Super High Roller Bowl to Return to ARIA After Successful 2015 Run
The Super Bowl of small-stakes poker is coming in late May in the form of The Colossus at the World Series of Poker, but nosebleed players won't be left out in the cold as the Super High Roller Bowl will be back for a second run, according to an announcement on SuperHighRoller.com.
The WSOP may dominate the poker headlines for the most part each summer, but in 2015, plenty of eyes were drawn to the Super High Roller Series at ARIA. It consisted of four days of nosebleed cash games with a rotating cast of players followed by a $500,000 freezeout dubbed the Super High Roller Bowl, which Brian Rast won for over $7.5 million after defeating Scott Seiver heads up.
There's no word yet on the cash games, but the freezeout will return at a slightly lower price point of $300,000 with a 49-player cap. As with last year's tournament, it will be a rake-free event, plus there will be an additional $300,000 kicked in from sponsors to create a prize pool of $15 million if the tournament fills up.
Action will begin for the four-day tournament on May 29, meaning organizers have made the decision to move the event from near the end of the WSOP to the beginning. Once again, it will be streamed on Poker Central with a unique, viewer-friendly format.
Players will begin with 300,000 in chips and blinds at 600/1,200 with a 200 ante. Levels will last 75 minutes apiece and tables will be seven-handed. The most interesting wrinkle is the mandatory 40-second decision timer, meant to keep the pace of the tournament flowing for a viewer-friendly experience. Of course, some decisions require more time than others, so each player will be allotted five time-bank chips that buy him or her an additional 60 seconds of thinking time.
The announcement for the 2016 Super High Roller Bowl named Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, and Phil Hellmuth as likely participants. Fourteen of the 49 seats will be reserved for "non-professional super high rollers" and players can begin reserving their seats with non-refundable $30,000 deposits starting on Jan. 22, so expect more player confirmations to begin trickling in then.
*Photo courtesy of Poker Central.
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