Brian Rast Wins $7.5m At Super High Roller Event

On Thursday, the inaugural $500,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl got underway at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and after four days of intense action it was Denver pro Brian Rast who would triumph over the 43 player field to claim the title, as well as the event’s massive $7,525,000 first place prize. Following an incredible performance which now takes his career earnings to $15,624,917, the 33 year-old poker player commented:
“It’s a little surreal, it really hasn’t sunk in yet. I actually think I’m getting happier as time passes, just because the process of staying focused is so consuming that right after it happened I wasn’t ready to process that I won. That was an amazing tournament.”
The small sized field meant just seven players would see a return on their huge half a million dollar buy-ins, and after the final table got underway on Sunday, Erik Seidel (A-Q) shoved preflop with his last 13bb, and promptly hit the rail in 7th ($860,000) after Scott Seiver (7-7) made the call and the board ran out an unfortunate A-Q-3-7-6.
David Peters (K-J) subsequently eliminated a short-stacked Tom Marchese (8-6) in 6th ($1,075,000), before being reduced to a short-stack himself and going out in 6th ($1,505,000) holding A-6 to Connor Drinan’s A-10.
Following a dinner break, Scott Seiver (9-9) called Timofey Kuznetsov’s K-J shove on a K-9-5 flop, and with a Q and 6 falling on turn and river the Russian was eliminated in 4th for $2,150,000. Next, Rast (8-8) hit a set against Drinan (Q-Q) on a 4-3-3-8-K board to knock him from the competition in 3rd ($3,225,000), in the process setting up the final battle against Scott Seiver for the title.
As heads-up play got underway, Seiver held a 2-to-1 chip advantage over Rast, but the latter managed to turn the table around before the deciding hand was played with Seiver all-in preflop with 5-5 and up against the A-9 of his opponent. The board subsequently fell Q-9-2-K-6 to consign Scott Seiver to a runner-up finish worth $5,160,000, whilst Brian Rast’s victory meant he more than doubled his live career winnings.
Final Table Results:
1 Brian Rast – $7,525,000
2 Scott Seiver – $5,160,000
3 Connor Drinan – $3,225,000
4 Timofey Kuznetsov – $2,150,000
5 David Peters – $1,505,000
6 Tom Marchese – $1,075,000
7 Erik Seidel – $860,000