If you’ve been following the coverage of the partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller Series in Sochi, Russia, you may have noticed the name of ‘Jason Koon’ has been sorely lacking in the headlines.
Knowing Koon’s love for the game, one doubts he’s flown to Sochi to spend most of his time on the piste. So, the other alternative is that, so far, Koon’s Sochi experience has been as pleasant as sepsis.
All that can change if Lady Luck walks you through the minefields of an $8.5m (and rising) prizepool.
Nobody knows that more than Koon – the big man, for the big occasion.
The $250,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) Russia, the cherry on top of the partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller Series in Sochi, attracted 34 entrants on Day 1.
Even without late registration remaining open for another full level on Day 2, SHRB Russia has dwarfed the field sizes of SHRB London (12) and SHRB Australia (16), held in 2019 & 2020 respectively. Of the other non-American SHRB events, SHRB Bahamas (51) in 2019 and SHRB China (75) in 2018 remain out of reach unless the crazy get a whole lot crazier.
Three former SHRB winners remain in the field, and two of them amongst the brands most recent Cheshire cats. Cary Katz took down the 2019 SHRB London for $2.6m, and Timothy Adams won SHRB Australia for $1.4m in February. Christoph Vogelsang is the third former winner. The German star won the 2017 SHRB in Aria for $6m.
Here are the main highlights.
The Main Highlights
Nick Petrangelo fell into a $500,000 hole when his pocket kings failed to hold when all-in versus the AK of Timothy Adams. An ace on the river making an exit, even more, excruciating for Petrangelo.
Adrian Mateos joined Petrangelo in the cash desk’s ‘re-entry’ column when his AhJh felt like a mussel against the oyster-like pocket aces of Alexey Rybin.
Kahle Burns became the third player to lose his stack. Artur Martirosyan played the role of vanquisher holding pocket sevens on 6h5s4c9d, with Burns holding Kd6s. The Russian put the Australian all-in on the turn, and the call came. The Qd on the river confirmed Burns’ fate. If he wanted to win this thing, it would cost him another $250,000.
Then a cooler sent the leader of the All-Time Money list to his hotel room knowing he would have to dip back into his bank account to find another $250,000. Bryn Kenney got it all-in pre-flop with pocket aces versus the pocket queens of Paul Phua. The board ran out Jh8d7d9cTd to hand Phua a straight – good enough for second in chips.
Chip Counts
Jason Koon – 745,000
Paul Phua – 690,000
Adrian Mateos – 550,000
Stephen Chidwick – 550,000
Ben Heath – 545,000
Mikita Badziakouski – 465,000
Timothy Adams – 420,000
Phil Ivey – 390,000
Artur Martirosyan – 386,000
Ivan Leow – 380,000
British Poker Open
Poker Centrals’ British baptism was more of a lit match than a
fully stoked fire. The British Poker Open (BPO) began in fine fettle with the
opening events gathering not too shabby headcounts. But then, in the end, as
PokerStars unleashed the World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP), numbers
dwindled towards the dust.
And the surest
fire way to ensure the event returns for a second stab is to create a storyline
that sees the founder forge a declarative memory that will stick in his craw
until the day he dies.
And that’s what
we got.
The SHRB London
attracted 12-entrants, and £3m in prize money, and that left two in the money
(ITM) positions with the runner-up receiving £900,000, and the winner
collecting £2,100,000.
Day 2, the
final day, the only day that matters, was about one man. The purse-string holders
say that these things are all about winning your all-ins – well Cary Katz could
have played until a beard formed, and he would still be winning them.
Katz defeated
Ali Imsirovic, heads-up, to claim his 22nd victory and his most significant win
to date. Katz has now earned $24.3m playing live tournaments, ranking 18th in
the world – not bad for a ‘part-timer.’
It’s Katz’s
third win of the year for the man with the PokerGO cap winning the AUD 100,000
Challenge at the Aussie Millions for $1,074.908, and a $26,000 High Roller at
ARIA where he still holds the record for most ITM finishes in ARIA events (62).
Katz has been
in Europe since flying to compete in the Triton Million London. Things didn’t
go too well for Katz in that series ‘on the felt’, but off it, things were much
better, with his named pro, Bryn Kenney winning the elephant share of the money
£16m+.
Katz then went
on to make the final table of the €25,500 and €100,000 at the partypoker
MILLIONS Europe in Rozvadov and finished runner-up in a €25,000 during the
European Poker (EPT) in Barcelona. He then made three final tables at the
British Poker Open (BPO), including a runner-up finish in the £100,000 for
close to half a million bucks.
Now he has a
win.
