Event #40: $250,000 Super High Roller
Day 2 Completed
Event #40: $250,000 Super High Roller
Day 2 Completed
It was rail heaven again today at the Paris and Horseshoe Las Vegas, as dozens of spectators would make their way through the event center to get a glimpse of some of the best poker players in the world battling it out in Event #40: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em.
Play concluded at the end of Level 18 and the tournament was able to reach the final table with nine players bagging up for the night.
The ultra-high buy-in event drew a record field of 69 entries, topping last year's turnout of 56 and creating a total prize pool of $17,181,000, with $5,293,556 going to the eventual winner.
Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
1 | Steven Veneziano | United States | 6,775,000 | 23 |
2 | Chris Brewer | United States | 8,525,000 | 28 |
3 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Republic | 18,400,000 | 61 |
4 | Brandon Steven | United States | 3,225,000 | 11 |
5 | Chance Kornuth | United States | 22,450,000 | 75 |
6 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 18,225,000 | 61 |
7 | Dan Smith | United States | 7,800,000 | 26 |
8 | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | 12,600,000 | 42 |
9 | David Peters | United States | 4,925,000 | 16 |
Leading the way is Chance Kornuth with 22,450,000 in chips. Kornuth entered the day as one of the Day 1 chip leaders and never looked back, winning a big pot off Phil Hellmuth and eliminating Jonathan Jaffe early in the day to remain atop the leaderboard.
Speaking of Day 1 chip leaders, the story of Dustin Bailey, the recreational player that entered the tournament on a dare from his friends while playing roulette, would come to a close. Bailey finished out Day 1 at the top of the chip counts but would ultimately hit the rail shortly before the dinner break when his A♠10♠ would stay unimproved against the J♠J♣ of Russian poker-pro Artur Martirosian.
Not far behind Kornuth is the polarizing, Martin Kabrhel, who outtalked and outplayed his opponents on the way to a chip stack of 18,400,000. One of the days biggest hands happened during the 100,000/200,000 blind level, which saw Kabrhel three-bet the button open of former Main Event champion Koray Aldemir from the small blind and then announce, "ok, let's go, bad beat," before calling Aldemir's four-bet all-in for around 4,600,000. Aldemir's A♠Q♣ was ahead of Kabrhel's K♥7♥ and maintained that lead on the J♠9♠5♣ flop and the 5♠ turn, but the K♣ river sent Aldemir to the rail in 14th place, just before the money-bubble broke.
Martirosian is nipping at both players' heels, bagging up 18,225,000 to round out the top three.
Another familiar face reached the final table for the second year in a row, last year’s runner-up, Brandon Steven, who was able to bag up 3,225,000. Steven had an up-and-down day but held tough and battled back from starting the day as one of the shortest stacks.
All-stars Chris Brewer, Dan Smith, and David Peters will also be back on the final day battling for one of poker's most coveted prizes. Perhaps not as well known, but still very much in contention, are Steven Veneziano and Alex Kulev, who round out the final nine.
Late registration was open until the start of Day 2 and saw the likes of Kabrhel, Daniel Negreanu, Bryn Kenney, Sean Winter, Alex Foxen, Sean Perry and Rick Solomon all enter, with only Kabrhel making a deep run.
Fan favorite Phil Ivey also had a swingy day, as he would be all-in multiple times, ultimately going out on the stone bubble to finish in 12th place.
The final table will resume on Sunday, June 18th at 2 p.m., with a PokerGO stream scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Chance Kornuth |
22,450,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
||
Martin Kabrhel |
18,400,000
-1,700,000
|
-1,700,000 |
|
||
Artur Martirosian |
18,225,000
250,000
|
250,000 |
|
||
Alex Kulev |
12,600,000
2,450,000
|
2,450,000 |
|
||
Chris Brewer |
8,525,000
-475,000
|
-475,000 |
|
||
Dan Smith |
7,800,000
-600,000
|
-600,000 |
|
||
Steven Veneziano |
6,775,000
-125,000
|
-125,000 |
David Peters |
4,925,000
625,000
|
625,000 |
|
||
Brandon Steven |
3,225,000
-625,000
|
-625,000 |
Chance Kornuth raised to 550,000 from late position and Alex Kulev called from the big blind.
Kuleve check-called a bet of 250,000 from Kornuth on an A♥K♠K♦ flop and both players would check the 4♦ turn.
Kulev checked one more time on the river J♠, but this time Kornuth put out a bet of 1,250,000 and after a few short moments, Kulev made the call.
Kornuth showed down A♠4♠ and Kulev had A♦3♦ for a split pot
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Chance Kornuth | 22,250,000 | |
|
||
Alex Kulev | 10,150,000 | |
|
A Czech and a Russian walks into a bar...
— Martin Jacobson (@Martin_Jacobson)
Martin Kabrhel raised to 500,000 on the button and Chance Kornuth defended from the big blind. The flop came A♦10♦9♦ and Kornuth check-called a bet of 325,000 from Kabrhel.
The turn was the 4♥ and both players checked to the 7♠ on the river. Kornuth led out with a bet of 1,500,000 on the river and Kabrhel opted to lay his hand down.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Chance Kornuth |
22,250,000
800,000
|
800,000 |
|
||
Martin Kabrhel |
20,100,000
-1,100,000
|
-1,100,000 |
|
Photo by Rachel Kay Miller.
Chip photo for the people.
— Rachel Kay (@RachKayPhoto)
Action folded around to Chris Brewer in the small blind, who made it 875,000 to go and was called in the big blind by Martin Kabrhel.
Both players would check the 7♠10♣5♠ and the 7♥ turn.
Brewer would then size up a river bet in the form of 1,500,000 and Kabrhel folded.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Martin Kabrhel |
21,200,000
-1,075,000
|
-1,075,000 |
|
||
Chris Brewer |
9,000,000
1,075,000
|
1,075,000 |
|
Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Steven Veneziano | United States | 6,900,000 | 28 |
2 | Chris Brewer | United States | 7,925,000 | 32 |
3 | Martin Kabrhel | Czechia | 22,275,000 | 89 |
4 | Brandon Steven | United States | 3,850,000 | 15 |
5 | Chance Kornuth | United States | 21,450,000 | 86 |
6 | Artur Martirosian | Russia | 17,975,000 | 72 |
7 | Dan Smith | United States | 8,400,000 | 34 |
8 | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | 10,150,000 | 41 |
9 | David Peters | United States | 4,300,000 | 17 |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Martin Kabrhel |
22,275,000
2,775,000
|
2,775,000 |
|
||
Chance Kornuth |
21,450,000
1,250,000
|
1,250,000 |
|
||
Artur Martirosian |
17,975,000
1,975,000
|
1,975,000 |
|
||
Alex Kulev |
10,150,000
900,000
|
900,000 |
|
||
Dan Smith |
8,400,000
-1,850,000
|
-1,850,000 |
|
||
Chris Brewer |
7,925,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
|
||
Steven Veneziano | 6,900,000 | |
David Peters |
4,300,000
350,000
|
350,000 |
|
||
Brandon Steven |
3,850,000
-1,550,000
|
-1,550,000 |
PokerNews caught up with the action on the river on a board reading K♠Q♥2♦7♦10♣. Dan Smith had a bet out from the small blind for 1,000,000 and Artur Martirosian raised to 4,000,000 from late position.
Smith would think for a few moments before making the call.
Martirosian tabled 10♠10♥ for a rivered set of tens and Smith mucked.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Artur Martirosian |
16,000,000
4,500,000
|
4,500,000 |
|
||
Dan Smith |
10,250,000
-5,000,000
|
-5,000,000 |
|