It was a busy weekend at Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The venue played host to three high roller tournaments and a $400 buy-in event presented by none other but poker star Phil Hellmuth. However, it could be said that the $50,000 Aria Super High Roller 11 generated the most excitement given the amount of money at stake.
The event was played from Saturday afternoon until early on Sunday. As expected, it drew well-known high roller players who were all ready to pay the $50,000 buy-in and to try their best to multiply that amount. Eventually, only the top 4 finishers were able to do so. The tournament attracted a total of 27 entries, who created the prize pool of $1,296,000. The lowest payout totaled $103,680.
Brandon Steven, a Kansas-based entrepreneur, philanthropist, and poker player, emerged as the winner of the $50,000 Aria Super High Roller after 21 levels played at the gambling venue. He scooped the total amount of $648,000 after defeating Bill Klein heads-up. The casino and its guests witnessed another epic two-handed match after Brian Rast and Cary Katz battled it out for almost three hours in the $25,000 High Roller that took place the previous day.
The duel between Steven and Klein was just as exciting, entertaining, and only a little shorter than the aforementioned one. At first, it was Klein to win the most pots. Steven then won a major all-in confrontation, thus saving himself from busting and improving his stack significantly. Over the course of the two-handed match, none of the two opponents managed to take a commanding lead and none of them retained their chip lead for a longer while. The hand that decided the winner was played shortly after 2 am local time. The battle concluded with Steven winning the tournament’s final pot and Klein settling for the runner-up finish and the amount of $349,920.
Including early Sunday’s victory, Steven now has $3,109,053 in live tournament winnings. The player is no stranger to the big poker scene, having played in some of the world’s largest and most popular festivals. Yet, his achievement from Sunday was his first major triumph. The first-place payout Steven collected for winning the $50,000 Aria Super High Roller was in fact his largest live cash so far.
