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The 2019 High Roller scene began with a straight flush.
The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in The Bahamas attracted top brass from every nation, in part due to the phenomenally successful PokerStars’ Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC), where Ramon Colillas topped a field of 1,039-entrants to win the $5.1m first prize in the largest $25,000 buy-in tournament ever created.
Sam Greenwood, Igor Kurganov, Rainer Kempe and Stephen Chidwick were in splendid form, and Jesus Cortes made his mark, cashing in several tournaments, and collecting more than a million in prize money.
Once the Bahamanian action ended, the high rollers headed to Melbourne, Australia to compete in the Aussie Millions AUD 25,000 No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha Events, AUD 50,000 No-Limit Hold’em and AUD 100,000 No-Limit Hold’em.
The undoubted star of the show has been Toby Lewis, collecting $1m+ from a runner-up finish in the AUD 25,000 event, and winning the AUD 50,000 event. Rainer Kempe continued his stunning form by winning the AD 25,000.
And that’s where most of them remain as we creep into February.
February High Stakes Action

Aussie Millions

Two high roller events remain on the Aussie Millions roster.
– AUD 100,000 Challenge
– AUD 25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
To the best of my knowledge, it’s the first time the Aussie Millions has organised a Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) event at this steep price point. The Crown Casino has experienced somewhat of a renaissance in high roller fortunes this year, hence the risk. The AUD 25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha is a two-day event taking place Sunday 3 Feb and Monday 4 Feb.
The AUD 100,000 Challenge is also a two-day event taking place Friday 1 Feb and Saturday 2 Feb, and here are the previous winners of that event.
2006 – John Juanda AUD 1,000,000 (10-entrants)
2007 – Erick Lindgren AUD 1,000,000 (18-entrants)
2008 – Howard Lederer AUD 1,250,000 (25-entrants)
2009 – David Steicke AUD 1,200,000 (23-entrants)
2010 – Dan Shak AUD 1,200,000 (24-entrants)
2011 – Sam Trickett AUD 1,525,000 (38-entrants)
2012 – Dan Smith AUD 1,012,000 (22-entrants)
2013 – Andrew Robl AUD 1,000,000 (22-entrants)
2014 – Yevgeniy Timoshenko AUD 2,000,000 (47-entrants)*
2015 – Richard Yong AUD 1,870,000 (70-entrants)
2016 – Fabian Quoss AUD 1,446,480 (41-entrants)
2017 – Nick Petrangelo AUD 882,000 (18-entrants)
2018 – Michael Lim AUD 931,000 (19-entrants)
*Indicates the first year of re-entries.
Day 1 of the 2019 AUD 100,000 Challenge ended with 33-entrants taking the felt during the first day, and with registration open until the end of the first level of Day 2, it could grow considerably.

US Poker Open

After Melbourne, the place to be is in Las Vegas for the second-ever US Poker Open. The Poker Central event takes place at the PokerGO studios at the ARIA and here is the schedule.
Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em (13-14 Feb)
Event #2: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (14-15 Feb)
Event #3: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em (15-16 Feb)
Event #4: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck (16-17 Feb)
Event #5: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (17-18 Feb)
Event #6: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (18-19 Feb)
Event #7: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (19-20 Feb)
Event #8: $25,000 Mixed Game (20-21 Feb)
Event #9: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em (21-22 Feb)
Event #10: $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event (22-23 Feb)
The reigning champion is Stephen Chidwick, who earned $1,256,650 in the inaugural year after cashing in five events and winning a brace. This year Poker Central will award the winner with an additional $100,000. It’s the first of three High Roller Triple Crown events that Poker Central host every year – the other two being the Poker Masters and the Super High Roller Bowl.

Long before the ARIA, European Poker Tour (EPT) or the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series controlled the live tournament scene for the most affluent echelon in the game, the Aussie Millions had it by the scruff of the neck.
Then in 2016, the organisers opened up a vein and squirted sodium pentathol leading to the axing of the AUD 250,000 Challenge. The pancuronium bromide arrived the following year when the AUD 100,000 Challenge only attracted 18-entrants, and after last year’s AUD 50,000 only inspired four people to take a pew, most people were expecting the potassium chloride to stop the show altogether.

