Brian Rast raised to 12,000 on the button with and Phil Hellmuth pushed all-in for 27,500 with . Rast called and the cards were turned over.
The flop came and Rast made a pair of queens to put Hellmuth on the ropes. The on the turn gave Rast two pair and Hellmuth was drawing dead to the on the river.
Hellmuth saw his run at The Poker Masters come to an end while Rast moved over one million chips.
Heading into the inaugural Poker Masters at ARIA Resort and Casino, few people were talking about Steffen Sontheimer. To most, he was just another German, and arguably the least known from that contingent. Now, the man who celebrated a birthday less than a week ago is the talk of the town and primed to become the first Master of Poker.
Sontheimer, known as “Goose” by his friends and on Twitter @RunGo0seRun, may be new to you, but he’s certainly not new to poker. In fact, coming into the Poker Masters he had $3,551,390 in tournament earnings, and all of that has come since June 2015.
His best score to date was $1,223,264 for finishing runner-up to his countryman, Christian Christner, in May’s ARIA Super High Roller 19 $100,000 Super High Roller. Other highlights on his relatively new résumé include winning the 2017 Poker EM €25,000 Super High Roller for $501,183, sixth in the PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo €100,000 Super High Roller for $415,348, and sixth in this summer’s Triton Super High Roller Series Budva for $313,423.
Consider this amazing fact – coming into the Poker Masters, Sontheimer had 27 documented tournament cashes, of which 14 have come in High Rollers events.
Cleaning Up at the Poker Masters
In the last few days, he’s added $1,221,000 to that total after finishing fourth in the Poker Masters Event #1 for $204,000, and the following day winning Event #2 for $900,000. In Event #3, he barely missed the money bubbling in eighth place, and today in Event #4 he finished fifth for $117,00 to extend his Poker Masters lead.
If you recall, the player with the best results (highest total earnings) throughout all five Poker Masters tournaments (four $50,000 buy-in tournaments capped by a $100,000 freeze out finale) will win The Poker Masters Purple Jacket™.
At this point, Sontheimer is the odds-on favorite to win, but it's really anyone's game as the $1,512,000 first-place prize in Event #5 means each of the remaining players are drawing live.
Sontheimer Eyes $50K from Negreanu, Frustrates Hellmuth
Sontheimer, who now resides in Brighton, UK, also stands to win an extra $50,000 as he is one of the players who bet Daniel Negreanu that he’d win the Poker Masters. Negreanu, who stands to win over $1 million if he were to win it, has yet to notched just one min-cash in the first four events. If he’s to stand a chance, he’ll need to win the $100,000 finale and hope those with preliminary success come up empty in that tournament.
Meanwhile, Sontheimer has proven to be a thorn in the side of Phil Hellmuth throughout the Poker Masters.
In Event #4, Christian Christner raised to 11,000 from under the gun and was called by Sontheimer in the small blind and Hellmuth in the big blind. The flop came and the action was checked to Christner who continued for 13,000. Sontheimer called and Hellmuth check-raised to 35,000. Christner folded and Sontheimer still called.
The turn was the and both players checked to the on the river. Both players checked again and Sontheimer tabled the . Hellmuth couldn't beat it, mucked his cards, and mumbled under his breath about how bad "these young kids" play.
Sontheimer has taken the “Poker Brat’s” jabs and have joined the throng of German players who’ve needled Hellmuth throughout the series. For Sontheimer, he’s taken most of his shots on Twitter while letting his play speak for itself at the tables.
Look who got moved to my table. Let's have some more fun @phil_hellmuth !!#
— Steffen Sontheimer (@RunGo0seRun)
Clearly Sontheimer is doing something right, and the poker world, Hellmuth included, will just have to wait and see if the young German can close out the inaugural Poker Masters.
and Phil Hellmuth pushed all-in for 27,500 with 
. Rast called and the cards were turned over.
and Rast made a pair of queens to put Hellmuth on the ropes. The 
on the turn gave Rast two pair and Hellmuth was drawing dead to the 
on the river. 
and Kaverman checked to Schillhabel who bet 9,000. Kaverman called, and then checked the 
on the turn as Schillhabel bet 27,000.
, both players checked.
. Fedor Holz raised to 16,500 with 
and Rast called to see the flop.
and Rast check-called a bet of 11,500 from Holz. The turn was the 
on the river.
and both players checked to the 
on the river. Both players checked again and Sontheimer tabled the 