Mehdi Chaoui Makes the Most of His First Time in Brazil With the BSOP $20,000 Super High Roller Title
When the Brazilian Series of Poker (BSOP) announced the Super High Roller Series, Mehdi Chaoui decided it was as good a time as any to finally make his first trip down to the Southern Hemisphere.
The Moroccan high roller has had success around the globe in his career, including winning an EPT trophy in Monte Carlo, finishing second in a Triton Series event in September for his biggest career score of $473,000, and winning two high rollers in Jeju, South Korea last month. But he had never been to Brazil before this week, and his first experience turned out to be a good one as Chaoui took down the BSOP R$100,000 ($20,000 US) Super High Roller for R$1,575,000 ($315,000 US).
“It feels great, for sure. The trophy is amazing. So happy. Good sensations,” Chaoui said after defeating Portugal’s Ruben Lopes heads-up. “A few friends and stuff told me that the organization is amazing. I just wanted to see Brazil. It’s a good choice I made, I think.”
Final Table results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (R$) | Prize ($US) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mehdi Chaoui | Morocco | R$1,575,000 | $315,000 |
| 2 | Ruben Lopes | Portugal | R$1,140,000 | $228,000 |
| 3 | Rafael Moraes | Brazil | R$736,000 | $147,000 |
| 4 | Ivan Luca | Argentina | R$557,000 | $111,400 |
| 5 | Hugo Machado | Portugal | R$431,000 | $86,200 |
| 6 | Gabriel Tavares | Brazil | R$336,500 | $67,300 |
| 7 | Zdenek Zizka | Czechia | R$269,300 | $53,860 |
| 8 | Masato Yokosawa | Japan | R$210,000 | $42,000 |
An elite field of 56 players gathered inside Sao Paulo’s WTC Sheraton throughout the event, but competing against the best in the world is nothing new to Chaoui. He had already compiled a resume that included more than $3 million in live tournament earnings, according to The Hendon Mob. It’s these small, star-studded fields that Chaoui says bring out the best in him.
“I really specifically like the small fields with super high-stakes players, who are very well studied. In terms of motivation, it just gets something going inside me, and I want to prove myself against them. I try to do my best,” he said.
Final Table Action
After a lengthy money bubble late last night and into the early hours of the morning, eight players returned to the final table today at 2 p.m. to chase the title. Chaoui was in third place with 2,010,000 at the start of the day, behind the Portuguese chip leading tandem of Lopes (3,425,000) and Hugo Machado (3,295,000).
Gabriel Tavares came into the day with just five big blinds and quickly found a double up off Ivan Luca. Luca then hit the nut flush on the turn to double off Machado and move into contention for the chip lead.
Tavares doubled up again off Luca with ace-queen against ace-five, and more than an hour went by before the final table witnessed its first elimination. Masato Yokosawa finally shoved for 605,000 with two eights, but Chaoui woke up with kings on the button to bust the Japanese vlogging superstar in eighth place.
Zdenek Zizka won a race with ace-queen against Luca’s jacks, while Tavares earned his third double of the final table when his ace-ten beat Lopes’ ten-eight. Zizka’s luck soon ran out, however, as he called off his last 1,300,000 with ace-queen but Luca turned over two aces to eliminate the Czech Backgammon champion and WSOP bracelet winner in seventh.
Rafael Moraes was then all in for 915,000 with two sixes and up against Luca’s tens, but he hit a set on the flop to earn the fortunate double up. Tavares had once again fallen to the short stack when he shoved for 840,000. Moraes peeked down at two aces in the big blind and snap-called, sending Tavares to the rail in sixth.
Chaoui then tangled in a big pot against Machado, firing the flop and turn before betting 1,100,000 on the river. Machado called with a pair of fives, but Chaoui had the goods with top set of kings to move into the chip lead.
Machado was left with just 700,000 and was eliminated the next hand when his two pair was outrun by Luca’s rivered flush. Luca was still stacking chips from that pot when he got involved in a pot against Chaoui, shoving for 2,400,000 on the flop with the nut flush draw. Chaoui called with top pair, and the flush didn’t come in for Luca this time as he fell in fourth place.
Chaoui took a big lead into three-handed play with nearly 8,000,000, while Moraes left Lopes as the short stack when he shoved the river with top pair and Lopes was forced to fold his missed flush draw. But it was Moraes who was the next to fall, four-bet jamming for 5,000,000 with two sevens but running into Chaoui’s aces as the Team PokerStars Pro was eliminated in third place.
Chaoui led Lopes 12,700,000 to 1,300,000 at the start of heads-up play, but Lopes won nearly every pot to climb back up to over 5,000,000. Chaoui finally showed down two pair to end Lopes’ winning streak, and Lopes was knocked down to 2,300,000 when he and Chaoui went to the flop in a limped pot. Chaoui bet 420,000 on the flop and Lopes called with a pair of sixes. Chaoui bet another 400,000 on the turn and Lopes again called. Chaoui then moved all in on the river, and Lopes called off his last 1,300,000 with third pair. Chaoui, though, had turned a straight to win the pot and secure the title.
While it was his first time playing here in Brazil, Chaoui was already well familiar with his opponents by the time the final table began. “Super tough table, obviously. I know for some time the two Portuguese youngsters. I know Rafael. Gabriel Tavares, I played a lot with him online. Ivan Luca, obviously,” he said. “Super tough lineup. Everyone was very, like, solid, playing good. So, yeah, I’m happy to win.”
Chaoui also had effusive praise for the BSOP, and says this won’t be the only Super High Roller he plays over the coming week. “Amazing. The place where we’re all playing is like super nice. The dealers are going a great job. Everyone around it, like the TV crew, everything is super well done,” he said.
“I already made up my mind before coming here that I’m going to be playing everything they can offer me to play. So that doesn’t change the plan, obviously.”
That concludes PokerNews' coverage of the BSOP $20,000 Super High Roller. Stay tuned for more coverage throughout the week as Sao Paulo hosts the largest poker festival ever held in South America.