top corner

Polk, Schindler and Kempe Among the VIPs Announced for 2018 Super High Roller Bowl

The majority of the field for the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl has now been set. On Wednesday, Poker Central announced the 15 VIP players that will be joining the 30 registered players on May 27 in the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Event.

Fedor Holz, Bryn Kenney, Doug Polk, Tony G and Bill Perkins are among the VIPs announced. Now only three spots remain to fill the capped field of 48 players. Those players will be determined prior to the start of the event.

Holz, Kenny, and Polk Among Those Selected as VIP Players

When registration opened last month for the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl, the 30 “at-large” spots quickly sold out and forced a lottery draw for players such as what occurred last year. Numerous players, including 2016 champion Rainer Kempe failed to be selected in the draft but became eligible to be invited as a VIP player.

Poker Central sent out a press release on Wednesday announcing the 15 VIP players who have been invited to this year’s event. The list of VIPs are as follows:

Brandon Adams
Dennis Blieden
Antonio Esfandiari
Seth Davies
Tony G
Fedor Holz
Matt Hyman
Rainer Kempe
Bryn Kenney
Jason Koon
Tom Marchese
Bill Perkins
Doug Polk
Jake Schindler
Dan Smith

Those selected represent some of the best and brightest poker players in the High Stakes community, including Bryn Kenney, Jake Schindler, Dan Smith and Doug Polk. Players such as Tony G and Bill Perkins are popular personalities in the poker world that can easily afford the buy-in, although it is highly unlikely they will take down the title.

Most of these players put up their deposit back in March but failed to secure a seat. It was assumed that many would get a VIP invite as they can both afford the buy-in and their inclusion is likely to secure higher ratings on PokerGo.

Poker Central VP of content Sam Simmons spoke of the selections, stating, “We welcome the 15 VIPs to the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl field who are comprised of some of the most notable names in high stakes tournament poker. These names, alongside the 30 selected at the annual Super High Roller Bowl lottery, are sure to make for the most star-studded tournament field of the year.”

Three Spots Yet to Be Determined

There are three VIP spots left to be filled in this year’s event. Two of the final three spots will be announced sometime in May while the last seat is expected to be filled with the Super High Roller Bowl Qualifier on Saturday, May 26.

Note that in order to fill that last seat, at least 30 players must register for the $10,000 qualifier. There is a $550 Super Satellite that will run on May 25 that will award one seat to the qualifier for every 20 entries.

The odds that the $10k qualifier will award a seat is pretty good considering that a $10k buy-in could be parlayed into an eventual $5 million prize should the winner of the qualifier manage to also win the Super High Roller Bowl.

The Super High Roller Bowl will have an estimated prize of around $14 million with $5 million expected to go to first place. This will be the third largest first-place payout of the year behind the 2018 WSOP Main Event and the $1 million Big One for One Drop.

For those wanting to watch the event live, PokerGO will be streaming all of the action. Afterward, original episodes will be produced and later aired on NBC SN, NBCSports.com, and the NBCSports app.

The top players in this event will have a virtual freeroll for the summer’s events, including the 2018 WSOP. Who will become the latest poker millionaire or will players such as Jake Schindler, Stephen Chidwick or Rainer Kempe continue to add to their insane 2018 earnings?

Photo Courtesy: Poker Central

bottom corner