Let’s see how
he took it down to Cary Katz’ Town.
Day 2 Seat Draw
Seven players
made it through to Day 2 with all of their consonants and vowels intact.
Previous SHRB
winner, Christoph Vogelsang, had the chip lead, and Katz began second in chips.
Seat 1:
Christoph Vogelsang – 889,000
Seat 2: Cary
Katz – 631,000
Seat 3: Stephen
Chidwick – 508,000
Seat 4: Mikita
Badziakouski – 238,000
Seat 5: Ali
Imsirovic – 546,000
Seat 6: David
Peters – 104,000
Seat 7: Sam
Greenwood – 84,000
The Action
He may look
demure, but when it comes to poker, Ali Imsirovic is a pure demon, taking his
fork to anyone who sits in his way, including men as talented at David Peters
and Sam Greenwood.
Imsirovic made
it 12,000 to play holding two black aces, Peters moved all-in with pocket fives
for 146,000, and Greenwood moved all-in with pocket eights and 96,000.
Imsirovic made one of the easiest calls of his life.
The flop gave
both Peters and Greenwood catch-up potential with back-door straight
opportunities, but they never materialised. The fleet sailed taking Peters and
Greenwood back across the Atlantic.
Imsirovic made
it scalp #3 when Mikita Badziakouski limped into the hand holding AdJh and then
moved all-in after Imsirovic had raised to 24,000 holding pocket kings. There
was no drama on the flop, turn or the river, and the winner of the £50,000
No-Limit Hold’em at the BPO fell a few spots shy of the money.
Imsirovic
surged to the top of the counts after that hand. The other bookend was Cary
Katz, and the Poker Central founder’s stack was so low, his position remained
unchanged when he doubled through Imsirovic 99>A2o.
Then Katz
doubled through Christoph Vogelsang twice, once when ace rag beat queen rag,
and a second time when pocket sevens out flipped A9o. Katz began moving up the
leaderboard, and it was Imsirovic that stepped dangerously close to the
faultlines.
It quickly
became the ‘Cary Katz Double or Nothing’ show, when the Poker Central founder
doubled through Vogelsang for the third time. Chidwick opened with a raise
holding KJo, Vogelsang called with pocket sevens, and then called Katz’s jam
with AK; Chidwick folded, and Katz hit his ace in the window.
Then Katz
doubled through Chidwick for the second time to take the chip lead when pocket
sixes out flipped the AK, and the Global Poker Index (GPI) #1 fell in the
fourth place not long after when his 75o failed to beat the KQo of Katz in a
threeway pot that also involved Imsirovic.
Chidwick’s
elimination took us to the bubble, and it was the former SHRB winner,
Vogelsang, who would leave without the need to hire a painter to dab him
holding his second SHRB trophy. Vogelsang moved all-in with pocket sixes,
Imsirovic called with Ks7h, and two more sevens on the flop brought the
competition to its heads-up phase.
Heads-Up
Ali Imsirovic –
1,810,000
Cary Katz –
1,190,000
Chip stacks
didn’t separate the pair.
Styles and
experience did.
Katz was the
first to land a sock to the jaw when Imsirovic made it 85,000 to play holding
pocket sevens, Katz raised to 250,000 holding AK, and Imsirovic called.
Imsirovic maintained his lead in a Jc9h5c flop, and he called a 200,000 Katz
bet. The turn was the 3c, giving Katz extra flush outs, and he moved all-in.
Imsirovic burned through a time extension chip before folding, and the bluff
gave Katz the 2:1 chip lead.
Imsirovic then
won a series of pots to take a more than 3:1 chip lead.
Katz pulled it
back.
Then Katz won.
Katz called
with Qs3s, Imsirovic raised to 150,000 holding pocket tens, and Katz called.
The AsKc6s flop gave Katz a flush draw, and he called a 35,000 Insirovic bet.
The turn was the Tc to provide Imsirovic with a set, and he bet 250,000, and
Katz made the call. The 5s on the river gave Katz his flush. Imsirovic moved
all-in, and Katz called quickly to win the SHRB London and £2.1m first prize.
ITM Results
1. Cary Katz –
£2,100,000
2. Ali
Imsirovic – £900,000
Until next
year?
One can hope.
I have no idea how to start this article. I’ve been staring at a blank screen for 30-minutes hoping that it will write itself. I’m not suffering from writer’s block. That’s not my problem. I can’t stop thinking about Making a Murderer.
The anticipation.
I can’t keep running away from Google.
I need to know if Steven Avery did it.
I don’t want to be a poker writer; I want to be Kathleen Zellner.
