Johannes Becker Wins the 2nd partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Germany €25,000 Super High Roller (€ 320,050)
The second €25,000 Super High Roller of the 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Germany festival at the King's Casino in Rozvadov once again met the guarantee of €1 million and eventually attracted a field of 45 entries, which includes 13 re-entries. The top six spots were guaranteed a portion of the €1,068,750 prize pool with the min cash set at €60,000, while the winner was to walk away with €400,000 for the efforts.
All finalists opted to play down to a winner instead of keeping the scheduled two-day structure in order to have a chance at playing the upcoming €50,000 Super High Roller and it took until the early morning hours to determine a champion. Once there were only three players left, Johannes Becker, Stefan Schillhabel and Niall Farrell agreed on deal numbers and a blind flip saw chip leader Becker win the final hand to claim the biggest payday and trophy.
While Becker only has a few cashes on the live circuit to his name, they definitely come with plenty of prestige. Last summer, the German finished 2nd in the 2017 WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship for $862,649 and also scooped a trophy in a partypoker LIVE festival after taking down the partypoker Eurasian Poker Tour (EAPT) €25,500 Kings Super High Roller for €500,000.
Becker adds further €320,050 to his poker resume, while High Roller regular Schillhabel will cross $9 million in live earnings with his payday of €267,800. Triple Crown Champion Farrell nursed a short stack throughout the final table and finished in third, collecting €225,900 for his efforts. After finishing 2nd to Patrik Antonius in the first €25,000 Super High Roller, Joao Simao this time came 4th and fellow partypoker ambassador Patrick Leonard followed just behind in 5th place. Manig Loeser, who had bubbled the previous event, locked up a min-cash of €60,000.
Final Result €25,000 Super High Roller II
| Place | Winner | Country | Prize (in Euro) | Prize (in USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johannes Becker | Germany | 320,050* | 392,781* |
| 2 | Stefan Schillhabel | Germany | 267,800* | 328,657* |
| 3 | Niall Farrell | United Kingdom | 225,900* | 277,235 |
| 4 | Joao Simao | Brazil | 110,000 | 134,699 |
| 5 | Patrick Leonard | United Kingdom | 85,000 | 104,086 |
| 6 | Manig Loeser | Germany | 60,000 | 73,472 |
*denotes deal of the last three players
A single re-entry was available during the first nine levels and among those to fire two bullets and bust without anything top show for were Orpen Kisacikoglu, Leon Tsoukernik, Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Chi Zhang and Koray Aldemir. Patrik Antonius, who won the first €25,000 Super High Roller the previous night, once again joined at the last possible moment and was unable to repeat his victory after running with ace-queen into the pocket nines of Arne Ruge and the pocket aces of Steve O'Dwyer.
Other notables that failed to make the money were Jean-Noel Thorel, Dietrich Fast, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, last night's third-place finisher Renato Nowak, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and team partypoker member Philipp Gruissem. The latter took a flip with ace-queen against the pocket fives of Niall Farrell and failed to get there, missing out on the unofficial final table. Hans Thumann and Bartlomiej Machon followed Gruissem to the rail to set up the money bubble and it was Christoph Vogelsang that last left without anything to show for.
Vogelsang moved all in for fewer than eight big blinds with pocket nines and Johannes Becker called with king-eight to immediately spike a king on the flop. The money bubble had barely burst when Manig Loeser headed to the payout desk. The bubble boy of the first edition sneaked into the money with a short stack and his ace-eight ended up second-best to Patrick Leonard's ace-jack, both players paired their kicker on the flop.
After losing a big pot to Johannes Becker, partypoker ambassador Patrick Leonard was left short and doubled once through Stefan Schillhabel before his nemesis Becker dealt the final blow to the Brit. It was a flip with the pocket fours for Leonard and the king-ten of Becker flopped best to reduce the field to the last four.
The second partypoker ambassador in the money recorded back-to-back final table finishes. Fewer than 24 hours ago, Joao Simao was battling with Patrik Antonius for the title and eventually had to settle for second place, this time the Brazilian was ousted in 4th place. Down to 12 big blinds he shoved with pocket nines and Johannes Becker called with pocket queens. A queen on the flop all but sealed it for the German, and the runner runner miracle never happened for Simao.
Farrell doubled twice and soon after the last three players looked into deal numbers. Once they shook hands, a blind flip followed and chip leader Becker flopped best with king-deuce suited to end the tournament at 2 a.m. local time.
More high stakes action follows right away on Monday February 12th 2018, as Day 1 of the €50,000 Super High Roller kicks off at noon. The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action for the two-day event.