Elio Fox Continues Stellar Year With $50K Win at SHRPO
Justin Bonomo may be the name that comes to mind when thinking high roller domination in 2018, and rightfully so. However, a little farther under the radar, Elio Fox has put together his own year to remember, with the latest big score being a win in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $50,000 Super High Roller for $500,000.
It's Fox's eighth six-figure cash of the year and his fifth top-two finish in a tournament with at least a $25K buy-in. The most prominent of those saw Fox officially take home $1.8 million but unofficially even more after reportedly making a deal heads up with Nick Petrangelo in the $100K High Roller at the World Series of Poker.
Overall, Fox now has about $4 million in cashes this year.
Official Final Table Paid Finishes
| Place | Player | Home Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elio Fox | USA | $500,000 |
| 2 | Dan Shak | USA | $305,000 |
| 3 | [Removed:150] | Venezuela | $190,000 |
| 4 | Ali Imsirovic | USA | $130,000 |
| 5 | Chris Hunichen | USA | $100,000 |
According to the live updates, Fox had a stack in the middle of the pack when registration closed with 13 of 25 entries remaining about halfway through Day 1.
Fox ran it up after that and made the final table with a big chip lead at 141 big blinds, about double the second-place stack of Chris Hunichen.
Final Table Action
With eight players left, Fox solidified himself as the man to catch when he played a pot against Taylor Black, defending big blind and check-calling down on 5♥4♠2♥K♣2♠. Black could only muster A♥J♥ on the river after he shoved, his combo draw having bricked against A♦2♣ for rivered trips.
After Sam Soverel went bust, the money bubble began with six players left. Bryn Kenney would be the man to go home empty-handed when he three-bet shoved nines for 14 big blinds and ran into [Removed:150]'s queens.
Dan Shak battled Hunichen in a big pot and got lucky to hit a straight on the river, with the card completing his draw giving Hunichen kings up. Hunichen shoved over Shak's river bet and wound up losing most of his chips on that hand. He got the rest in with pocket fives but couldn't overcome the jacks held by Shak.
Ali Imsirovic spent some time with the chip lead in the middle portion of Day 1 but found himself as the shortest after Hunichen busted. He managed two doubles but then found a bad spot when he shoved all in on an A♥Q♥Q♦ flop with ace-jack against Shak's queen-eight. No ace arrived and Imsirovic went out in fourth.
The final three then bagged up for a Day 2 with Shak and Fox essentially tied for the lead at 64 big blinds and Iadisernia behind with 37.
Iadisernia dwindled under 20 bigs and called off his stack with king-ten when Shak jammed in the small blind with ace-seven. Neither player improved, and less than an hour in, it was heads up between Fox and Shak with the latter in a slight lead.
A short time later, and less than 90 minutes into the day overall, Fox sent Shak packing at 10,000/20,000/20,000. Shak check-shoved for 825,000 on K♣K♦J♠10♥ with J♥3♠ but Fox had him smashed with a Broadway straight. The river bricked and Shak had to settle for $305,000 for second place.
