31 May
Justin Bonomo laid claim to ‘the best tournament player in the world’ title early this morning when he finished off a resurgent Daniel Negreanu to lift the Super High Roller Bowl title in Las Vegas, a $5million scoop which stopped Negreanu just short of the $40million milestone in career tournament winnings – Phil Hellmuth among the first to congratulate both men…
The late night finish to the $14.4million highstakes fest saw Bonomo knock out both Jason Koon and Mikita Badziakouski in similar fashion to set a much-anticipated heads-up with ‘Kid Poker’ – the 32-year old boasting an amazing run already in 2018 while his Canadian rival was looking to put his new-found passion and knowledge of the game to the test.
The final day’s play started with just six men remaining, and it took all of one hand to see short-stacked Nick Petrangelo succumb to the inevitable, soon followed by last year’s SHRB champion Christoph Vogelsang, leaving a trio of the current best players in the world – plus Daniel Negreanu trying to prove he belongs among them once again!
When both Badziakouski and Koon – the latter being many fans’ favourite given his amazing run of recent months – both fell to cooler hands against Bonomo’s better two pair each time, it was Bonomo versus Negreanu, the younger man with a big chip lead but still no smiles as highroller Haralabos Voulgaris pointed out…
Bonomo might not be the most popular player in the poker world, but when he lets his play do the talking there is no arguing with his skill – and try as he might, Negreanu couldn’t make any headway, the finale appearing immediately after the first break…
Bonomo: 9♠ 9♦
Negreanu: 8♣ 7♦
Negreanu in the big blind called Bonomo’s raise and the flop fell…
…which pretty much guaranteed that Negreanu was heading out in 2nd place if he couldn’t catch a card somewhere. Sure enough, all the chips went in, the Canadian at risk.
“I got the other stuff. Good flop!” said Negreanu, pleading for a “Five on the turn for fun!” It was the K♠ instead, and the “One time!” call for the river failed as well, the 6♣ giving Bonomo a full house and the title
For Bonomo it meant breaking the $30million barrier and leapfrogging Antonio Esfandiari and Daniel Colman into 3rd spot, only Negreanu and Erik Seidel ahead of him – a remarkable $14million heater for the year so far.
Official Final Table Results
| 1 | Justin Bonomo | $5,000,000 |
| 2 | Daniel Negreanu | $3,000,000 |
| 3 | Jason Koon | $2,100,000 |
| 4 | Mikita Badziakouski | $1,600,000 |
| 5 | Christoph Vogelsang | $1,200,000 |
| 6 | Nick Petrangelo | $900,000 |
