High Roller Finale

Early Jam from Vieira

Posted January 12, 2020 at 7:08 am ET by Jen Mason

Joao Vieira raised to 250,000 in mid position, called by John Duthie on the button. Small blind Igor Kurganov three-bet to 1,300,000, called by Vieira alone.

The flop came down [7s4cjc]. After 27 seconds of thinking, Kurganov led for 775,000 but folded immediately when Vieira moved all in for over 6,000,000.

Player		Chips	Change
Igor Kurganov		13,700,000	-1,400,000
Joao Vieira		10,000,000	2,200,000

The Finale of the High Roller Finale Starts at Noon

Posted January 12, 2020 at 5:52 am ET by Frank Op de Woerd

Seventeen top-tier players remain in the $10,300 High Roller Finale at the partypoker MILLIONS UK in the Dusk Till Dawn poker room in Nottingham. It’s time for the final day of this three-day event, with just 13 players getting in the money. That means that when play gets underway at noon local time, the bubble looms. Four players will still go empty-handed, missing out on the min-cash of $25,000 and, more importantly, a chance at even more and the trophy.

A total of 95 entries were registered for this event, meaning there was a slight overlay as the $1,000,000 wasn’t reached. Good news for the players but not at the top of their minds anymore, most likely, they are now focused on the $250,000 first-place prize.

Some of the top players in the world are still in contention with Igor Kurganov ahead of everyone else with a sizable margin. He’s followed by partypoker’s Joao Simao and John Duthie. Tibor Nagygyorgy (1,850,000), Sirzat Hissou (2,210,000), and Fahad Althani (2,370,000) are at the bottom of the counts.

When the action resumes, blinds will be 60,000 and 120,000 with a 120,000 big blind ante. We’ll bring you light coverage of this event throughout the final day with hourly chip counts and an extensive recap when a winner is crowned.

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
32	1	Anatoly Filatov	Russia	2,600,000	22
	2	Joni Jouhkimainen	Finland	2,800,000	23
	4	Sirzat Hissou	Germany	2,210,000	18
	5	Michael Sklenicka	Czech Republic	6,285,000	52
	6	Daniel Rezaei	Austria	5,025,000	42
	8	Kahle Burns	Australia	5,315,000	44

33	1	John Duthie	United Kingdom	9,995,000	83
	2	Igor Kurganov	Russia	15,100,000	126
	4	Tibor Nagygyorgy	Hungary	1,850,000	15
	5	Bruno Fitoussi	France	4,350,000	36
	6	Joao Vieira	Portugal	7,800,000	65
	8	Luke Reeves	United Kingdom	4,075,000	34

34	1	Fahad Althani	United Kingdom	2,370,000	20
	2	Alex Foxen	United States	8,925,000	74
	5	Kristen Bicknell	Canada	2,625,000	22
	6	Joao Simao	Brazil	10,730,000	89
	8	Marcel Luske	Netherlands	2,995,000	25

TAGS: Igor Kurganov, Joao Simao, John Duthie

Igor Kurganov Leads partypoker MILLIONS UK High Roller Finale as Bubble Looms

Posted January 11, 2020 at 6:40 pm ET by Frank Op de Woerd

Day 1 of the partypoker MILLIONS UK High Roller Finale attracted just 25 players and a possible overlay loomed for partypoker. With a million dollars guaranteed, the tournament was in need of 75 more players or the organizers would need to pay out of pocket to make up the difference.

What seemed like a daunting task proved not as much of a problem as one might have expected at the start of the day. Before play got underway on Day 2 of the $10,300 event, several new players had signed up. And with four levels of time for players to sign up or reenter, players kept showing up. As more players busted from the Main, more players signed up for the high roller. By the time registration closed, a massive 70 more entries were done for 95 total. Still five shy of the 100 needed to make the guarantee, but it was close.

The $1,000,000 prize pool will be divided over 13 places paid with a min cash worth $25,000. The top prize is $250,000 with the runner-up taking home $165,000 while bronze gets $115,000.

partypoker’s own John Duthie was the first player to sign up for the event on Day 1 and faired well on Day 2 as well. He led the tournament in the first break and found himself at the top of the leaderboard throughout the day. Duthie was joined by the likes of Alex Foxen, Igor Kurganov, and Kahle Burns atop the counts throughout the day and all would make it to Day 3. After the 14th level wrapped up, 17 players remained and the bagging and tagging got underway.

Day 3 of the event gets underway at noon with the remaining players soon playing the bubble. Play starts with blinds at 60,000 and 120,000. Igor Kurganov leads with 15,100,000 in chips, followed by partypoker’s Joao Simao (10,730,000) and John Duthie (9,995,000). Tibor Nagygyorgy (1,850,000), Sirzat Hissou (2,210,000), and Fahad Althani (2,370,000) find themselves the shortest of the bunch with Anatoly Filatov and Kristen Bicknell also in unsafe waters still.

