Bonomo and Tollerene Crush in LHPO Side Events

January 24, 2018

While all eyes of poker fans are on the World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open final table today, the side tournament action at Seminole Hard Rock in Florida is plenty worthy of some attention as well.

Of most importance last night: top American pro Justin Bonomo shipped Event 20: $25,500 High Roller for a nice payday of $556,873. Bonomo topped a typically tough nosebleed final table that included Ben Tollerene, Joe McKeehen, Stefan Schillhabel and Bryn Kenney, as well as a heads-up win against Spanish crusher Adrian Mateos.

The huge result came just a few days after Bonomo got third in the $50,000 Super High Roller for $197,200. Schillhabel claimed that one, with Mateos taking runner-up money, so those two have had quite a week as well.

Tollerene also put together a profitable stretch. In addition to his third-place finish in the $25K for $248,438, he collected his own guitar pick trophy and $163,944 in the wee hours of Wednesday after winning Event 20: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em, about seven hours after the High Roller ended.

The $25K

Bonomo had a monstrous chip lead going into the final day of the event, according to the live updates. The bubble wasn't far off, 75 entries having been logged for a prize pool of $1,875,000 that nearly doubled the $1 million guarantee and just 14 of those remaining. Eleven would be paid.

An extended bubble period saw a slew of doubles handed out, some by Bonomo, as short stacks repeatedly survived. Finally, Nick Petrangelo pulled the short straw with a number of players nearly flatlining with less than one blind, and the tournament advanced into the money with Bonomo still leading.

Of course, things moved quickly from there with Bonomo staying in command as short stacks fell left and right.

Mateos rose up to challenge Bonomo's lead, but a double by Tollerene put a halt to the Spaniard's charge when he couldn't get A♦J♠ to hold against K♥J♦ in a blind-versus-blind spot.

Bonomo then busted McKeehen in fourth with A♣Q♠ holding against a 20 big blind reship with K♣J♠ as an ace-high board hit the felt. The pink-haired tournament legend resumed his position well ahead of his final two competitors.

Mateos then got Tollerene on his second try, opening for a raise on the button with 9♥9♦ and calling another shove of a little over 20 big blinds. This time, Tollerene had A♠10♣ and the race appeared destined to go to Mateos after a 9♠4♠2♦ flop. A K♠ scared him on the turn but Tollerene missed his flush on the brick river and bowed out in third, heading on over to make his fateful registration in the one-day $5K about 90 minutes before it closed.

Bonomo and Mateos went into heads-up play each north of 90 blinds and nearly even. A long battle was expected, but Mateos' aggression led to some sizable early pots, all of which went Bonomo's way as the American put the pressure on with two river shoves that resulted in tank-folds from Mateos.

Mateos wound up taking a stand with a combo draw on the turn, only for his shove to be met with an immediate call by Bonomo, who held ace-king on a king-high board. Mateos couldn't finish his hand when the river brought a brick and he had to settle for his second runner-up payoff of the week.

Official Final Table Results

The $5K

The surprising early finish allowed Bonomo to be among the late-registering players in the $5K as well, which drew 117 entries for a prize pool of $555,750, more than double the $250,000 guarantee.

There would be 15 paid and Bonomo's run ended on the bubble as his ace-king failed to hold for his final few blinds against the A♦8♦ of Andrey Plotnikov, according to the live updates.

Tollerene had worked his way into the chip lead when the final table began, but the fast structure meant that his stack still only represented 55 big blinds, so it was anyone's game still.

Notables Pablo Fernandez, Ben Yu and Mark Radoja busted early at the final table before Tollerene won a key flip against dangerous opponent Olivier Busquet when Busquet shoved K♦7♥ for less than nine big blinds from late position and Tollerene woke up with sixes in the big blind.

Tollerene got unlucky with kings against jacks and then handed out another double to sink down to just over 10 big blinds, but he battled back into the chip lead three-handed thanks to tens holding against A♠6♣, though he still had only 34 big blinds. He then dispatched short stack Wenhao Ying to get down to two.

Tollerene had a little less than 2-1 lead heads up against Plotnikov and he finished things off about half an hour in when he limped kings on the button and snapped off Plotnikov's A♦9♥ shove. A king-high flop sealed it for the American and he surpassed a tidy $400,000 in cashes for the day.

Official Final Table Results

_{Photos courtesy of Seminole Hard Rock}

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