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The high-stakes pro defeated Alex Foxen in the heads-up for the $3.6-million prize.
“This is my biggest score ever and easily the best accomplishment. This is the highlight of my tournament career”
The fifth edition of the prestigious Super High Roller Bowl attracted 36 players, creating a prize pool of $10,800,000, with six places paid. The event attracted the most accomplished players, with the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth or Jason Koon. The event streamed exclusively on PokerGO [3].
Haxton started the final six holding a slight chip lead over Stephen Chidwick [4] and managed to be the last man standing. “I came in with nearly a quarter of the chips in play and had position on the other big stack, so I was feeling pretty confident,” he said after the victory. “I felt like I was in a great spot coming into today, but obviously it’s still very lucky to come away with the win.”
[5]
The final day started slowly, it took a while for the first bust out. Up-and-coming [6] youngster, 23-year-old Ali Imsirovic was the first to leave the table, when his pocket jacks fell against the Ace-five suited of Haxton's, who managed to hit a flush on the turn. Imsirovic increased his live tournament earnings by $540,000, continuing his spectacular year.
After Ali left, Igor Kurganov became the shortest stack. Despite a number of successful double-ups, he got crippled in a big hand against Adrian Mateos. Down to his last 12 big blinds, Igor finally shoved with pocket sevens which ran into the pocket tens of Talal Shakerchi. Talal's hand held, sending Igor to the rail. Kurganov played several interesting hands, he even shared his thought process in a hand against Alex Foxen after his bust out.
The next casualty was Adrian Mateos, who put his remaining stack into the middle holding pocket nines, which couldn't hold against the Ace-king of Foxen's.
At this point, the players took a break. After the break, the chips started flying resulting in the elimination of Shakerchi's. He was racing for his tournament life with Ace-ten suited against Ike's nines, but the board ran out clean and Talal was out.
Haxton managed to eliminate Stephen Chidwick shortly after, this time his jacks were superior to the Ace-Queen of Chidwick's. Chidwick left in 3rd place, good for $1,512,000.
Formerly known as one of the best heads-up no limit players, Ike dominated the duel. He let Foxen barrel off with air against his flush to build a 9-1 lead and then went on to close things out with Jack-king off, against the Ace-eight suited.
Place Name Country Payout
1 Isaac Haxton United States $3,672,000
2 Alex Foxen United States $2,160,000
3 Stephen Chidwick United Kingdom $1,512,000
4 Talal Shakerchi United Kingdom $1,188,000
5 Adrian Mateos Spain $972,000
6 Igor Kurganov Russia $756,000
With this score, Ike has now more than $20 million in total earnings, while Foxen has $8.8 million thanks to this $2,160,000 score.
(credit: pokercentral.com)