Martin Kabrhel Fights Back from the Brink to Win BSOP $30,000 Super High Roller Title
For all intents and purposes, the $30,000 Super High Roller event was done and dusted. Two contenders remained, but one had all the momentum and almost all of the chips; the other was out on their feet, staring defeat in the eyes.
Poker is made for these moments, though, and until the bell rings, it’s never over.
The WTC Sheraton played host to the final day of the latest instalment of the 2025 BSOP Super High Roller Series here in Sao Paulo, where 24 players returned to duke it out for the lion's share of the $1,320,000 prize pool.
Once the field had been whittled down to just two contenders vying for glory, Martin Kabrhel dug deep and found exactly what he needed, climbing off the canvas to fight back from a 14:1 chip deficit and reign supreme—earning the trophy, $422,000, and a story for the ages
$30,000 Super High Roller Result
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Kabrhel | Czechia | $422,000 |
| 2 | Ottomar Ladva | Estonia | $292,000 |
| 3 | Rodrigo Seiji | Brazil | $186,000 |
| 4 | Andre Akkari | Brazil | $142,800 |
| 5 | Thiago Crema | Brazil | $111,860 |
| 6 | Rafael Moraes | Brazil | $86,800 |
Tale of the Tape
With late registration open until the first hand of Day 2 was dealt, the final entrant count wasn’t confirmed until the cards were in the air. By then, the 11 survivors from Day 1 had been joined by 13 fresh faces, filling out three full tables to start the day.
Of course, registering late often means starting with a short stack — and it showed. Eliminations came thick and fast, with Fabiano Kovalski getting the ball rolling as the bust-outs gathered momentum. Within the first half-hour of play, ten players had already hit the rail.
As the tournament approached the final table bubble, the pace slowed noticeably. A string of all-ins saw the short stack survive time and again, but eventually Renan Bruschi became the one left without a seat at the final table.
Daniel De Almeida and Kelvin Kerber were the first to fall once play resumed, setting up the tournament’s money bubble. From that point forward, it quickly became the Martin Kabrhel and Ottomar Ladva show, with the duo responsible for every elimination from the bubble onward.
Kabrhel set his stall out early on the bubble, raising seemingly every hand. Often, his opens were enough to take the pot uncontested — but when Ladva pushed back, Kabrhel answered in kind, four-betting all in with king-five and forcing a reluctant fold from ace-queen.
After roughly two hours of tense bubble play, Ivan Luca was the one who ultimately drew the unwanted title of bubble boy. Remarkably, Luca has final-tabled all three Super High Roller events, including this one, and he got his chips in with the best of it — but couldn’t hold against eventual champion Kabrhel.
No sooner had Luca exited the high-stakes area than Kabrhel claimed another scalp. This time it was Rafael Moraes heading for the rail, three-bet jamming into Kabrhel preflop — but on this occasion, the Czech star woke up with the goods. His pocket tens proved too strong for Moraes’ ace-seven suited.
With momentum fully on his side, Kabrhel continued to run over the table and soon dispatched Thiago Crema as well. The pair got the chips in preflop for a classic flip, and — almost inevitably — it was Kabrhel who came out on top.
What followed was a complete turning of the tide. Ladva first ousted Andre Akkari in fourth place before quickly dispatching Rodrigo Seiji in third, giving him a small chip lead heading into heads-up play.
Ladva and Kabrhel then clashed in a pot that, for all money, looked set to decide the fate of the trophy. In a limped pot, Ladva made trips and extracted maximum value from Kabrhel’s flush draw, leaving Kabrhel with just six big blinds — a staggering 14:1 chip deficit.
In a seismic shift in fortunes, Kabrhel doubled up, then got a shove through, then doubled once more. Suddenly, the stacks were level — but the momentum was all his.
With the wind in his sails, Kabrhel kept pressing, and Ladva couldn’t stem the flow.
Hand after hand slid toward the Czech player until Ladva made his final stand, calling off with queen-seven preflop. Unable to catch up to Kabrhel’s pocket pair, that was all she wrote.
Kabrhel let out an echoing “Vamos” across the room before claiming his trophy.
And the winner's reaction?
Short and humble.
“I was very lucky”, was Kabrhel's take on the action.
That concludes the PokerNews coverage of this event, but keep an eye out for upcoming coverage of the remaining 2025 BSOP Super High Rollers Series events.