Star Power, Millions, and Prestige All On the Line
Welcome to the final table of the $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl.
A field of 49 players has been trimmed down to just seven, headlined by big names Erik Seidel and Phil Hellmuth. But it won't be either of those two leading the pack, as German Rainer Kempe leads with over a third of the chips in play.
Kempe's stack of 5.545 million is over 3.3 million more than Fedor Holz's second-place stack.
Kempe experienced a truly breakout year in 2015, winning over $1.5 million in the live felt. He began 2015 with a runner-up finish in the Aussie Millions Accumulator event for $76,135 and then went on to land scores of $364,716, $177,724, $147,599, and $591,722. That last score was the biggest of his live career prior to reaching the money in the 2016 Super High Roller Bowl, and Kempe earned that when he won the European Poker Tour Prague €25,500 High Roller.
Previously this year, Kempe took second place in the ARIA $25,000 High Roller on March 4, winning $321,790.
Going back to Seidel and Hellmuth, those two need little introduction. Entering this event, the duo had just shy of $46 million in live tournament earnings between them. They also represent 22 World Series of Poker gold bracelets and countless other tournament victories. One thing they're short on are chips in this event, though. Seidel will enter the final table as the second shortest stack at 1.12 million, and Hellmuth will enter dead last with 905,000.
If all of those names and storylines don't get you excited for the conclusion of this one, throw in Bryn Kenney, Dan Shak, and Matt Berkey, plus lay a $5 million first-place prize on the line. The star power is there, the millions of dollars are there, and the prestige is there. Now we just need the cards to be in the air.
Action for the final table will kick off at 3 p.m. local time in Las Vegas, and you can follow coverage right here on PokerNews.com, which will operate on a one-hour delay with respect to the live broadcast of the event. Stay tuned to find out who will walk away with the title of 2016 Super High Roller Bowl champion.