Lottery Reveals First 30 Players For 2018 Super High Roller Bowl
The first 30 pieces of the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl field are together. The SHRB lottery aired Wednesday, March 21 on PokerGO. The live lottery featured Americans, Europeans, and business persons alike being selected to play in the $300,000 buy-in event taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada at the end of May.
A total of 61 players put down a $30,000 deposit to be in the lottery and only half of them have a seat locked up for the event. The other 31 must qualify through one of 16 seats awarded by ARIA or win one of the two satellites available for the event.
Starting with the headliners
Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu co-hosted the lottery. The two analyzed players in the field and also had the chance to break down each other. Both had their names drawn and will be included in the field when the event starts on May 27.
Defending champion Christoph Vogelsang locked up a seat, as did 2015 winner Brian Rast. Coming off of his dominant U.S. Poker Open performance, Stephen Chidwick is in the field as well.
American high rollers well represented
Pick your poison when it comes to quality American players in the field.
Cash game specialist Andrew Robl became the first name called to open the lottery. USPO Main Event winner Keith Tilston saw his number get picked, as did fellow Texan Ben Tollerene.
The fearsome combo of David Peters, Nick Petrangelo, and Isaac Haxton gives the field three more dangerous players to worry about.
2017 SHRB final tablist Byron Kaverman is in, alongside last year’s Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $25,500 event winner, John Andress.
It’s not all the younger generation; Erik Seidel, Dan Shak, and Cary Katz should have plenty to say about how the tournament shakes out.
Justin Bonomo won Super High Roller Bowl China this week and will go into the Super High Roller Bowl with an extra $4.8 million in his bankroll.
Germany in the mix
Alongside Vogelsang in the SHRB field are more German players. Ranier Kempe won this event in 2016, and Vogelsang made it a back-to-back for Germany last year. The Deutschland will be represented well with Koray Aldemir, Markus Dürnegger, Arne Ruge, Andreas Eiler, and Christian Christner also having their names drawn.
Aldemir and Christner participated last year but did not cash. Kempe was not selected in the lottery this year, but we expect to see him be one of the 16 players picked by ARIA. Fedor Holz joined the lottery but did not get in through that method either.
The Year of Spain?
The Super High Roller Bowl trophy might have to move north if Spain has anything to say about it. Adrian Mateos and Sergio Aido are both in the 2018 lineup. Only 23 years old, Mateos is already 30th all-time on the tournament winnings list with $13.390 million. Mateos owns three World Series of Poker bracelets and over a dozen cashes with a buy-in of $25,000 or higher.
Aido is less heralded among the two but not to be underestimated. With $6.4 million in tournament cashes, Aido ranks behind only Mateos and Carlos Mortensen on Spain’s all-time money list.
Who else didn’t get in?
ARIA has some tough decisions on their hands in the next few weeks. The field of players who entered the lottery but not selected is as talented and capable of winning as those drawn.
Leading off that group is Jake Schindler, who finished second to Vogelsang in 2017. The likes of Dan Smith, Doug Polk, Joe McKeehen, and Bryn Kenney have their fates in the air at this stage.
Germans on the waiting list include Poker Masters Champion Steffen Sontheimer, 2017 third-place finisher Stefan Schillhabel, Thomas Muehloecker, and WPT Champion Club member Dietrich Fast.
When is the field finalized?
There is no formal timeline for ARIA to make their selections by. Whether all at once or one by one, the names will filter in over the weeks leading up to May 27. Once that date hits, though, the toughest field in poker is assembled for the premier High Roller event on the calendar.
2018 Super High Roller Bowl Lottery Selections
| Selection | Name | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Robl | USA |
| 2 | Adrian Mateos | Spain |
| 3 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada |
| 4 | Igor Kurganov | Russia |
| 5 | Sergio Aido | Spain |
| 6 | Markus Dürnegger | Germany |
| 7 | Koray Aldemir | Germany |
| 8 | Stephen Chidwick | UK |
| 9 | Keith Tilston | USA |
| 10 | Ben Tollerene | USA |
| 11 | Andreas Eiler | Germany |
| 12 | Andrew Lichtenberger | USA |
| 13 | Talal Shakerchi | UK |
| 14 | David Peters | USA |
| 15 | Brian Rast | USA |
| 16 | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany |
| 17 | Christian Christner | Germany |
| 18 | Kathy Lehne | USA |
| 19 | Erik Seidel | USA |
| 20 | John Andress | USA |
| 21 | Cary Katz | USA |
| 22 | Isaac Haxton | USA |
| 23 | Nick Petrangelo | USA |
| 24 | Byron Kaverman | USA |
| 25 | Nikita Bodyakovskiy | Belarus |
| 26 | Justin Bonomo | USA |
| 27 | Phil Hellmuth | USA |
| 28 | Arne Ruge | Germany |
| 29 | Kahle Burns | Australia |
| 30 | Dan Shak | USA |