Five Players Remain in Event #82: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em, Mateos Holds Big Lead
Only five players remain after the money bubble was burst late on Day 2 of Event #82: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold'em. Adrian Mateos will lead the way into the final day with 25,500,000 chips, a commanding lead over the rest of his competitors.
Mateos bagged up over half of the chips in play, most of which was accumulated while the short stacks navigated the money bubble late on Day 2. The three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner will be the odds on favorite to capture his fourth title and the $3,265,362 payday that comes along with it.
Entering the day near the top of the leaderboard, Mateos got off to a quick start by doubling up through Michael Addamo in the first orbit. From there, it was pretty smooth sailing for the Spanish poker pro who has over $21 million in career earnings. In the last hour of the night, Mateos clashed with Keith Tilston in what was the largest pot of the night. A four-bet pot quickly escalated between the two chip leaders and Mateos finally forced a fold from his opponent after barrelling three streets.
Tilston will also be joining Mateos tomorrow in the final five as the only other player to have won a WSOP gold bracelet. Tilston sits second in chips with 8,900,000 after cracking the money bubble and sending Christoph Vogelsang home in sixth place. Ben Heath (6,500,000), Seth Davies (4,550,000), and John Kincaid (3,925,000) round out the rest of the field who will battle for the title.
$250,000 Super High Roller Final Table
| Table | Seat | Name | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Featured Table | 1 | Ben Heath | 6,500,000 | 26 |
| Featured Table | 2 | John Kincaid | 3,925,000 | 16 |
| Featured Table | 3 | Adrian Mateos | 25,500,000 | 102 |
| Featured Table | 4 | Keith Tilston | 8,900,000 | 36 |
| Featured Table | 5 | Seth Davies | 4,550,000 | 18 |
Day 2 Action
Late registration remained open until the start of play which attracted eight more entries, including four brand new players. That brought the total number of entries to 33 with 26 of them being unique entries and seven players choosing to put up $500,000 for this tournament. It created a total prize pool of $8,217,000 which would be spread out across five places.
One of the biggest headlines, and maybe a matchup that everyone wanted to see play out on day Day 3, were the two chip leaders Michael Addamo and Ali Imsirovic go toe-to-toe. However, it wasn't meant to be for either of them as they both bowed out early in the day well before the money.
Another talking point on the day had to do with COVID-19 and a contract that the majority of the players agreed to sign due to the high buy-in and another player recently testing positive. It was sanctioned by the players on Day 1 that the WSOP had nothing to do with. In short, the contract stated that any player who tested positive would receive 95% of their ICM value returned to them, which would come out of the payouts proportionally. Fortunately, that has not come into play as of yet.
Back to action on the felt, the path to the final table steamrolled through the first four levels with multiple three-bets, four-bets, and monster pots being played at all tables. Some others to take a backseat throughout the day included Justin Bonomo, Timofey Kuznetsov, Jake Schindler, and Dan Smith. Coming back from the dinner break, it was Daniel Negreanu who was the shortest stack and he ran into the pocket jacks of Vogelsang, leaving the final table of eight players.
From there, it turned into a stalemate with plenty of chips in play and a huge money bubble looming. Over two hours later, the blinds finally caught up with Stephen Chidwick who bowed out in eighth place. David Peters was next on the chopping block after he ran his pocket queens into the pocket aces of Davies. With just six remaining, the players were treading lightly on the money bubble of over $630,000.
After winning the big pot off Tilston near the end of the night, Mateos took full advantage of the bubble and the other short stacks. He chipped away and continued to grow his lead throughout. As the stacks became more shallow, the players began to push their chips into the middle more frequently. Multiple double-ups occurred on the bubble but it all came crashing down for Vogelsang.
In the last hand of the night, Tilston ripped all in from the small blind and Vogelsang called off his last eight big blinds in the big blind. Tilston was ahead with ace-jack against the king-nine of Vogelsang. The German poker pro was unable to find any help on the board and bowed out in sixth place, leaving the remaining five players with a guaranteed prize of over $600,000 and a chance to fight for the title tomorrow.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Payout |
|---|---|
| 1 | $3,265,362 |
| 2 | $2,018,148 |
| 3 | $1,370,575 |
| 4 | $930,791 |
| 5 | $632,124 |
The action is slated to get underway at 4 p.m. local time with around 35 minutes remaining in level 20. The blinds will be at 125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 big blind ante. The levels will continue to be 60 minutes in length and the action can be seen on the PokerGO stream on a delay. The PokerNews live reporting team will also be here to bring you the live updates as the action unfolds inside the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.