Who would have thought of turning a court case into a top-rated documentary? No, the word ‘documentary’ doesn’t do it justice. It’s not a documentary. Then again, it’s not a movie. It’s not a TV series. It’s your first visit to a Chinese restaurant; it’s your 18th birthday party, it’s the day you gave the bully a black eye.
Reed Hasting and the gang began with a library full of shitty old movies we had all seen before, but took a keen interest in the types of shit we liked to watch, did some classic genre fornication, and came up with the concept of Original Programming.
Sound familiar?
A poker broadcaster like Poker Central hasn’t smashed the nose of a thing like this since the invention of the hole camera.
And this is why some of their decisions surrounding the Super High Roller Bowl leave me wanting to give someone smaller than me a thick lip. I am expecting, no demanding, more of the same par excellence that has spewed from PokerGO from the moment the midwife checked it had ten fingers and ten toes.
The Super High Roller Bowl Moves to December
Poker Central officials have declared that The Super High Roller Bowl V (SHRB) will vacate its May 2019 plinth, and bounce forward to newly laid December 2018 concrete.
The shift means the Poker Central High Roller of the Year will end with the $100,000 buy-in at the Bellagio on December 15. Poker Central can wrap the High Roller Triple Crown of the SHRB, US Poker Open and Poker Masters into a neat calendar package, with the High Roller of the Year as the sparkling bow.
Here is the current High Roller of the Year standings. High Roller of the Year Rankings
1. Sam Soverel- 1,220 points
2. Cary Katz – 1,205
3. Justin Bonomo – 1,025
4. Dan Smith – 1,025
5. David Peters – 975
Five excellent poker players, but have they been the most consistent High Rollers of 2018? Justin Bonomo and David Peters deserve their spot, but Soverel, Catz and Smith? What about Jason Koon, Mikita Badziakouski or Stephen Chidwick?
Why aren’t the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT), World Poker Tour (WPT), partypoker MILLIONS, and Triton Poker Series results included to make it the real deal? “The High Roller of the Year points system today includes events that are organised by Poker Central and its affiliated partners,” Sam Simmons, VP of Content at Poker Central tells me via email. “Like any similar season-long points system, the intent is to create storylines around a lengthy series where coverage is provided of included events so that the stakes are raised well beyond the scope of a single event. Thus, events are largely limited to those of which Poker Central provides coverage.” “That would be a GPI High Roller, and that has nothing to do with Poker Central,” says the 2017 Poker Masters Champion, Steffen Sontheimer. “They have their brand and want to make it as interesting as possible, and they do a great job. I don’t think a global HR-leaderboard would make sense.”
Ok, I get it now.
Poker Central is creating a narrative for their viewers, and the EPT, MILLIONS and Triton brands don’t fit into that narrative because they don’t control the content. It would be like the BBC obtaining the TV rights for the World Cup, but the final is on BT Sports.
And Sontheimer makes an excellent point when it comes to a broader High Roller Leaderboard. I have always felt it would be cool to have one, but a glance at the Global Poker Index (GPI) shows they already have one.
Check out the current Top 10.
1. Alex Foxen
2. Justin Bonomo
3. David Peters
4. Stephen Chidwick
5. Jake Schindler
6. Adrian Mateos
7. Ben Pollak
8. Joe McKeehen
9. Mikita Badziakouski
10. Jason Koon.
Every single one of them is a $25k+ high stakes regular.
Simmons and Sontheimer have convinced me that the current High Roller of the Year concept makes sense, but can they assure me that a 48-player cap, lottery system, and lack of a mandatory spot for past champions and potential Triple Crown winners, make sense?
The Player Cap, the Lottery and Past Champions
Firstly, let’s focus on the lottery system.
On November 27, PokerGO will stream a live lottery to select the first 25 of a 48-player roster. The ARIA and Poker Central handpick 18 players, and five will qualify for a seat by finishing in the top five positions in the High Roller of the Year leaderboard.
Imagine if FIFA decided to populate the World Cup Finals with 16 teams coming from a live lottery, and Gianni Infantino and the gang handpicking the final 16 teams. Wouldn’t it blemish the prestige of the event, and open up the process to the potential for corruption and nepotism?
I thought the SHRB was supposed to be the FIFA World Cup of poker.
