The 56-person strong field of the 2017 Super High Roller Bowl took four days and 24 levels of play to be reduced to just three finalists. Jake Schindler, Christoph Vogelsang, and Stefan Schillhabel were the three survivors to make it through Day 4 of the massive $300,000 buy-in event.
The fourth day of play kicked off with eight players, with Schindler holding the chip lead. Over the course of the day, the player managed to extend his advantage until he bagged 10,670,000 in chips, almost twice as much as his two opponents left.
Schindler is a seasoned poker professional with tournament winnings of more than $9.2 million, most of which came from different high roller tournament. It is also important to note that the player is a regular participant in Aria’s higher buy-in events and has cashed and won quite a few of those.
Although Schindler secured himself with a big advantage over his final opponents, this does not mean that it will be an easy task for him to scoop the first-place prize of $6 million. Final day play is set to resume today at 1 pm at the poker tables of Aria Resort & Casino. Each of the three finalists are guaranteed a minimum cash of $2.4 million; the player who finishes second will receive $3.6 million in prize money.
Just as expected, the third annual edition of the Super High Roller Bowl attracted some of poker’s most popular and accomplished players as well as businessmen from around the world who are playing only recreationally. Yet, those enthusiasts proved to be versed enough in the game to be able to challenge professional poker’s finest representatives.
Organizers decided this year that the $16.8 million prize pool will be split among the top seven finishers. The bubble burst on Day 4, with Jason Koon becoming the unfortunate bubble boy and Justin Bonomo becoming the first player to leave action with a payout. The latter collected $600,000 for his deep run.
Pratyush Buddiga was the second to exit the tournament on Day 4. His share of the prize pool totaled $1 million. Byron Kaverman, who was among those to command action for the greater part of the tournament, eventually left in 5th place with $1.4 million. King’s Casino Rozvadov CEO Leon Tsoukernik, the final non-professional player to remain in contention, was eventually eliminated in 4th place for $1.8 million.
Of the final three, Stefan Schillhabel will have the hardest start to Day 5. The player has fewer than 15 big blinds left, those equaling to 885,000. His fellow countryman Christoph Vogelsang will return at Aria’s poker tables with 5,245,000 in store.
