Justin Bonomo Leads Final 14 Players Into Day 3 of 2018 Super High Roller Bowl
Day 2 of the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl has come to a conclusion with Justin Bonomo leading the remaining 14 players headed into the penultimate day of action.
Play kicked off in the PokerGO Studio located just outside of the ARIA Resort & Casino with 30 players remaining from the original 48 starters with plans for the day to play seven full levels before calling it a night. Former champion Rainer Kempe would be the first player eliminated when he couldn't hit his straight and flush draw, and soon after that two fellow Germans would join him on the rail with Arne Ruge and Koray Aldemir both falling.
On the resumption of play after the first break it would be Cary Katz being dealt his final blow when his top set was no match for Kahle Burns' rivered straight. On that same table, Phil Ivey's return to the tournament arena in his home country came to an end when he flopped a straight but got the last of his money in on the turn when Bryn Kenney improved to a full house.
With Bonomo now sitting on top of the leaderboard slightly ahead of Daniel Negreanu, he would go on to play the biggest pot of the tournament so far against another top-five chip stack. Fedor Holz three-bet 
in the cutoff before Bonomo four-bet his 
from the small blind. Holz called, and then called a bet on the 
flop before raising Bonomo when the turn landed the 
. Bonomo made the call, and then checked the 
on the river before Holz shoved for 465,000. Bonomo tanked, and then made the call, and Holz was eliminated and Bonomo sat with roughly 20 percent of the chips in play with 19 players remaining.
Dan Smith, Bryn Kenney, Kathy Lehne, and Brandon Adams all hit the rail over the course of a slow last few levels to leave just 14 players bagging chips for Day 3.
For Bonomo, he swayed up and down following the elimination of Holz, but for the most part he held solid to end the day with 2,144,000 in chips. Spending most of the day on the feature table, Stephen Chidwick rose up the ranks and bagged the second most chips with 1,983,000, while the likes of Seth Davies (1,754,000), defending champion Christoph Vogelsang (1,717,000) and Day 1 chip leader Negreanu (1,515,000), are a few of the top stacks.
Vogelsang got seated at the outer table and absolutely mowed down the competition. He kept the pressure on with a constant stream of raises, three-bets and huge river bets.
"That's how it felt for most of the day," Vogelsang admitted when asked if he had his way with a table that included Byron Kaverman and Jason Koon by day's end. "You know, sometimes you feel, 'OK, I played well.' But often, the spots just come and you make a lot of good hands. It went really well today, so I'm happy."
The prospect of going back-to-back in such a prestigious, challenging event would be enough to get even the most even-keeled poker player excited. Vogelsang said the praiseworthy feat can't be a factor in his mind, though.
He has to only focus on each smaller task that will build toward the final result.
"Poker is just a game of chance and you need to approach every situation and think, 'What are my two cards and how do I have to play this hand? How do I have to play my range?'
"We always have so many different thoughts, and if we think too much about stuff other than poker, than we lose focus."
The 2018 Super High Roller Bowl will continue on Tuesday, May 29 at 12 p.m. (PDT) with blinds starting at 6,000/12,000, and a big blind ante of 12,000. The plan on Day 3 will be to first reach the money — paying top seven — before one more elimination will need to occur before the final table of six is set, and will return on Wednesday to play down until the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl Champion is crowned, and the $5,000,000 first prize is awarded.
Make sure to stay tuned right here to PokerNews as we continue to provided continuous updates of all the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl action live from the PokerGO Studio here at the ARIA Resort & Casino.
Day 3 Seating Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Sam Soverel | United States | 230,000 | 19 |
| 1 | 2 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | 1,983,000 | 165 |
| 1 | 3 | -- empty -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 1 | 4 | -- empty -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 1 | 5 | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | 1,717,000 | 143 |
| 1 | 6 | Byron Kaverman | United States | 606,000 | 51 |
| 2 | 1 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 1,515,000 | 126 |
| 2 | 2 | Matt Hyman | United States | 328,000 | 27 |
| 2 | 3 | Seth Davies | United States | 1,754,000 | 146 |
| 2 | 4 | -- empty -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2 | 5 | Jason Koon | United States | 1,271,000 | 106 |
| 2 | 6 | Nick Petrangelo | United States | 330,000 | 28 |
| 3 | 1 | Sergio Aido | Spain | 198,000 | 17 |
| 3 | 2 | Steffen Sontheimer | Germany | 533,000 | 44 |
| 3 | 3 | Mikita Badziakouski | Belarus | 1,162,000 | 97 |
| 3 | 4 | -- empty -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 3 | 5 | Kahle Burns | Australia | 608,000 | 51 |
| 3 | 6 | Justin Bonomo | United States | 2,144,000 | 179 |