FIFA don’t take this route because they have a qualification process meaning you earn your right to play in the Finals. Poker Central now have that qualification process in the High Roller of Year series. And it’s fantastic to see them use it for the top five players, but because of Poker Central’s restriction (only allocating points for ARIA and Poker Central partner events), you could end up with an SHRB with a big chunk of the most deserving players not getting a seat. “I don’t think the lottery system is perfect, but it’s still giving people a fair chance to get in while making sure they have certain people who are ARIA regulars or people who they think will make for a good TV show,” the former GPI Player of the Year, David Peters, tells me. “Having someone who only plays the SHRB and nothing else all year at ARIA get a seat while someone who plays events year-round misses out is something they understandably don’t want to happen.”
Meditor Capital Management Ltd, CEO, Talal Shakerchi, is an SHRB regular, but he’s not someone who is going to be appearing in enough ARIA or Poker Central partner events to make it via a leaderboard system. So the lottery system works for him, but he would like some tweaks made to the way things go down. “The event is attractive because it is rake-free and good player numbers for an SHR so no surprise there is high demand,” says Shakerchi. “Given there is oversubscription a lottery system is a fair way to choose. However, I would prefer greater transparency such as a fixed deadline for applications or a statement on the basis for the decisions and who has input.”
Shakerchi is referring to the handpicking of the 18 players that ARIA and Poker Central choose after the lottery. Last year, the 2017 Poker Masters Champion, Steffen Sontheimer, got into the SHRB, only after Andrew Robl had to withdraw at the last minute.
Poker Central has done a grand job of piecing together a story framework that works with the Poker Masters, US Poker Open and SHRB forming a High Roller Triple Crown, but any fan of sports knows that the defending champion is an essential member of the cast, as is the person who could potentially win the Triple Crown.
In addition to the five High Roller of the Year seats, the winners of the Poker Masters and US Poker Open should receive a mandatory position, as should the defending champion. So for 2018, Stephen Chidwick, Ali Imsirovic and Justin Bonomo shouldn’t have their balls in the tombola machine.
Simmons tries to alleviate my concerns. “Although it is not formally stated, the previous years’ Super High Roller Bowl champion is taken into consideration for the reserved seat selections,” says Simmons. “For the May edition, while Brian Rast and Christoph Vogelsang were lottery selections, Rainer Kempe was given a reserved seat so that all previous champions were able to participate in the event. “The High Roller of the Year system provides a chance for players to automatically qualify through participation in Poker Central-affiliated high roller tournaments. With High Roller Triple Crown events like U.S. Poker Open and Poker Masters weighted more heavily in points, the winners of these events have a great chance to capture one of the top five spots in those standings.”
I’m still not convinced.
Neither is Sontheimer. “They want to reward the players that play at ARIA nonstop,” says Sontheimer. “It’s nothing else but extending ARIA picks to 23 since the top 5 would always get picked anyway. It just makes it easier for them to justify certain picks because there is a “system” compared to the shit shows of the last two years, especially the adding of seats two years ago after the lottery ended up with too many Germans.”
Shakerchi would also like to see a slight change. “It’s their prerogative {handpicking 18-players},” says Shakerchi. “It doesn’t seem to sit well with a lottery though. Perhaps it would be better if they chose a smaller number and restricted it to non-professionals. That would serve everyone’s interests.”
Like me, Peters thinks there needs to be a place for the former champions, and Triple Crown potentials, but feels there needs to be loyalty to regular ARIA players. “They are running a rake free event, and should be able to give priority to loyal customers and make sure certain people don’t get shut out who have been a big part in ARIA’s success in the high roller scene,” says Peters before continuing, “I think the top 5 is a good incentive to try to get numbers up during the slower times of the year, but yes having the winners of those series’ probably should get a seat in SHRB.”
In March, the SHRB extended its brand outside of Las Vegas for the first time with the HKD 2,100,000 Super High Roller Bowl China, and 75-entrants created a prize pool of $18.5m.
It showed a real craving for the brand.
Doesn’t a 48-player cap go against customer demand?
Sontheimer doesn’t think so. “Keep it; it’s good for TV.”
Peters is sitting on the fence. “I don’t feel too strongly either way,” says Peters. “It would be nice to have a very big field, but at the same time it will also be more pro heavy whereas at 48 it has a good balance of pros and recs.”
And the switch to December, what’s the lowdown? “I think putting the SHRB to the end of December makes a lot of sense to promote the yearly leaderboard,” says Sontheimer. “It will also help a lot to make it less interesting for “randoms” to join the lottery. Before they were in Vegas, now it would be an extra flight. I’m thinking of people that have a ridiculously small piece in themselves and sell at 1.01-1.03. These are the people that Poker Central doesn’t really want to see while they still want to run it as an “open” event.”
That’s the view of Steffen Sontheimer, Talal Shakerchi, and David Peters.
What’s yours?
Has Poker Central and ARIA got this one right?
