The $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl is a sell out three months before ‘shuffle up and deal’ and an influx of young German pros will make sure this event is even tougher to win than the last.
Sporting excellence is a funny old thing. You don’t realise you are witnessing something special until one day you are old and look back at the time where it all began.
I get that feeling with 888Poker Team Pro Dominik Nitsche. The young German has gone up a few gears these past few years, and you suspect there are a few more notches for the stick to get familiar with before he is done.
I was talking to him during the 2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP) where he came close to winning his fourth bracelet in three years. I asked him if there was anything that might have held him back from being even more successful. He put his accomplishments down to hard work and dedication. He also told me that he was ready to move up to the next level.
“I have found someone who is willing to have as much of my action as I need in these big tournaments. He has a lot of faith in my game.” Nitsche told me.
It’s begun.
Nitsche has confirmed his place in the upcoming $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl. The event, organised by Poker Central and Aria Resorts & Casino, has sold out three months before it has even begun. Nitsche joins a cast of impressive young Germans hoping to make this ceiling their home. Rainer Kempe and Fedor Holz are the other two who have signed up to compete. Holz emerged as a superstar after winning back-to-back World Poker Tour (WPT) High Rollers over Christmas. Kempe’s resume is littered with six-figure scores in the past few years.
47 of the 49 player names are confirmed. Both Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu will compete as will last year’s winner Brian Rast. Rast defeated 43 entrants to capture the first prize of $7.5m back when the buy-in was $500,000. All members of that final table will be returning for the 2016 editions. Six of them earned seven-figure scores.
The prize pool is $15 million, $5 million will go to the winner, all of the prize money will be distributed to the player’s who make the final table, and sponsors input means it is a negative rake competition.
“The Super High Roller Bowl has changed the game overnight.” Said Poker Central CEO Clint Stinchcomb.
And for Nitsche; today, the $300,000, tomorrow the $1m buy-in One Drop?
“It’s all about building confidence,” Nitsche told me during that interview. “If I have my own way you will see me in all $25k’s, in the One Drop, and maybe the $500k?”
It’s just the beginning for Nitsche. I wholeheartedly believe we will see him competing in the One Drop irrespective of how well he performs in this one.
The Full Roster of Players
1. Andrew Robl
2. Anthony Gregg
3. Antonio Esfandiari
4. Ben Lamb
5. Ben Tollerene
6. Bill Perkins
7. Bobby Baldwin
8. Brandon Steven
9. Brian Rast
10. Bryn Kenney
11. Byron Kaverman
12. Cary Katz
13. Christoph Vogelsang
14. Connor Drinan
15. Dan Colman
16. Dan Perper
17. Dan Shak
18. San Smith
19. Daniel Negreanu
20. David Peters
21. Dominik Nitsche
22. Doug Polk
23. Erik Seidel
24. Fedor Holz
25. Haralabos Voulgaris
26. Igor Kurganov
27. Isaac Haxton
28. Jake Schindler
29. Jason Les
30. Jason Mercier
31. John Morgan
32. Justin Bonomo
33. Kathy Lehne
34. Larry Wright
35. Matthew Berkey
36. Nick Petrangelo
37. Phil Galfond.
38. Phil Hellmuth
39 Phil Laak
40. Rainer Kempe
41. Sam Soverel
42. Scott Seiver
43. Stephen Chidwick
44. Timofey Kuznetsov
45. Tom Marchese
46. Vitaly Rizhkov
47. TBA
48. TBA
