Five men came back on Wednesday afternoon, ready to determine the champion of the 2025 Super High Roller Bowl $100,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, and a surprise was in store for all. Coming out of the middle of the pack, John Riordan battled from a deficit in heads-up play against the start-of-day chip leader, Sam Soverel, to take the title. Along with the Super High Roller Bowl ring, Riordan earned his career-best payday of $1.25 million for his efforts.
Rapid Final Table Play
The five players who survived the 37-entry field in the $100,000 buy-in tournament – Soverel (4.035 million), Joao Simao (3.225 million), Riordan (1.905 million), Day One chip leader Joni Jouhkimainen (1.07 million), and Artur Martirosyan (965,000) – came out of the gate ready to sling chips. On the first hand of the day, that desire for action would result in the departure of one of the combatants.
Martirosyan, needing a double to get back into the race, three-bet a Soverel raise to 500K (more than half his start-of-day stack), and Soverel only called the bet. A 6-2-2 would greet the twosome, and Martirosyan wouldn’t hold back, moving all in. Soverel nearly beat him to the pot with the call, and it was evident why when the cards were turned up:
Martirosyan (small blind): A-Q-9-8 (nada)
Soverel (UTG): A-K-5-2 (flopped trip deuces)
Arguably, Soverel had made the original call simply on the chance that he hit the flop, but once he crushed it by flopping trip deuces, he had Martirosyan drawing to some runner-runner combination to make a straight or a flush. Once a five came on the turn, Martirosyan was drawing dead, and the Jack on the river was a formality as Martirosyan was sent to the rail in fifth place.
Newly bolstered by Martirosyan’s chips, Soverel would go on to knock out Jouhkimainen in fourth (rivering a flush against the Finn) and Simao in third (picking up two pair on the turn and rivering a full house against the Brazilian’s pair of Kings) and looked to be on his way to the title. At the start of heads-up action, Soverel held 7.625 million in chips to Riordan’s 3.475 million.
But that’s when Riordan would wake up.
Riordan chopped into the deficit in winning the first hand between the duo, flopping trip sixes against Soverel’s Queens to pull the stacks to nearly even. On the very next hand, Riordan’s aggression forced Soverel into a fold, putting Riordan on top of the leaderboard. As it turned out, one more hand would decide the event.
After a Soverel open to 240K, Riordan popped it to 720K and Soverel called. A tasty 6x-5♣ 4♣ flop hit the felt and, after Riordan checked his option, Soverel bet out 575K. Riordan’s trap sprung at this point as he moved 3.275 million to the center. Calling would require almost all his remaining chips, so Soverel took a time extension to consider his move before putting his last 3.795 million to the center. Riordan tossed in the chips to cover, and the cards came up:
Riordan: A♣ K♣ 10-7
Soverel: 10-9-6-5
Soverel had flopped two pair (sixes and fives), but Riordan had the nut flush draw and Soverel’s tournament life at stake. The Q♣ flipped the hand to Riordan and had Soverel looking for another six or five on the river to change the situation. Instead, a trey would come, sealing the tournament for John Riordan and the $1.25 million payday.
1. John Riordan, $1.25 million
2. Sam Soverel, $825,000
3. Joao Simao, $550,000
4. Joni Jouhkimainen, $400,000
5. Artur Martirosyan, $300,000
6. Bryce Yockey, $225,000*
7. Jared Bleznick, $150,000*
(* – eliminated from tournament on Tuesday, part of official final table)
Veteran Chidwick, Newcomer Pugh-Jones, Take $15K Tournaments.
There were a couple of other tournaments to keep the Omaholics happy while the $100K event for the Omaha version of the Super High Roller Bowl played out. Both were $15,000 buy-in tournaments, but they would feature massively different fields.
The first event took place while the $100K tournament was in the midst of its Day Two action, which might have been the reason for the thirteen-entry field. Stephen Chidwick would outlast Talal Shakerchi as the only two men to take money from the $195,000 prize pool, with Chidwick’s eleventh PGT victory netting him $136,500 for his efforts; Shakerchi would have to be satisfied with $58,500 for his runner-up finish.
In the second $15,000 event, a few more combatants made it more competitive. Shakerchi would make this final table, too, coming in fifth for a $42,000 payday. Nick Palma was also eliminated on the felt, booking a $58,000 score for his efforts. The final three players – Gruffudd Pugh-Jones of Wales, Sean Rafael of the U.S., and Richard Gryko of the United Kingdom – decided they had had enough fun with Omaha for the day and agreed on an ICM chop of the remaining money. Rafael would eventually take the title after flopping a full house against Pugh-Jones to take home the PGT trophy for the win.
1. Sean Rafael, $141,700*
2. Gruffudd Pugh-Jones, $148,500*
3. Richard Gryko, $134,800*
4. Nick Palma, $58,000
5. Talal Shakerchi, $42,000
(* – indicates three-way chop)
These two tournaments also awarded points toward the 2025 PGT Championship race, so it could be important for these seven men by December as they try to make that twenty-seven-player field.
(Photo courtesy of PokerGO.com)
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