Isaac Haxton Wins 2nd SHRB Title For $2,760,000; Brewer Bubbles With Cracked Aces
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Isaac Haxton is now a two-time winner of the prestigious Super High Roller Bowl after defeating heads-up opponent Andrew "LuckyChewy" Lichtenberger for $2,760,000, the second-biggest score of Haxton's decorated poker career matched only by his 2018 SHRB victory for $3.7 million.
The $300,000 buy-in tournament inside PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas attracted 20 entrants for a prize pool of $6 million. Six players returned for Day 3 on Saturday with four places paid and Haxton holding a dominant chip lead.
Recent Poker Masters Series champion Stephen Chidwick (3rd - $960,000) and Jason Koon (4th - $600,000) made the money before an arduous heads-up battle between Haxton and Lichtenberger, who is fresh off a Poker Masters $10,000 event victory that brought him $204,000.
"It feels great," Haxton told PokerGo in a winner's interview. "That was a tough collection of players to beat. Obviously, it helps to come in with half the chips and continue to run good after that, but yeah, I feel great. I'm very happy to win this tournament. It's one of my favorites."
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2023 Super High Roller Bowl Final Table Results
| PLACE | PLAYER | COUNTRY | PRIZE (IN USD) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isaac Haxton | United States | $2,760,000 | |
| 2 | Andrew Lichtenberger | United States | $1,680,000 | |
| 3 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | $960,000 | |
| 4 | Jason Koon | United States | $600,000 |
Another Brutal Bubble For Brewer
There was a tough exit for defending SHRB champion Daniel Negreanu on Day 2, and the exits only got tougher at the shorter-than-anticipated final table.
As Day 3 got underway with six players remaining, Bryn Kenney found himself at risk with pocket threes against the Big Slick of Chidwick and stayed ahead until a rivered king marked the all-time money leader's elimination.
Not long after, recent two-time bracelet winner Chris Brewer picked up aces and found himself at risk on the stone bubble after inducing a four-bet jam from Lichtenberger with king-ten of spades. A flopped pair and flush draw for Lichtenberger made it a pure flip and the cruel ace of spades gave him the flush.
Brewer, who has notoriously bubbled multiple high rollers and developed a reputation as one of the unluckiest players on the high-stakes circuit, didn't fill up on the river and the look on his face said it all as he missed out on a six or seven-figure payday.
Some players took to social media to compliment Brewer's final table play, and in particular, a terrific fold he made with trip aces against the full house of Koon.
"Not gonna lie think @Chris_D_Brewer had the best performance during SHRB," tweeted Adam Hendrix. "Sometimes pokers painful and (you) don't get the result you earn."
Brewer's aces wouldn't be the last premium hand that "LuckyChewy" would crack at the final table. Koon, who commentator Nick Schulman joked looked like "a drug dealer from the year 3000" with his shades and shaved head, picked up pocket kings and flopped top set against the gutshot of Lichtenberger with jack-ten, who improved to a straight on the turn before check-raising Koon on the river to send him out in fourth place.
Haxton Prevails In Lengthy Heads-Up Battle
Chidwick's elimination in third place, in which he called off his top pair against a river check-raise from Lichtenberger with two pair, set up a lengthy heads-up battle between Lichtenberger and Haxton that saw the two exchanging chip leads over several hours of play.
Haxton steadily chipped away at his opponent and almost had him on the ropes before an unsuccessful triple barrel bluff with the ace flush blocker as "LuckyChewy" called with second pair to double up.
It was then Haxton who doubled up as he check-jammed with a flopped flush draw as Lichtenberger called off with his overpair of kings. A spade on the turn left Lichtenberger drawing dead as he was left with crumbs before a final hand where his nine-three couldn't prevail against then ten-seven of Haxton.
The SHRB victory is a punctuation mark on Haxton's spectacular year of live poker that has so far included seven high-roller victories, five seven-figure scores and his first bracelet win.
Haxton joined fellow two-time SHRB champions Justin Bonomo and Timothy Adams and moved up to second on the PGT leaderboard behind 2023 WSOP Main Event champion Daniel Weinman.
2023 PGT Leaderboard
| Place | Player | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Daniel Weinman | United States | 2,300 |
| 2nd | Isaac Haxton | United States | 2,297 |
| 3rd | Chris Brewer | United States | 2,185 |
| 4th | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | 1,826 |
| 5th | Steven Jones | United States | 1,700 |
| 6th | Sam Soverel | United States | 1,602 |
| 7th | Alex Foxen | United States | 1,509 |
| 8th | Adam Walton | United States | 1,500 |
| 9th | Ren Lin | China | 1,447 |
| 10th | Cary Katz | United States | 1,441 |
*Photos courtesy of PokerGO
