The field for the 2017 Super High Roller Bowl is nearly complete after organisers announce a further 20-names, leaving only a mystery celebrity missing from the lineup.
In a strange way, the balls-up by everyone associated with the construction of the Super High Roller Bowl field has resulted in more interest in the event. But the drama is nearly over.
The organisers weren’t prepared for the event to sell out in a single day and reacted by holding an impromptu live lottery to select the first 35 bums that would occupy seats. Here they are:
1 Christian Christner
2 Antonio Esfandiari
3 Igor Kurganov
4 Matt Berkey
5 Connor Drinan
6 Steffen Sontheimer
7 Jake Schindler
8 Pratyush Buddiga
9 Rainer Kempe
10 Sean Winter
11 John Juanda
12 Dominik Nitsche
13 Christoph Vogelsang
14 Stefan Schillhabel
15 Andrew Robl
16 Brian Rast
17 Bryn Kenney
18 Fedor Holz
19 David Peters
20 Jason Les
21 Ben Tollerene
22 Tom Marchese
23 Erik Seidel
24 Sam Soverel
25 Scott Seiver
26 Ankush Mandavia
27 David Einhorn
28 Nick Petrangelo
29 Haralabos Voulgaris
30 Isaac Haxton
31 Andrew Lichtenberger
32 Doug Polk
33 Ben Sulsky
34 Byron Kaverman
35 Koray Aldemir
That left the hopes of 19 players in the hands of ARIA officials who now had the final say. Obviously, that subjective outcome was never going to be satisfactory, and the organisers decided to increase the player cap to 56.
Here is the next tranche of players selected to compete.
1. Bill Klein
2. Bill Perkins
3. Bobby Baldwin
4. Cary Katz
5. Daniel Colman
6. Dan Shak
7. Dan Smith.
8. Daniel Negreanu
9. Dan Perper
10. Giuseppe Iadisernia
11. Jason Koon
12. Jason Mercier
13. John Morgan
14. Justin Bonomo
15. Lauren Roberts
16. Leon Tsoukernik
17. Phil Hellmuth
18. Talal Shakerchi
19. Tony G
20. Zach Hyman
All that remains is for the SHRB officials to nominate the celebrity player to take the field to 56. That announcement takes place next month, and CardsChat writer Jon Sofen threw the names of Brad Garrett, Don Cheadle, Ben Affleck and Kevin Pollak into the ring.
I don’t believe it will be one of those four. Had it been, I think the organisers would have announced the name already. Except for Batman, the other three are familiar faces in the US poker scene, and the late announcement tells me it will be someone different.
With Kevin Hart making an appearance in the PokerStars Championships at the Bahamas, and Aaron Paul competing there and in the Global Poker League (GPL), I fancy those two to be right up there. I also think Michael Phelps could be a decent bet from left field.
Back to the poker players and the biggest name missing from the list is Phil Ivey. Other players, I would have liked to have seen compete are Phil Galfond, Viktor Blom, Tom Dwan, Daniel Cates, Vanessa Selbst, and Patrik Antonius.
Finally, I said in my last article on this matter, that it wouldn’t surprise me if a few of the players took their $30,000 and ran after realising the event would be so pro heavy. Those who were supposedly in the initial draw and are now AWOL include the British trio: Max Silver, Stephen Chidwick, and Charlie Carrel.
The Spaniards Sergio Aido and Adrian Mateos are also absent. Jonathan Jaffe, Jan-Eric Schwippert, Darren Elias, and Max Altergott will also have to make do with watching the event on the live stream.
The 2017 Super High Roller Bowl takes place at the ARIA May 28-31. It’s a $300,000 rake free buy-in event, with $6m guaranteed for first place. Previous winners include Brian Rast (2015) and Rainer Kempe (2016).