Today, the heart still beats, and the muscles spasm; the Aussie Millions High Roller scene is conscious again.
The AUD 100,000 Challenge attracted 42-entrants making it the third most attended event of that ilk in history. Day 1 pulled in 33-entrants, and 14 players advanced to Day 2 with Cary Katz leading the charge.
One notable absence from Day 2 was the AUD 50,000 Challenge winner, Toby Lewis, who exited after moving all-in on Jc6h3hTc holding AcKc in a three-bet pot against Koray Aldemir who had flopped top pair and improved to a two pair hand on the turn, holding JThh. The man from the UK was down to five big blinds after that hand, and Aymon Hata snaffled them up with A9>Q6.
The AUD 25,000 winner, Rainer Kempe, did make it through, bagging 107,000 chips.
Chip Counts
1. Cary Katz – 1,108,000
2. Alex Foxen – 999,000
3. Manig Loeser – 872,000
4. Abraham Passet – 751,000
5. Johannes Becker – 730,000
6. Tsugunari Toma – 713,000
7. Thomas Muehloecker – 528,000
8. Michael Zhang – 496,000
9. Huang Shan – 489,000
10. Mustapha Kanit – 419,000
11. Michael Soyza – 399,000
12. Dominik Nitsche – 390,000
13. Andras Nemeth – 242,000
14. Rainer Kempe – 107,000

The Day 2 Action

Registration remained open for a full level. Kristen Bicknell entered for her third bullet, Koray Aldemir reloaded, and Michael Addamo took a pew after finishing 17th in the Main Event.
Andras Nemeth busted quickly and re-entered, Sam Higgs joined the fun before falling to Bicknell within the level A6<QQ, Becker busted Kempe, who then re-entered, and at the end of the level, Jack Salter and the new Aussie Millions Main Event Champ, Bryn Kenney, had made it 42-entrants. The final table came into view after Rainer Kempe eliminated Huang Shan.
Final Table Starting Lineup
1. Johannes Becker – 3,065,000
2. Kristen Bicknell – 1,360,000
3. Alex Foxen – 1,288,000
4. Cart Katz – 1,055,000
5. Abraham Passet – 1,013,000
6. Rainer Kempe – 770,000
7. Manig Loeser – 710,000
8. Jack Salter – 697,000
9. Michael Soyza – 585,000
The first big pot of the final table saw Alex Foxen open to 65,000 from early position, and Salter called in position. The pair checked through to the turn on Td7h3hKd; Foxen checked, Salter, bet 95,000, and Foxen made the call, The river was the 5s; Foxen checked again, and Salter moved all-in for 366,000 sending Foxen into deep thought. The Global Poker Index (GPI) #1 ranked player burned through several timebank chips before calling with pocket sixes, and Salter turned over pocket aces for the winning hand.
Next Cary Katz got lucky to take the chip lead from Becker when the pair got it in with Katz way behind with kings versus aces only for a third king to hit the flop.
Manig Loeser was the first player to hit the rail in another cooler. With blinds at 15k/30k/30k Passet opened to 60,000 from early position and Loeser defended his big blind. The flop was Ad6h3c; Loeser checked, Passet bet 50,000, Loeser check-raised to 195,000, and Passet called. The turn was the 2c, and Loeser moved all-in for a smidgen over 70,000, and Passet made the call. Loeser showed As3h for the two-pair hand, and Passet showed pocket sixes for the set. The 8c completed the action, and Loeser was out in ninth place.
Michael Soyza fell in eighth place when he moved in for 475,000 at blinds of 20k/40k/40k holding AJcc, and Cary Katz called with pocket queens. The ladies held to send the final seven players onto the bubble, and it was Foxen who would be the last person to leave without any change when his A2o lost to the pocket eights of Becker.
If Foxen was hoping to catch up on a little Netflix time before his partner joined him in his hotel room, he was out of luck. Kristen Bicknell fell in sixth when her A2dd failed to beat the KQo of Rainer Kempe after the AUD 25,000 Challenge winner turned a king.
Jack Salter hit the rail in fifth when his pocket eights lost a flip against the AQo of Katz, and Kempe joined him soon after when he ran AQdd into the pocket kings of Abraham Passet.
Abraham Passet – 5,590,000
Johannes Becker – 3,285,000
Cary Katz – 1,625,000
Katz doubled into the chip lead through Passet when he found aces at a time the German felt like partying with pocket sixes, and he never surrendered it from that point onward. Fortunately for Becker, he was able to make a fist of heads-up after eliminating Passet QQ>ATo to set up a 6,605,000 v 3,895,000 heads-up encounter with Katz holding the lead.
Becker closed the gap temporarily but never created enough sustained momentum to overtake the American. The final hand played out with blinds at 50k/100k/100k when Katz moved all-in from the button holding pocket nines, and Becker called and lost holding K2cc.
It’s the third $100,000 buy-in victory for Katz with his other two coming in the ARIA High Roller Series, and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, and it’s his first-ever cash on Australian soil.
Here are the final table results:
ITM Results
1. Cary Katz – $1,066,867
2. Johannes Becker – $681,610
3. Abraham Passet – $444,528
4. Rainer Kempe – $325,987
5. Jack Salter – $329,280
6. Kristen Bicknell – $207,446

