2018 Super High Roller Bowl Set After Sontheimer Replaces Robl
The field for the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl is about set. Earlier this month, two of the final three seats were filled by the ARIA with the final seat to be determined by the Super High Roller Bowl satellite winner.
On Monday, Poker Central announced that Andrew Robl has officially withdrawn from this year’s event and has been replaced by Steffen Sontheimer.
Sean Winter and Larry Greenberg Round Out Main Field
Earlier this month, Poker Central announced that Larry Greenberg and Sean Winter will be the final two players selected by the ARIA Resort & Casino for the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl. This came after last month’s announcement of the 15 “at-large” invitations given to players such as Dan Smith, Doug Polk, Fedor Holz, Bill Perkins and former champion Rainer Kempe.
Winter’s selection is not completely surprising considering he is a regular in Aria High Roller events. In 2018 alone he has made four final tables at ARIA, including a third-place finish in Event #7 of the US Poker Open and a pair of runner-up finishes in $25k High Rollers.
In 2017, Winter took down three events at ARIA during August. He won back-to-back $10k Events and a $25k High Roller. Winter’s best live score came in 2016 at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure where he finished 2nd in the $25k High Roller for $914,580. Winter presently has $6.3 million in live earnings.
Larry Greenberg’s selection is a bit more surprising considering that he isn’t a major force in high rollers. With that said, he did finish 10th in the One Drop High Roller at the 2013 World Series of Poker. Earlier this year, he won his first major poker title after taking down the WPT Bellagio Elite Poker Championship for $378,879. Greenberg presently has $1.6 million in live tournament earnings.
The only slot still left to be filled in the Super High Roller Bowl is that of the satellite winner. The satellite will be held May 26 at ARIA with the winner receiving a seat into the final event.
Steffen Sontheimer Replaced Andrew Robl
In a bit of a surprise, Poker Central announced Monday that Andrew Robl has pulled out of the Super High Roller Bowl and Steffen Sontheimer will take his place. Sontheimer is a fantastic replacement option and it’s a bit surprising that he didn’t already receive an ARIA invite.
Sontheimer has over $8.49 million in live earnings and is a staple of the high roller scene. Last year, Sontheimer won two events at the Poker Masters, including the Main Event for $1.5 million. He also made two other final tables en route to taking the Poker Master Purple Jacket. Considering this, it’s a bit surprising that he was a last-minute replacement.
Most recently, Sontheimer finished 5th in the Main Event of the Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro and finished third in the €50,000 NL Event at the EPT Monte Carlo.
The 2018 Super High Roller Bowl kicks off on May 27 and will feature a field of 48 vying for a top prize of $5 million. Many consider this to be the premier high roller event in the world with all of the top high rollers in the world vying for the title.
Last year, Christoph Vogelsang defeated Jake Schindler for the top prize of $6 million. Others making the final table included Jason Koon, Justin Bonomo, Byron Kaverman and Stefan Schillhabel.
This year, many players will be closely watching the likes of Stephen Chidwick and Bonomo as they are the two hottest players in high roller events presently. That’s not to discount players like Erik Seidel or Daniel Negreanu who are more than capable of taking down this event.
Full coverage of the event will be streamed on PokerGO and broadcast at a later date on CBS Sports Network.