Super High Roller Bowl to Run May 27-30
The $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl has been scheduled for May 27-30 at ARIA, Poker Central announced in a press release. As in 2017, the event will be streamed on PokerGO, Poker Central's premium streaming platform.
Furthermore, registration for the event opens March 1, with players wishing to participate asked to put down a $30,000 non-refundable deposit, in line with last year's policy.
“The Super High Roller Bowl is the world championship of high stakes tournament poker,” said Poker Central VP of Content Sam Simmons. “We sold out in seven hours last year, so players will need to get their deposits in quickly. We look forward to bringing together poker’s biggest stars.”
The History of the SHRB
The Super High Roller Bowl debuted in 2015 with a $500,000 buy-in, along with an accompanying high stakes cash game at ARIA. Brian Rast wound up taking down the inaugural event for $7.5 million.
The buy-in was reduced to $300,000 in 2016 and German tournament superstars proceeded to dominate over the course of two years. First, Fedor Holz and Rainer Kempe met heads up in 2016, with Kempe taking down his more famous countryman for $5 million. Then, Christoph Vogelsang held up the bricks of cash for the cameras when the 2017 event concluded, calling Jake Schindler's all-in bluff for the win.
Though the event has a short history, it has quickly risen to become one of the premier events on the poker calendar. Its nosebleed stakes, cards-up coverage, exclusive field — it's been capped every year — and scheduling position leading into the World Series of Poker have combined to make it popular fare among fans.
The 2018 SHRB
In keeping with SHRB tradition, organizers have blocked out 18 of the scheduled 48 seats in the event for "VIP guest entrants" — in the past, these were denoted for "non-professional super high rollers." It'll likely be much the same this year, which means the field should be comprised of roughly 30 recognizable pros and a selection of affluent players wishing to test their poker mettle against the world's best.
With a prize pool expected to exceed $14 million and plenty of non-professional entries, players will undoubtedly have to hurry to register. In the likely event that the field fills up, organizers will hold a lottery to determine which players get seats.
The ARIA schedule will be packed to the brim in May, as the SHRB directly follows the brand new World Poker Tour Bobby Baldwin Classic and the WPT Tournament of Champions. Then, ARIA will host its normal high roller series, including a $100K buy-in on May 24.
Players and fans looking for high stakes action will certainly have more than their fill.
The 2018 SHRB will be broadcast in a series of episodes on NBC Sports Network in addition to the PokerGO stream.
Photo courtesy of Poker Central
