The Super High Roller Bowl is one of the most prestigious and expensive high roller tournaments in the world. PokerGO, an innovative subscription-based poker app, livestreams the event, which takes place once or twice per year in different parts of the world, including London, Las Vegas, and Cyprus, among other spots. The buy-in for these events has been as high as $500,000 in 2015 and $250,000 in 2021. PokerNews is proud to provide extensive coverage of the six-figure buy-in tournament.
Super High Roller Bowl
Finished Tournaments |
Winner | Winning Hand | Prize | Runner-up | Losing Hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Super High Roller Bowl Europe |
 Seth Davies
|
$435,400 | Jake Schindler |
What is the Super High Roller Bowl?
The Super High Roller Bowl is one of the most expensive live poker tournaments in the world. For that reason, the event brings out some of the best players in the world. Regular competitors in the SHRB include Justin Bonomo, Stephen Chidwick, Phil Hellmuth, and Daniel Negreanu.
When is the Super High Roller Bowl?
Each year, PokerGO hosts at least one Super High Roller Bowl, and sometimes as many as three in the same year. Dates fluctuate each year, but the tournaments often take place in the fall or winter. The inaugural SHRB was hosted late in the spring time.
PokerNews and the Super High Roller Bowl
PokerNews and PokerGO partner to provide coverage of the Super High Roller Bowl, along with numerous other exciting PokerGO events such as the U.S. Poker Open and Poker Masters.
History of the Super High Roller Bowl
In October 2015, Cary Katz, an entrepreneur and poker enthusiast, launched Poker Central, a 24/7 digital poker channel. A few months prior, Poker Central hosted its first bit of original programming in the form of the $500,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The historic tournament attracted 43 wealthy players.
In the end, Brian Rast won $7.5 million after defeating Scott Seiver in a lengthy back-and-forth heads-up battle. The following year, Poker Central brought back the high roller event to the Aria, this time charging $300,000 to enter. Attendance increased to 49 players, many of whom hailed from Germany.
During that year, the high roller circuit had seen an influx in incredibly talented German pros, so it was no surprise when two young German stars finished first and second in the 2016 Super High Roller Bowl. Rainer Kempe ended up beating his pal, Fedor Holz, to win the title and the $5 million prize.
The following year, another young German pro, Christoph Vogelsang took down the Super High Roller Bowl crown. Vogelsang won $6 million for beating out a record field of 56 players just days before the start of the 2017 World Series of Poker.
That same year, Poker Central evolved from a digital network to a subscription-based app called PokerGO that provides on-demand coverage of high rollers, old-school poker shows, and a plethora original poker programming. The following year, the company previously known as Poker Central began to expand the Super High Roller Bowl.
In March 2018, the tournament headed to gambling hotspot, Macau, China for one of the biggest events of the year. Justin Bonomo, who cashed for over $25 million that year, took down the tournament for $4.8 million.
Two months later, the Super High Roller Bowl returned to Las Vegas, and Bonomo again won the high stakes poker tournament, this time for $5 million. He defeated the great Daniel Negreanu to win the title inside the brand-new state-of-the-art PokerGO Studio, which sits just steps away from the entrance to the Aria on the Las Vegas Strip.
Later that year, the $300,000 buy-in tournament returned to the PokerGO Studio for a winter game. Isaac Haxton, one of the top high rollers in the world, finally picked up the major poker title he'd long sought. The champ beat a field of 36 entrants to win nearly $3.7 million.
In 2019, the tournament expanded even further, to England and the Bahamas. Cary Katz, the PokerGO founder, shipped the 12-player Super High Roller Bowl London for $2.6 million in September, and then Daniel Dvoress beat a field of 51 entrants to win Super High Roller Bowl Bahamas for $4,080,000 in November.
Prior to all the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, two Super High Roller Bowls took place, one in Australia and the other in Russia. Super High Roller Bowl Australia was captured by Timothy Adams, a Canadian pro, for $1,446,112. Adams then won the tournament in Russia for $3.6 million in March, just in the nick of time before live poker around the world was shut down.
PokerGO didn't let the pandemic stop them from running a Super High Roller Bowl. In June of that year, the game moved online to the partypoker site, and Justin Bonomo did it again, taking down the Super High Roller Bowl Online for $1,775,000.
In 2021, PokerGO has scheduled a Super High Roller Bowl Europe in August and then a return to Las Vegas for the first time since 2018 in September.
FAQs
When is the 2021 Super High Roller Bowl?
The Super High Roller Bowl Europe, hosted in Cyprus at the Merit Poker room, takes place August 30, with the final table set for September 1. On September 27, the SHRB will return to Las Vegas and the PokerGO Studio for a U.S. version, with the final table scheduled for September 29.
Who competes in the Super High Roller Bowl?
Given that the SHRB is such an expensive tournament, the field features a good mix of top high roller poker pros and wealthy investors and entrepreneurs. Pros such as Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Hellmuth, and Justin Bonomo are regulars in these prestigious events. And then you'll find some skilled amateurs such as Bill Klein and Bill Perkins, in most years.
Where can you watch the Super High Roller Bowl?
The Super High Roller Bowl is available on the PokerGO app and has also been televised on NBC Sports Network.