The first PokerGo Tour events of 2022 at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas are underway with their new series called Stairway to Millions. American pro Chance Kornuth won back-to-back events over the weekend. Stairway to Millions Event #2 $2,150 NL attracted 129 runners and Kornuth outlasted everyone to win $51,600. Kornuth continued his run good with another victory in Event #3 $4,200 NL. He was the last player standing out of 84 runners and banked $80,640.
The PokerGo Tour introduced the Stairway to Millions series to give amateurs and players with a modest bankroll a chance to compete in a high balla event with the pros. It also gave pros who were down and out a chance to run up their bankroll and get back into the swing of the things at the start of 2022. Every player who cashes in a Stairway to Millions event gets a free seat into the next event, and so forth, because the buy-ins increase starting from $1,000 and going all the way up to $100,000. That way, you can continue to ladder up throughout the series so long as you at least min-cash.
Stairway to Millions began last week at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas with Event #1 $1,100 NL attracted 190 runners with only the top 28 places earning a cut of the prize pool. And all 28 got a freeroll into Event #2 and its $2K buy-in.
Daniel Sepiol was the last player standing in Event #1, which paid out $28,500. The final table also included Rich Dixon, Joe Cheong, Justin Saliba, Qing Liu and Mehdi Anooshahr.
Stairway to Millions Event #2 $2,150 NL had a field of 129 players and only the top 29 players cashed and earned a freeroll in Event #3 and its 4$K buy-in. Chance Kornuth dominated a tough final table that included Eric Baldwin, Jeremy Ausmus, Brock Wilson, Joelle Parenteau, and Jovan Santiago. Kornuth defeated Baldwin heads-up for the title and $51,600 in cash. Baldwin banked $36,120 for second place.
Stairway to Millions Event #3 $4,200 NL attracted 84 players and only the top 12 places earned a cut of the $336K prize pool and a freeroll into Event #4 $8,400. Among those who went deep and cashed included Michael Wang, Jeremy Ausmus, Ryan Reiss, Joelle Weinand, Philip Shing, and Victoria Livschitz.
The final six included Jesse Lonis, Dan Weinand, Mitch Halverson, Nathan Zimnik, Joe Cheong, and Chance Kornuth. Kornuth and Cheong got heads up for the title in Event #4, but Cheong could not prevent Kornuth from taking down another event and back-to-back tournaments. Cheong earned a runner-up share worth $57,120. Not too shabby eh?
Kornuth banked $80,640 for his win and earned over $132K in a couple of days of grinding at the Aria. He also earned a freeroll into Event #4.
Event #4 $8,200 NL attracted 56 players and a prize pool worth 448K. The top eight places earned a piece of the cheesecake, including a freeroll into Event #5 $16K. Event#4 had a juicy payout to the winner with $138,880 set aside to the champion.
Michael Lang and Shannon Shoor both cashed but missed out on the final six. The final table included Salim Admon, Jesse Lonis, Chris Brewer, Jeremy Ausmus, Nick Petrangelo, and Bill Klein. Jesse Lonis and Salim Admon found themselves heads-up for the title. Admon knocked out Lonis heads-up for the victory, which was worth $138,880. Lonis earned a little under $90K for a runner-up finish.