Toby Lewis sits in front of a big arse mirror framed with big arse lightbulbs, a beautiful woman preens him like a peacock, two dozen red roses sit in a vase of crystal clear water, Craig McCorkell sits on the chaise lounge cracking open a can of beer.
We’re inside the changing room at the Crown Casino, Melbourne. The one with the word ‘Star’ hanging from a nail.
And then I wake up.

Toby Lewis Wins Aussie Millions 50k Challenge

Toby Lewis, the 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event Champion, is back in his old haunt, munching through High Rolling Challenge events like Sirens on shipwrecked sailors.
The AUD 25,000 Challenge attracted 151-entrants, a 37% climb on the 114-entrants that Ben Lamb turned to woolly jumpers on his way to winning the title 12-months ago – a record for an Aussie Millions AUD 25,000 event, beating the 133-entrant mark from 2017.
29-players made it through to Day 2, with Lewis settled in second place, and the man who would eventually face him in the final scene of this particular manuscript, Rainer Kempe, sitting pretty five spaces behind him.
Three people stood out by the time the final table came into full view – Lewis and Kempe, and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event Champion, Chino Rheem, and it was these three who were the last players’ seated.
Kempe was the man who disposed of Rheem’s body when his AQ outflopped and outturned pocket nines, and it proved to be the last hand after Kempe and Lewis sized each other up, and decided to save their energy for another fight, in another casino, in another city.
The pair struck a deal, moved all-in blind, and Kempe’s trash beat Lewis’s garbage to place the German in the photographers’ crosshairs.
Lewis may be in tip-top form, but so is Kempe. The 2018 Global Poker Index (GPI) German Player of the Year, flew into Melbourne after a PCA that saw him finish fourth in a $25k and win a $50k and a $10k, collecting more than a million beans in the process.
$25k Challenge Final Table Results
1. Rainer Kempe – $595,055*
2. Toby Lewis – $566,074*
3. Chino Rheem – $300,067
4. Guillaume Nolet – $221,789
5. Gautam Dhingra – $156,557
6. Luke Marsh – $110,894
7. Jack Salter – $84,802
*Denotes a heads-up deal
When Sam Greenwood won the 2018 AUD 50,000 Challenge, it felt like poker had stepped out of a time machine during the Great Depression with only four people turning up to squeeze green baize beneath their fingernails.
Fast forward, 12-months, and you had an entirely different picture with 62-entrants forcing the organisers to put on an impromptu third day of action.
By that time Lewis was leading the final five players that included Bjorn Lin from Hong Kong, the Austrian Thomas Muehloecker, and the German pair: Dominik Nitsche and Manig Loeser.
Lewis was in majestic form and ripped the field apart like an ill-fitted coil – waltzing into a heads-up encounter with Loeser holding a 2.7m v 362k chip lead.
Loeser needed to get lucky, and lucky he got.
The pair got it in with Loeser light-years behind holding pocket jacks against the superior pocket queens, only to river a flush. Then a second cooler when Loeser’s pocket nines beat the pocket eights of Lewis.
By this time the stacks were even, so they agreed on a deal, moved all-in blind, and this time, Lewis would stare down the barrel of the lens.
$50k Challenge Final Table Results
1. Toby Lewis – $588,999*
2. Manig Loeser – $556,017*
3. Thomas Muehloecker – $296,856
4. Dominik Nitsche – $233,244
5. Bjorn Li – $169,632
6. Tobias Ziegler – $148,428
7. Michael Zhang – $127,224
*Denotes a heads-up deal
So far Lewis has cashed in four events at the Aussie Millions, making three final tables, and banking more than $1.1m. His new influx of cash sees him leapfrog Roland de Wolfe, Chris Moorman and Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliot into the sixth position in the England All Time Live Tournament Money List with $6.3m.
The AUD 100,000 Challenge takes place February 1 & 2.
If he enters, back him.

