This year’s Super High Roller Bowl didn’t make as much news as it would under normal circumstances. Not only did it take place just as the Poker Masters finished at the PokerGO Studios in Las Vegas, many people in the poker world were focused on the Hustler Casino Live scandal between Robbi Lew and Garrett Adelstein.
Nonetheless, it was a memorable SHRB for the person who won it – Daniel Negreanu – as much as for the play throughout the tournament
Relatively Low Turnout
It was notable that there were only 24 entries in this year’s Super High Roller Bowl. Past SHRB iterations have had to cap the field, though there were fewer high-stakes poker tournament options in past years. The industry is almost saturated with them now, as the PokerGO Tour alone presents series after series of $10K buy-ins and higher.
Let’s look at the history of the Super High Roller Bowl:
-2015 $500K buy-in SHRB: 43 entries / $21.5M prize pool / Brian Rast won for $7,525M-2016 $300K buy-in SHRB: 49 entries / $15M prize pool / Rainer Kempe won for $5M-2017 $300K buy-in SHRB: 56 entries / $16.86M prize pool / Christoph Vogelsang won for $6M-2018 $300K buy-in SHRB: 48 entries / $14.4M prize pool / Justin Bonomo won for $5M-2019 £250K buy-in SHRB London: 12 entries / $3.7M prize pool / Cary Katz won for £2.1M-2021 $300K buy-in SHRB: 21 entries / $6.3M prize pool / Michael Addamo won for $3.402M
Those appear to be the singular Super High Roller Bowls that made this year’s SHRB VII. There was an online series on partypoker in 2020, consisting of numerous SHRB events, and the SHRB Europe in 2021 in Cyprus also had a series of events.
Regardless, the lowest turnout for a SHRB was in London in 2019, and last year’s Super High Roller Bowl produced only 21 entries. This year’s event had a few more entries but still hasn’t recovered to its previous popularity.
But Good Action
As is often the case in these high rollers, especially the SHRB with its $300K buy-in, the field is full of stellar players. Some of them didn’t make it through the first day of play, including the controversial Bryn Kenney, as well as Isaac Haxton, Bill Klein, Stephen Chidwick, Adrian Mateos, David Peters, Talal Shakerchi, and reigning champion Michael Addamo.
Of those who did make it to Day 2, Daniel Negreanu had the chip lead with nearly 1.5M chips, followed in the distance by Mikita Badziakouski with his 1.1M chips. All other players held stacks of fewer than 1M chips.
The final numbers for the tournament were:
https://twitter.com/PokerGO/status/1578073097571160065?s=20&t=mGBwpMfxzQJAQBlobTL7EQ
Play started on Day 2 with Ben Tollerene, Chris Brewer, and Jason Koon exiting early. Cary Katz busted, followed by Badziakouski after Bonomo doubled through him.
Ultimately, the final nine gathered at one table, Negreanu holding a massive lead with more than 1.8M chips. Justin Bonomo, Nick Petrangelo, and Andrew Lichtenberger were the only other players over the 1M-chip mark. Seth Davies was the first to leave the cozy final table, and Alex Foxen was next, followed by Paul Jager and Eric Worre.
The final five bagged up for one more day of action, with Petrangelo as the new chip leader and Negreanu in second.
But when Day 3 began, it was Lichtenberger busting Orpen Kisacikoglu in fifth place that put them quickly into the money.
https://twitter.com/PokerGO/status/1578495830478442496?s=20&t=mGBwpMfxzQJAQBlobTL7EQ
Lichtenberger kept up the momentum by ousting Bonomo in fourth place for a min-cash, but Negreanu then stepped in to take out Lichtenberger with A-6 over K-6. Negreanu then took 5,915,000 chips into heads-up play against the 1,285,000 of Petrangelo. The match was not quick, but Negreanu never let up. When Petrangelo risked it all with K-5, Negreanu had Q-7 of clubs. He missed his flush draw but picked up a seven on the flop to win the 2022 SHRB.
The final results were:
-1st place: Daniel Negreanu $3,312,000-2nd place: Nick Petrangelo $2,016,000-3rd place: Andrew Lichtenberger $1,152,000-4th place: Justin Bonomo $720,000
