Even over $500,000 in earnings so far this summer, Chris Hunichen is looking to cap things off with another deep WSOP Main Event run (PokerStars photo)[/CAPTION]
Almost three weeks ago, Chris ‘Big-Huni’ Hunichen was heads-up for a World Series of Poker bracelet against Nadar Kakhmazov. Hunichen started with the chip lead, watched Kakhmazov even things up and eventually shook the Russian’s hand to congratulate him on his victory.

“It’s still a little salty because winning a bracelet means so much to me. To get that close, I think that’s my fourth or fifth WSOP final table, so I’ve had my shots and that was the closest and I really feel like if I had it again, I have a small edge over my opponent but that’s how it goes,“ said Hunichen. “The last hand has been eating me alive, I kinda misplayed it a little bit, it was a little bit of a cooler but I still shouldn’t have stacked off an had a chance to rebuild back up.”

The pair actually agreed to a chop heads-up, giving Hunichen $450,000 for his efforts. That’s a big part of the reason Hunichen, a former #1-ranked player on PocketFives, believes this summer has been one of his best yet and it started early on with a six-figure score away from the Rio.

“I got fourth in the $10K at the Venetian for just under $100K, I think that was the third or fourth tournament of the summer, so that was nice. Covered a lot of my buy-ins, gave me a lot of confidence going forward,” said Hunichen. “

He’s also picked up some smaller cashes along the way and believes that as the Main Event begins, he’s in a great spot to put up a result better than the 114th place finish he had last year.

“I believe that might have been my first cash in the Main out of five attempts. I had a couple of bad years and then I had some years where I just ran really bad in the Main. But I think I’m on top of my game now, I’m playing the best that I’ve ever had before so I think this year I’m set up for another deep run,” said Hunichen.

The results this summer are the result of a shift in Hunichen’s focus when it comes to stuff away from the felt. He’s dedicated more of his time to studying the game than he ever had before.

“I used to play lot of but never put in a lot of work off the felt. I really put in time studying, started a stable and we’ve we’ve done a lot of coaching for that, so that helps too, to kind of fine tune and refresh,” said Hunichen. “Other than that, I really think that a lot of the off the felt work is just so important in poker nowadays because it’s just constantly evolving, it gets harder and harder everyday. You can’t get content with your skill level because you’re just never where you need to be.”

Hunichen was one of those players who decided to move to Costa Rica after Black Friday to continue to play online poker. it’s been home now for six years for him. He’s married and six months the couple had their first baby to add to the son, Derek, his wife had before they met. With all that in mind, Hunichen things big changes are coming for the family of four.

“I think we’re going to move, maybe out here to Las Vegas, sometime in February or March or something. The school systems (in Costa Rica) aren’t where I want my kid to be growing up, and now that Derek’s four, he’ll be five in October, so he’s going to be starting school,” said Hunichen. “I think a year or two would be fine in Costa Rica, but anything after that I want to get him into some good public schools or maybe even some good private school around here or something.”

A move to Las Vegas would mean no longer being able to play online on PokerStars, partypoker and 888poker. Hunichen’s okay with that though, he’s ready to take a new challenge that might see him playing in something a bit bigger than the PokerStars $215.

“Out here I can actually still work. I’d consider playing some bigger cash games at Aria, and getting into that kind of mode, maybe start playing the $25Ks regularly or something, possibly if things keep going well,” said Hunichen.

He’s hoping to be busy for the next week or so though with the Main Event. He’s playing Day 1A this year after always having played Day 1C in previous years. Deep stacked, big field events are where Hunichen goes to feast.

“I feel like these kind of fields play to my strengths. I final tabled the Millionaire Maker a couple of years ago which is about the same size field as this. I also a top 50 in the Millionaire Maker a year or two after,” said Hunichen. “The good thing is there’s a lot of rec players in this tournament, so I’m kind of chatty and friendly at the table, and I think that plays to my advantage as well. Make some friends and they don’t mind losing to you and they respect you and they’d rather lose to you than lose to the guy who’s treating people like shit.”