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
32	1	Anatoly Filatov	Russia	2,600,000	22
	2	Joni Jouhkimainen	Finland	2,800,000	23
	4	Sirzat Hissou	Germany	2,210,000	18
	5	Michael Sklenicka	Czech Republic	6,285,000	52
	6	Daniel Rezaei	Austria	5,025,000	42
	8	Kahle Burns	Australia	5,315,000	44

33	1	John Duthie	United Kingdom	9,995,000	83
	2	Igor Kurganov	Russia	15,100,000	126
	4	Tibor Nagygyorgy	Hungary	1,850,000	15
	5	Bruno Fitoussi	France	4,350,000	36
	6	Joao Vieira	Portugal	7,800,000	65
	8	Luke Reeves	United Kingdom	4,075,000	34

34	1	Fahad Althani	United Kingdom	2,370,000	20
	2	Alex Foxen	United States	8,925,000	74
	5	Kristen Bicknell	Canada	2,625,000	22
	6	Joao Simao	Brazil	10,730,000	89
	8	Marcel Luske	Netherlands	2,995,000	25

Player		Chips	Change
Igor Kurganov		15,100,000	0
Joao Simao		10,730,000	0
John Duthie		9,995,000	0
Alex Foxen		8,925,000	0
Joao Vieira		7,800,000	0
Michael Sklenicka		6,285,000	0
Kahle Burns		5,315,000	0
Daniel Rezaei		5,025,000	0
Bruno Fitoussi		4,350,000	0
Luke Reeves		4,075,000	0
Marcel Luske		2,995,000	0
Joni Jouhkimainen		2,800,000	0
Kristen Bicknell		2,625,000	0
Anatoly Filatov		2,600,000	0
Fahad Althani		2,370,000	0
Sirzat Hissou		2,210,000	0
Tibor Nagygyorgy		1,850,000	0
Benjamin Pollak		Busted	0
Christoph Vogelsang		Busted	0
Ryan Riess		Busted	0
Niall Farrell		Busted	0
Max Silver		Busted	0
Roberto Romanello		Busted	0
Bertrand Grospellier		Busted	0
Morten Klein		Busted	0
Fabrizio Gonzalez		Busted	0
Christopher Fraser		Busted	0
Matas Cimbolas		Busted	0
Manuel Ruivo		Busted	0
Dimitar Danchev		Busted	0
Preben Stokkan		Busted	0
Govert Metaal		Busted	0
Felix Bleiker		Busted	0
Bartlomiej Machon		Busted	0
Christopher Kromidias		Busted	0
Per Siden		Busted	0
Martin Mathis		Busted	0
Paul Byrne		Busted	0
Thomas Hall		Busted	0
Christopher Kyriacou		Busted	0
Ian Gascoigne		Busted	0
Bartolomiej Machon		Busted	0
Stan Topol		Busted	0

TAGS: Alex Foxen, Anatoly Filatov, Fahad Althani, Igor Kurganov. John Duthie, Joao Simao, Kahle Burns, Kristen Bicknell, Sirzat Hissou, Tibor Nagygyorgy

Full High Roller Finale Chip Counts

Posted January 11, 2020 at 4:41 pm ET by Jen Mason

Player	Chips	Change
Joao Simao	12,500,000	10,220,000
John Duthie	10,700,000	8,150,000
Per Siden	9,900,000	5,010,006
Daniel Rezaei	8,300,000	4,680,000
Alex Foxen	7,700,000	3,430,000
Igor Kurganov	5,650,000	3,150,000
Fahad Althani	4,200,000	1,375,000
Christopher Fraser	4,000,000	1,700,000
Joao Vieira	3,900,000	1,690,000
Anatoly Filatov	3,600,000	325,000
Kristen Bicknell	3,550,000	550,000
Marcel Luske	3,400,000	2,400,000
Sirzat Hissou	3,100,000	1,180,000
Bruno Fitoussi	2,600,000	1,600,000
Fabrizio Gonzalez	2,250,000	-800,000
Luke Reeves	2,100,000	1,100,000
Tibor Nagygyorgy	1,820,000	955,000
Thomas Hall	550,000	-450,000
Joni Jouhkimainen	500,000	-2,500,000
Kahle Burns	Busted	-5,070,000
Alexandros Kolonias	Busted	-4,285,000
Michael Sklenicka	Busted	-3,350,000