My finger moves into my mouth with all the grace of a teenage lover; past the oily residue staining my lips, the remnants of a mandu-guk New Year’s Day slobfest, and out it comes, into the air.
I am not a statistician; I’m more of a gut feel man, and right now, other than telling me that I’ve overeaten fried food, it’s telling me that 2018 was the year when High Roller hoodies paralleled the jackets of four-star Generals.
Millions moved through the ranks.
Millions.
There were more personal bests in 2018 than at any other time in the history of this rich lineage of our beloved game.
All of which means, 2019 is going to have to be extra special if it’s going to keep the speeding fines coming in, and it’s beginning startlingly with three global venues hosting events carrying buy-ins of $25,000 plus, and we begin in The Bahamas.

The PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC)

The New Year begins with the event that places high rollers, and the working class into the same melting pot – the $25,000 buy-in PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC).
PokerStars has invested more than $9.6m into this event, handing out 320, $30,000 Platinum Passes to a pocket of players for whom competing in a $25,000 buy-in event is as realistic as your funeral director going all Frankenstein on your arse and bringing your grandma back from the dead for a spot of Seven Card Stud.
And they haven’t finished yet.
The winner won’t only walk away with a mega-million first prize – PokerStars will hand that man, woman or Frankenstein an additional million bucks.
The event will be bigger than a Chinese atheist convention.
The whole thing takes place at The Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas Jan 6 – 10 as an expensive prelude to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).
And these three bad boys each earned a freeroll into the event.
1. David Peters ($10.7m in 2018 earnings)
2. Mikita Badziakouski ($14.5m in 2018 earnings)
3. Stephen Chidwick ($10.1m in 2018 earnings)

PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA)

The PCA officially gets underway on Sat 5 January with a $2,700 PSPC qualifier and ends on Wed 16 Jan.
There are five events for High Rollers on the card including two $100,000 events, a $50,000 and two $25,000 games.
The $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em takes place 9 Jan, the $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em PCA Super High Roller 10-12 Jan, a $100,000 No-Limit High Roller on 12 Jan, a $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em on 13 Jan and a second $25,000 event 14-16 Jan.
The $100,000 Super High Roller has been a permanent fixture in the poker calendar since 2011, and here is the current rogue’s gallery.

$100k SHR Winners

2011 – Eugene Katchalov (38-entrants) $1,500,000
2012 – Viktor Blom (40-entrants) $1,254,400
2013 – Scott Seiver (55-entrants) $2,003,480
2014 – Fabian Quoss (56-entrants) $1,629,940
2015 – Steve O’Dwyer (66-entrants) $1,872,580
2016 – Bryn Kenney (58-entrants) $1,687,800
2017 – Jason Koon (54-entrants) $1,650,300
2018 – Cary Katz (48-entrants) $1,492,340

Aussie Millions

After the barmy Bahamian blitz, it’s time for a 20-hour flight to Australia for the 2019 Aussie Millions. The Crown Casino, Melbourne, once again plays host, and there is an AUD 25,000 (USD 17,600) No-Limit Hold’em Challenge scheduled for January 25, and an AUD 50,000 (USD 35,000) No-Limit Hold’em Challenge on the card for Jan 27-28.
The Aussie Millions is the spiritual home of the high roller circuit with the AUD 100,000 Challenge* in situ since 2006, and the AUD 250,000 Challenge running from 2011 until its demise in 2016. The three most significant Aussie Millions winners are Phil Ivey ($7.9m), Erik Seidel ($4.8m) and Sam Trickett ($4m).
The Aussie Millions tournament organisers introduced the AUD 50,000 Challenge to replace the AUD 250,000 Challenge in 2016, where Mikita Badziakouski beat a measly 6-entrants to win the AUD 176,400 (USD 133,062) first prize. Last year, things worsened when Sam Greenwood beat a dire 4-entrant field in the same event before launching a Twitter tirade aimed at the German stable for refusing to get their hands dirty.
*The AUD 100,000 event takes place on Feb 1, hence its absence in this piece.

