The Pinnacle: $5 to a Million in Online MILLIONS; SHRB Draw and More

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I’m listening to William Shatner on Spotify.
What’s going on?
William Shatner?
He’s banging on about mountains in the air, and the need to get it together man. I would have thought a man like Shatner would have been on the scrapheap by now. What versatility.
TJ Hooker.
James T. Kirk.
Singer.
I need serenity.
I need peace.
It hasn’t happened yet.
Well, let’s see if I can bang out the week’s top stories from the world of the High Rollers before it does.
Online Poker News: Record-Breaking Online MILLIONS; Greenwood Doing His Bollocks; Talal Shakerchi Making Sunday Million Final Table
I don’t know how much air to put into a tyre. I don’t understand when the oil needs topping up. Temperature means nothing to me.
But I know this.
partypoker made history this week.
The online poker behemoth hosted the wealthiest online poker tournament since the days of the Allosaurus, when 4,367-entrants created a $21,385,000 prize pool, easily beating the $20m guarantee that many (including me and Shatner) thought they had no chance of achieving.
Four people had their siblings hoping for a handsome handout.
Manuel Ruivo won the world-record prize of $2,329,944 after cutting an ICM deal with Pim de Goede that saw the Dutchman become only the fourth player in history to win a $2m+ prize, collecting $2,309,995.
And check this out.
The Slovenian, Scarmak3r, parlayed a $5 online satellite win into a $1,364,688 windfall.
The dream is still alive.
Pedro Marques was the fourth player to bank a seven-figure score = $1,091,750.
And there was another record, but one Sam Greenwood likely didn’t want.


So that’s how they make these imperious guarantees!
partypoker didn’t reserve all big money for the partypoker tournament tables. Sam Trickett and Rob Yong had a good week, collecting $300k+ each from a $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) game that included the likes of Matt Kirk. Trickett used the money to buy himself a nice new shirt in preparation for handing Team USA their first Mosconi Cup win since 2009.


Moving from partypoker to PokerStars, and Talal Shakerchi, finished sixth in the $215 buy-in Sunday Million, showing his love for the game. The Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1, Alex Foxen, also had a good week picking up his third PokerStars High Roller Club title. Fellow high rollers, Joao Vieira, Ivan Luca and Alex Papazian also picked up PokerStars High Roller Club titles.
Live Poker News: SHRB Draw; Million Dollar Cash Game; WPT Garden and WSOP Sydney HRs
 
Super High Roller Bowl
The organisers of the Super High Roller Bowl V (SHRB) had a brain fart this week. The live lottery to determine the first 24-picks should have gone ahead on Nov 27, but Poker Central cancelled it without telling any of the players.


The lottery did happen, albeit late, and 34-names came out of the hat, not 24.
Here they are:
1. Justin Bonomo
2. Daniel Negreanu
3. Fedor Holz
4. David Peters
5. Dan Smith
6. Bryn Kenney
7. Phil Hellmuth
8. Jason Koon
9. Jake Schindler
10. Brian Rast
11. Mikita Badziakouski
12. Isaac Haxton
13. Christoph Vogelsang
14. Stephen Chidwick
15. Cary Katz
16. Rainer Kempe
17. Dominik Nitsche
18. Adrian Mateos
19. Nick Petrangelo
20. Igor Kurganov
21. Steffen Sontheimer
22. Sean Winter
23. Koray Aldemir
24. Ben Tollerene
25. Sam Soverel
26. Alex Foxen
27. Dan Cates
28. Ben Yu
29. Talal Shakerchi
30. Bill Klein
31. Matthias Eibinger
32. Ali Imsirovic
33. Seth Davies
34. Chris Kruk
That leaves 14-spaces left.
The SHRB V takes place December 17, 18 & 19.
One player who is not on that list is Patrik Antonius, and this week the fabulous looking Finn was in India where he guested at Deltin Corporation’s 10th-anniversary celebrations aboard the Deltin Casino in Goa. Antonius finished runner-up to Justin Bonomo in the inaugural Super High Roller Bowl China earlier this year, earning $3.1m.
In other high rolling live tournament news the World Poker Tour (WPT) announced a $25k buy-in event as part of the WPT Gardens Festival 16 January, and the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) at The Star in Sydney has an AUD 20,000 buy-in event penned in for 12th/13th December.
From tournaments to cash games and the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles has announced a million dollar cash game. The game is $100/$200 No-Limit Hold’em with a $100k Minimum buy-in scheduled for ten hours of action Friday, December 14 – Garrett Adelstein and Nick Vertucci feature.
And Ben Lamb seems to have created a new game.
Short-Deck is so last week.


Lamb joined Justin Bonomo, and a whole host of degens as Short-Deck, Medium-Deck, Call-It-What-You-Want-Deck appeared on Poker After Dark for the first time this week.
Thor Hansen Passes; Smith Charity Drive; Bathroom Bet Update
The Norwegian legend Thor Hansen finally lost his battle with cancer this week, but boy, did he put up a fight. Six years ago, doctors gave Hansen three months to live after diagnosing him with cancer, and yet Hansen was still riffling chips at the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida last month. Tributes poured in from all over the poker globe, but I particularly like this one from Mike Sexton.


Rich Alati’s father (also Richard) has told the poker media that the $100k Bathroom Bet is more to do with the personal challenge than the money. Cash game grinder, Rory Young bet Alati $100k that he couldn’t stay in a darkened bathroom without human contact or any external stimuli for 30-days, and although his father is ‘concerned’ about the bet, you sense he feels confident that Alati junior will get the job done.
Finally, Dan Smith launched his fifth annual charity drive. This year, Smith has labelled his philanthropic effort DoubleUpDrive, and the plan is for Smith and his team to match donations up to a ceiling of $1,140,000.
If you want to make a difference in the world, then donate to one of Smith’s charities, and send your receipt to receipts@doubleupdrive.com.
And that’s this week’s Pinnacle.