Chance Kornuth Leads PCA Main Event 2015 as Final Table Set: WATCH LIVE

American pro Chance Kornuth is leading the final six players in the 2015 $10k PCA Main Event. The 28-year-old, who already has $1.7m in live tournament winnings, returns tomorrow with 7,860,000 in chips. He will be cheered on by fiancee Emily who flew in this morning from Florida to surprise him.

Kevin Schulz is currently second in chips with 6,155,000. Schulz and fellow finalist Rami Boukai (who is the short-stack with 780,000) are among scores of American pros who have moved to Mexico so they continue playing online. Schulz and Dylan Linde, who bust in 8th place for $140,900 both live in the same town - Playa del Carmen - but had never met before this year’s PCA.

PCA 2015 is the first time that a Peruvian player has made it to an EPT final with 25-year-old Diego Ventura currently third in chips with 3,980,000. Known as “Die Ventura” online, Peru's 2014 Online Player of the Year won his $16k PCA package at the very last possible moment - in a $700 qualifier three days after Christmas.

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Well-known Argentinian pro Juan Martin Pastor, a coach with the PokerStars online training school Intellipoker, is currently fourth with 2,655,000. The only European remaining, with 3,100,000, is German player Niklas Hambitzer who won his $16k prize package in a $700 qualifier at the beginning of November. All six remaining players are now guaranteed at least $285,740 with $1,491,580 for the winner.

Chance Kornuth, USA, PokerStars player, 7,860,000 
Kevin Schulz, USA, 6,155,000 
Diego Ventura, Peru, PokerStars qualifier, 3,980,000 
Niklas Hambitzer, Germany, PokerStars qualifier, 3,100,000 
Juan Martin Pastor, Argentina, PokerStars player, 2,655,000 
Rami Boukai, USA, 780,000

There were 816 entries in total, generating a massive $7,915,200 prize pool. As well as the cash prize & coveted PCA 2015 trophy, this year’s champion will also receive a “Steel” watch from luxury Swiss brand SLYDE, the Official Watch Sponsor for the PCA Main Event, High Roller and Super High Roller. 119 players are being paid in total.

Tomorrow's final will be broadcast cards-up "as live" on #EPTlive. Play resumes at 1pm but the webcast starts at 2pm (subject to a one hour security delay): Facebook | YouTube | PokerStars.tv

A total of 35 tourneys are taking held at Atlantis during the 2015 PCA festival.

PCA 2015 FINAL TABLE PLAYER PROFILES

Seat 1: Kevin Schulz, 28, USA, living in Mexico 
Schulz is one of scores of American poker pros who have moved to Mexico so they can continue playing online. He and seventh place finisher Dylan Linde both live in Playa del Carmen, but they had never actually met before this year’s PCA. Schulz played his first EPT back in Season 6, but his only EPT cash before now was 16th in a $5k side event at the 2011 PCA and 89th at EPT10 Barcelona. His live tournament winnings already total nearly $500k with a large chunk of that coming from a fourth place finish in the 2012 WSOP $5k NL event.

Seat 2: Chance Kornuth, 28, Florida, USA 
Kornuth first came to live poker fame when he won $500k in a WSOP PLO tourney in 2010. He has since accrued more than $1.7 in live tournament winnings including another $500k when he won the Bellagio Cup last July and $248k in the Seminole Hard Rock final in April. Seminole is also where he met his girlfriend Emily who is a dealer there. The couple got engaged last May when Kornuth got down on one knee at the Great Wall of China. Emily took three days off work to support her fiancé. This is Kornuth’s third PCA but the first time he’s made it beyond the Day 1 dinner break.

Seat 3: Niklas Hambitzer, 26, from Bonn, Germany, living in London – PokerStars qualifier 
Hambitzer first started playing poker in home games with friends when the “Moneymaker boom” hit Europe in 2006 and 2007. He’s now an online pro, mainly competing in high-stakes 6-Max Hyper Turbos (up to $1,000). Making the final table today gives him his first recorded live result, but online he has had some notable cashes on PokerStars including winning the Bigger 55 for $50k and finishing third in the Bigger 162 for $30k. He won his $16k prize package in a $700 qualifier at the beginning of November.

Seat 4: Diego Ventura, 25, Trujillo, Peru - PokerStars qualifier 
PokerStars SuperNova Diego Ventura won his $16k PCA package at the very last possible moment. It happened in a $700 qualifier three days after Christmas. Ventura started playing poker in home games with friends, got hooked - and after leaving University - worked as a waiter by day and played online at night. He turned pro three years ago, but it was last year when “Die Ventura” really hit the big time with a string of great results. This included making a second Sunday Million final as well as winning some other major tourneys: the Sunday Second Chance, Sunday Kickoff, and The Big $162. His 2014 achievements led to him being voted Online Poker Player of the Year by Peru’s poker media. So far, he has racked up more $1.2m online. He’s already had a very busy PCA. Even while he was building up a big stack in the Main Event, he was coaching Peru’s team in the Americas Cup (it finished fourth for $12,500).

Seat 5: Rami Boukai, 32, USA, living in Mexico – PokerStars qualifier 
Originally from California, WSOP bracelet winner Boukai is one of dozens of American poker players who have relocated to Mexico to carry on grinding online. Boukai’s best live result to date was winning the 2009 WSOP $2,500 PLO event for $244,862, but sixth or better here at the PCA final will top that. The former MMA fighter has made periodic appearances at EPT events, his first back in Season 3 at EPT Copenhagen. However most of his $644,107 live tournament winnings have come via his numerous WSOP cashes. His best EPT result to date was 25th at the EPT Grand Final in Season 4 for €42,100. He won his $16k PCA package in a $700 qualifier. Online, his cashes include final tables in most of the major events including WCOOP, SCOOP, and Sunday 500 final tables.

Seat 6: Juan Martin Pastor, 22, near Buenos Aires, Argentina – SuperNova Elite 
The 22-year-old Argentinian is well-known in the Latin American online poker community. He worked his way up from playing 1c/2c No-Limit to becoming a $500 Zoom specialist. Pastor studied at Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Last December, when he was just 4 VPPS away from SuperNova Elite status, he invited friends over for a party to watch him play out the last few hands. Pastor started studying poker via PokerStars’ Intellipoker online poker school and is now a coach for the Spanish branch. In live events, his best result before today was making the final of LAPT Colombia for the equivalent of $12k. This is his third PCA but his first cash in the Main Event.