Japan High Roller Festival

There is one other $25,000+ buy-in event on the poker calendar according to Hendon Mob. The Japan High Roller Festival has a KRW 30,000,000 (USD 26,000) No-Limit Hold’em High Roller taking place 3 – 6 Jan, and as officials have banned live poker in Japan, the event takes place in the Paradise Casino, Incheon, South Korea. The Japan High Roller Festival debuted in the Paradise Casino back in 2017, but they have never held an event of this magnitude before.

Hi everyone. Paul here.
One of the great stories in sport is when an outsider wins the big prize. Boris Becker at Wimbledon back in 1985. Leicester City winning the English Premier League last year. Greece winning the European football championships in 2004. Everyone loves an underdog, and when the underdog goes on to win the big prize, it’s really special. It gives everyone hope they too can achieve their dreams. But these occasions are rare.
The improbable can happen in Texas Holdem poker, though, and that’s one of the reasons why I love it. Experience, bankroll, knowledge – yes, they count for a lot. But you also see lots of different players winning the main tournaments. Bad cards can send a great player to the rail. And an unknown player can take a true pro by surprise.
Last week you’ll have seen, if you followed me on Twitter (@paulphuapoker), that the impossible did indeed happen. A total unknown outsider won the big prize at a tournament in Australia.
The man of the moment is a guy called Shurane Vijayaram from Melbourne. And he became an overnight millionaire with an initial stake of just 130 Australian dollars. Yes not 130,000, or 13,000. Just 130. His story is worth telling in full because it’s so great.
He didn’t even get to enter directly into the main tournament. Like in golf or tennis, where they have qualifiers, here it was the same. Over a week before the final game, Shurane entered a feeder poker tournament at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, his home city, where the Main Event would also be held. He had to pay the A$130 (almost exactly US$100) to enter. The reason why this was attractive was that the winner of this tournament would go on to get an entry into the main Aussie Millions event. Professional players from around the world were turning up for this a few days later, hoping to win the million dollar plus prize. Luckily for Shurane he did win that feeder tournament. And that gave him the golden ticket worth A$10,600 (around US$8,150) into the Aussie Millions main event.
So he enters what we now know to be his first ever big time cash tournament. It’s being streamed online, with the coverage hosted by pro Jason Somerville. 30,000 people are watching.
And after eight full days of play, if you include the preliminary and main events, he beats 723 other opponents to win the A$1.6m pot (about US$1.23m). It was his first ever cash tournament so he had no experience of high stakes tournament play! Even more incredible. And he beat some top pros along the way. People who play month in month out in cash games for big prizes.
But it’s not just that which is so impressive. It’s the way the whole tournament ended too.
In the final hand Shurane ended up heads up against pro Ben Heath who went “all in” against him. Heath is a highly regarded up-and-coming pro poker player who had already won some big pots at some big tournaments. All Shurane had was a pair of fives. Not a great hand. But he went ahead and called Heath’s “all-in” anyway. And he was right to do so because his opponent was just holding a king and an eight.
Such a brave thing to do, especially for such an inexperienced player. And it won him a large amount of money. The commentator called Shurane’s play “unreal”. He’s right.
After his unlikely win, Shurane said “I’ve always just tried to play cards and relax, it’s only a game. I just try to play my best game and not think about people that are really good players. It doesn’t matter who you are, you just have to get the cards.”
Yes, Shurane, but you also have to know how to play them! And your call on the pair of fives shows us you can play even when you don’t have great cards.
I look forward to seeing you back at a tournament soon Shurane!

FINAL RESULTS
1 Shurane Vijayaram (Australia) – A$1.6 million and gold bracelet worth A$30,000
2 Ben Heath (United Kingdom) – A$1 million
3 Tobias Hausen (Germany) – A$620,000
4 Jeff Rossiter (Australia) – A$440,000
5 Fedor Holz (Germany) – A$335,000
6 David Olson (United States) – A$270,000
7 Luke Roberts (Australia) – A$210,000