It was a small field filled with big names in the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe €25,000 Super High Roller and albeit there was no bracelet up for grabs, the pride and plenty of money up top were motivation enough. A field of 21 entries including five re-entries emerged and it was Dan Shakwho defeated Mikita Badziakouski heads-up to claim the victory and a payday of €210,112.

The top four spots were guaranteed a share of the €492,765 prize pool and Ivan “Negriin” Lucaended up as the bubble boy, while Steffen Sontheimer took home the min cash of €67,555. The seemingly unbeatable Bryn Kenney survived several all-in showdowns and eventually bowed out in third place for €85,238. Shak entered heads-up with a commanding lead and it only took three hands to determine a champion.

“It was a small but stacked field, I was probably the only non pro. Me and Jean-Noel (Thorel),” he said after the final hand. “We enjoy the game,” a delighted Shak added and left the tournament area with a big smile on the face. The American plays in some of the highest buy-ins on the international poker circuit all over the world and has crossed $9 million in cashes already with his win at the King’s Casino in Rozvadov.

Badziakouski, who has two tournament wins in 2017 and plenty of second and third-place finished on his poker resume, added another €129,860 to his bankroll and has now recorded cashes of more than $5.6 million on the live poker circuit with his third place in Event #11: €111,111 High Roller for One Drop as his best score to date.

Final Result €25,000 Super High Roller

Action of the Day

The day started with an alteration of the tournament structure to ensure the event would be finished in just one day and among those very vocal about the changes was Martin Kabrhel. The Czech master of speech play took part right from the start and was also the first player to re-enter and get eliminated for the second time. His first bullet went to Max Altergott and attempt number two saw Kabrhel miss out on a straight and flush draw against the bottom two pair of Jean-Noel Thorel.

Among the early casualties were Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Ali Reza Fatehi while four-time WSOP bracelet winner and 888poker ambassador Dominik Nitsche also headed to the rail empty-handed. He shoved with ace-nine suited and Timothy Adams reshoved with pocket aces. Martin Jacobson called for less with pocket kings in the big blind and busted in the same hand.

The rise and fall of Thorel, as well as Adams, took place before the unofficial final table was set and the all-in showdowns continued to take place minutes apart from each other. Adrian Mateos lost a flip with ace-ten against the pocket eights of Mikita Badziakouski while Felipe Ramos was left drawing dead on the turn with ace-queen against the pocket tens of Dan Shak.

Right after, Bryn Kenney doubled through Ole Schemion and also took the chips of Max Altergotta few hands later. Schemion himself was aiming for back-to-back double ups but fell short when his jack-nine suited failed to beat Badziakouski’s ace-king. That left the event on the money bubble and Ivan Luca‘s aces were cracked by the pocket sevens of Kenney to reduce the field to the last four.

Shak doubled right away with kings versus sixes, and cracked the pocket aces and top set of Steffen Sontheimer with five-seven suited when another spade hit on the turn. Down to the last three, Shak held a dominating chip lead and Kenney doubled through Badziakouski once before his ace-three stood no chance against Shak’s sevens. Heads-up play itself lasted all but three hands and Shak got it in with king-jack suited against the king-queen of Badziakouski, spiking a jack in the window to seal the victory.

The PokerNews live reporting continues with Day 4 of the Main Event as of November 8, 2017 until a winner is crowned, so make sure to tune back in regularly.