Three Table Line-Up

Posted January 11, 2020 at 4:29 pm ET by Jen Mason

Table	Seat	Player
41	1	Joao Simao
41	2	Igor Kurganov
41	3	Anatoly Filatov
41	4	Alex Foxen
41	5	Fabrizio Gonzalez
41	6	Tibor Nagygyorgy
41	7	Per Siden
41	8

42	1
42	2	Sirzat Hissou
42	3	Fahad Althani
42	4	Joao Vieira
42	5	Marcel Luske
42	6	Daniel Rezaei
42	7	Alexandros Kolonias
42	8	Joni Jouhkimainen

43	1	Christopher Fraser
43	2	John Duthie
43	3	Kristen Bicknell
43	4	Luke Reeves
43	5	Kahle Burns
43	6	Bruno Fitoussi
43	7	Thomas Hall
43	8	Michael Sklenicka

Prizes Announced

Posted January 11, 2020 at 3:28 pm ET by Jen Mason

Thirteen players will take home a share of the million dollar prizepool in the $10,300 High Roller Finale:

Place	Prize
1	$250,000
2	$165,000
3	$115,000
4	$90,000
5	$70,000
6	$55,000
7	$ 45,000
8	$35,000
9	$35,000
10	$30,000
11	$30,000
12	$25,000
13	$25,000

Late Registration Closes, Slightest of Overlays in the Finale

Posted January 11, 2020 at 1:52 pm ET by Jen Mason

Niall Farrell (photo: Mickey May/partypoker)

Level 11 has begun, which means the end of late registration and the beginning of true bustouts with no chance for a fresh million chips. Pending confirmation, there were 95 entries into this $10,300 event, so the prizepool is as it was: $1,000,000. Payout information will be available shortly.

Last minute entrants include a few who only busted the Main Event in the last few levels – Niall Farrell, Fabrizio Gonzalez and Per Siden among them.

Player	Chips	Change
Kahle Burns	5,070,000	2,870,000
Per Siden	4,889,994	3,889,994
Alexandros Kolonias	4,285,000	2,645,000
Alex Foxen	4,270,000	-180,000
Daniel Rezaei	3,620,000	2,620,000
Bartlomiej Machon	3,515,000	2,515,000
Michael Sklenicka	3,350,000	2,350,000
Anatoly Filatov	3,275,000	2,275,000
Christopher Kyriacou	3,225,000	2,225,000
Fabrizio Gonzalez	3,050,000	2,050,000
Roberto Romanello	1,260,000	260,000
Niall Farrell	1,000,000	-
Bertrand Grospellier	1,000,000	-
Luke Reeves	1,000,000	-

Spotlight on Table 42

Posted January 11, 2020 at 12:39 pm ET by Jen Mason

The number of players seems to be static in the High Roller finale, but that’s because for every exit there’s an entry (often by one and the same person). This level (10) is the last one for registration, however, so soon the atmosphere might be a bit more serious.

Table 42 sees the chatty triumvirate of John Duthie, Christoph Vogelsang and Igor Kurganov sat next to each other in seats six to eight, and they seem to be getting on famously. When action threatens, however, it goes quieter. An example:

Duthie opened for 80,000, called by button Kurganov. Big blind Morten Klein raised to 240,000. Duthie called quickly while Kurganov checked his stack (approx. 1,000,000 behind) before calling, too.

The flop came down [as7s5s]. Klein and Duthie checked; Kurganov bet 225,000. Neither player made the call but Kurganov flashed them the [ad] anyway. Full Table 42 chip counts below.

Player	Chips	Change
John Duthie	2,550,000	-565,000
Igor Kurganov	2,500,000	600,000
Sirzat Hissou	1,920,000	330,000
Christoph Vogelsang	1,480,000	1,235,000
Morten Klein	930,000	-70,000
Stan Topol	300,000	-700,000

Alex Foxen Pulls Away as Chip Leader

Posted January 11, 2020 at 11:21 am ET by Jen Mason

The first and only player to top four million chips in the High Roller Finale so far is Alex Foxen, who pushes John Duthie into second. The field is still growing, and with two one-hour levels left of late registration, it looks like that $1,000,000 guarantee may yet be met – and surpassed.

Player	Chips	Change
Alex Foxen	4,450,000	1,800,000
John Duthie	3,115,000	-85,000
Kristen Bicknell	3,000,000	400,000
Joni Jouhkimainen	3,000,000	825,000
Matas Cimbolas	2,800,000	1,800,000
Bartolomiej Machon	2,605,000	1,605,000
Paul Byrne	2,380,000	80,000
Joao Simao	2,280,000	180,000
Joao Vieira	2,210,000	1,210,000
Kahle Burns	2,200,000	1,200,000