Poker Hand Matchup: Aaron Van Blarcum vs. Chris Hunichen
Aaron Van Blarcum	Win Pre-Flop	Win Post-Flop	Win Post-Turn
Starting Stack: 96,000,000	69.34 %	62.42 %	62.42 %	Winner!
Christopher Hunichen	Win Pre-Flop	Win Post-Flop	Win Post-Turn
Starting Stack: 352,000,000	23.14 %	15.86 %	15.86 %

Posted On: Dec 18, 2019

Outcome

Preflop, with six players remaining and blinds of 2,000,000 – 4,000,000 with a big blind ante of 4,000,000, Aaron Van Blarcum raised to 11,000,000 from the cutoff. Chris Hunichen three-bet to 35,000,000 from the big blind. Van Blarcum called. On the flop Hunichen moved all-in. Van Blarcum folded.

Analysis

“You’re running too good, sir,” Aaron Van Blarcum told Chris Hunichen after folding to him in this hand. As it turns out, Hunichen had actually made something out of nothing with some well-timed aggression. When the hand started, Oleg Mandzjuk was the short stack with around 15 big blinds and Van Blarcum was the next shortest with 24 big blinds. He opened to 2.75 times the big blind with A-J from the cutoff. Hunichen, who was the runaway chip leader at the time with 88 big blinds, picked up A-6 offsuit in the big blind. Hunichen three-bet to 35,000,000, putting Van Blarcum in a very awkward position. The raise represented just more than a third of the chips that Van Blarcum began the hand with. He made the call, which resulted in him being left with just 61,000,000 while the pot had ballooned to 76,000,000. The flop came down 9-8-8 with two diamonds and Hunichen moved all-in, forcing Van Blarcum to a decision for the rest of his stack. Hunichen correctly figured that Van Blarcum would have a hard time calling off his stack and would likely have to fold plenty of relatively strong preflop holdings like the A-J that he held in this instance. Van Blarcum was put in a tough spot in the hand, which was complicated even further by Mandzjuk being short stacked with a $150,000 payjump looming. Van Blarcum folded the best hand and Hunichen furthered his lead. Van Blarcum managed to rally after this hand and went on to strike a three-handed deal with Hunichen and eventual champion Adrian Mateos. Van Blarcum earned $970,000 for his strong showing, while Hunichen took home $1,097,195.