 1,492,135 from the big blind with 
. The 
flop gave Afanasenka top and bottom pair and left Nayak drawing to runner-runner. The turn was not a good card for Nayak and the 
river made his fifth place finish official.
Afanasenka continued to apply pressure and amass chips when he sent another player to the rail just a few minutes later. David ‘Twizzlers’ Prociak moved all in for 10,344,965 from the button with and Afanasenka called from the small blind with 
. Brett ‘Metanemesis’ Apter folded the big blind. Prociak got no help from the 
flop but did pick up a Broadway draw with the 
turn. The river was the to eliminate Prociak in fourth place.
The string of consecutive eliminations coming at the hands of Afanasenka stopped on the next elimination. Afanasenka folded the button, Apter shoved his last 8,547,819 into the middle from the small blind with 
and Chance ‘BingShui’ Kornuth called from the big blind with 
. Kornuth flopped top set on the 
flop and Apter couldn’t complete a miraculous comeback of his own on the turn and 
river to bust in third.
Afanasenka had a 3-2 lead over Kornuth when heads-up play began. Over the next 15 minutes the pair traded the chip lead back and forth before Afanasenka put an end to Kornuth’s run. Kornuth limped with 
and Afanasenka moved all in from the button with 
for 47,029,016 and Kornuth called all in. The 
was a great one for Kornuth. The turn changed nothing but the river gave Afanasenka a full house to eliminate Kornuth in second place and award Afanasenka the victory.
The event drew 1,691 total entries from 1,081 unique players to create a $760,950 prize pool. Despite being a six-max tournament, the tournament used a nine-handed payout structure.
Final Table Payouts
- Raman ‘Acrogum’ Afanasenka – $128,601
- Chance ‘BingShui’ Kornuth – $79,291
- Brett ‘Metanemesis’ Apter – $57,071
- David ‘Twizzlers’ Prociak – $41,472
- Neeraj ‘nee0903’ Nayak – $30,514
- Erica ‘Huckcheevers’ Lindgren – $22,676
Faces in the Crowd
A pair of former November Niners enjoyed deep runs on Saturday night. Tom ‘.beast.’ Cannuli narrowly missed out on the final table, finishing 11th for $7,761.69 while Jesse ‘MrJesseJames’ Sylvia came in 40th place for a $2,587.23 score. Eight-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Michael ‘whynot38’ Lech finished 17th for $4,793.98. Other notables that finished in the money included Ryan Laplante (69th – $1,597.99) David ‘dehhhhh’ Coleman (71st – $1,597.99), Jed ‘jchak’ Hoffman (79th – $1,445.80), Robert ‘bustinballs’ Kuhn (99th – $1,141.42), Mike Matusow (131st – $989.23), Frank ‘spaghettiii’ Marasco (150th – $989.23), and former #1-ranked PocketFiver Bryan ‘Pellepelle’ Piccioli (241st – $760.95).