Event #6 – $25,000 PLO

Player Spotlight: Sam Soverel

Posted February 18, 2019 at 11:53 pm ET by Lucas Thomas

Sam Soverel is right at home playing a full slate at the 2019 U.S. Poker Open. The reigning High Roller of the Year had quite the 12-month run leading into this year’s USPO.

Soverel won nine high roller tournaments last year and cashed in 20 total. His total earnings on the high roller circuit equaled $2.6 million and he finished 235 points ahead of the 2^nd place POY finisher Isaac Hexton.

“It’s easy to get complacent when things are going your way for a while, and I found the time to put in practice hours,” Soverel told Poker Central this month.

Though he’s not yet 30 years old, Soverel is a seasoned veteran on the high roller scene. He won his first high roller tournament in 2014, pocketing $480,200 by winning a $50,000 NLH buy-in at ARIA Resort & Casino.

Soverel was born in Florida and started his poker story there. His first listed cash was for $6,606 after finishing 13^th in the 2011 Heartland Poker Tour Main Event in Daytona Beach. One month later, he came in 2^nd at the WPT Main Event at Orange Park in Jacksonville, FL, winning $187,762 for his first major tournament score.

His next stop was Las Vegas, naturally.

Bankrolled enough to enter the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event, Soverel finished 81^st out of 6,598 entrants. Four years later, having established himself as one of the premier high rollers in the game, Soverel added his first World Series of Poker bracelet to his resume at the 2016 WSOP.

Since winning his first tournament in 2011, Soverel has generated over $7.6 million in live earnings. He admitted, “it’s hard to get me excited about a tournament these days,” having done it for so long. But the uniqueness of the U.S. Poker Open, he said, makes this series stick out among a crowded high-roller circuit.

“The $100,000 [bonus for winning the U.S. Poker Open championship] and both Pot Limit Omaha and Short Deck as part of an awesome schedule have me planning my personal time, travel, and general life around it pretty heavily,” Soverel told Poker Central earlier this month.