Event #46, the $250,000 Super High Roller, brought out the biggest and best of poker’s highstakes elite – 13 of the all-time top 20 ponying up $¼million per bullet.
When the registration closed on day 2, the prizepool stood at a monster $15,584,625, with a min. cash worth $516,393 and the 10 picking up a payday.
You might think that such a massive buy-in would equate to super-tight play, but the big boys and girls of poker know no fear – and sometimes that goes wrong…
The $250k River Bluff…
Matthias Eibinger: 7♣ 6♣
Brandon Steven: A♣ J♣
Eibinger’s button open was raised in the big blind by Steven, the Austrian calling with suited connectors…
Flop: 2♣ A♥ 8♠
Eibinger called the flop bet…
Turn: 9♣
…and then 3-bet Steven’s turn bet…
River: 4♥
With the pot at over 2million chips, and Eibinger with 300,000 behind – about 25 bigs – he somehow elected to shove when Steven checked. Steven wasn’t entirely happy about calling but he could hardly refuse and that was the end of Eibinger’s first $250,000.
Others to feel the pain of an early exit included Chris Hunichen and Bryn Kenney, although the latter (pocket queens losing to a rivered paired king) jumped straight back in using some of his $75,778,350 lifetime live earnings.
Kabrhel Chaos and Cowboy Killers
Martin Kabrhel, one of the most talked about players at the WSOP, not only accounted for Alex Foxen’s first bullet, but also Michael “Texas Mike” Moncek’s buy-in…
How long would you survive at the table with Martin Kabrhel yapping your ear off? pic.twitter.com/YAQmpXuBub
— Barstool Poker: Cracking Aces (@CrackingAAces) June 16, 2025
The fun and games continued into day 2 when another chunk of players late regged and one of the victims was “Cowboy” Dan Smith who ran into…cowboys!
Smith shoved his last 20 bigs from the small blind against Peter’s’ cut-off open only to get the bad news…
Dan Smith: 8♠ 8♣
David Peters:K♥ K♠
Flop: J♣ 9♥ 2♣
Turn: K♣
River: Q♠
Smith will be having nightmares about kings as his second bullet fared no better, ahead on the turn only to see the K♠ river pair Joao Vieira’s K♥ to seal his fate.
While Chance Kornuth and Kristen Foxen both fell to pocket aces, poker pro-turned-sportsbettor Sean Perry’s $250k lasted less than an orbit, his A♠ 10♥ losing to Kenney’s K♦ Q♣ for the quickest exit of the event.
Treys, treys, everywhere!
Everywhere you looked there were huge clashes and some incredible coolers and bad beats – Barak Wisbrod saw his aces cracked by Ben Tollerene’s flopped straight, while Samuel Mullur’s kings were caught by Mikita Badziakouski’s trip treys.
Jason Koon’s treys, meanwhile, fell to Kabrhel going runner, runner, while Nick Petrangelo’s ran into Seth Davies’ fishhooks. Kabrhel, meanwhile, continued knocking people out, with Phil Ivey and Jonathan Jaffe added to his list.
Did @martinkabrhell slow roll Jonathan Jaffe here deep in the biggest buy-in of the summer?
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 17, 2025
Players in the $250,000 NLH Super High Roller are one spot closer to the money!
Watch the 2025 World Series of Poker on @PokerGO!#WSOP2025 pic.twitter.com/sUe6nccaTU
When Andrew “Lucky Chewy” Lichtenberger was eliminated on the stone bubble by Thomas Boivin, it left 10 players in the money. Five $million+ payouts were up for grabs with $4,752,551 up top.
Negreanu out in 9th…
None of those would be going to Daniel Negreanu, however, as he fell in 9th place…
Daniel Negreanu: A♦ 9♥
Alex Foxen: A♣ K♥
Flop: K♠ 10♦ 6♣
Turn: 3♣
River: 7♥
…and that’s where an incredibly dramatic and hugely-expensive day’s play ended. We’ll be back with the final table action tomorrow…
Final table chip counts
1 | Thomas Boivin | Belgium | 28,025,000 |
2 | Ben Tollerene | USA | 15,450,000 |
3 | Alex Foxen | USA | 14,525,000 |
4 | Seth Davies | USA | 10,500,000 |
5 | Bryn Kenney | USA | 9,925,000 |
6 | David Peters | USA | 9,650,000 |
7 | Martin Kabrhel | Czech Rep. | 3,675,000 |
8 | Chris Brewer | USA | 2,725,000 |
