Malinowski Crowned Super High Roller Bowl Champion ($3,690,000)

Wiktor Malinowski is best known for his high-stakes cash game prowess, but the Polish sensation proved he knows his way around a tournament table. Malinowski is the latest poker superstar to win the coveted Super High Roller Bowl Europe title. This victory came with a bankroll-boosting prize of $3,690,000.

Forty-one players from all corners of the planet bought into the Super High Roller Bowl for $250,000. It is not the kind of buy-in you can rustle together from the loose change found down the sides of your couch. Only six of those starters receive a slice of the $10,250,000 prize pool. Australian pro Michael Addamo bowed out in eighth. Malinowski sent Ali Imsirovic to the rail on the bubble in seventh.

Malinowski Leads the Star-Studded Final Table

The champion-elect was the man to catch going into the six-handed final table, but it really was anyone’s game. David Peters doubled his stack on the very first hand of the evening. His Kh-Qh eventually improving to quad queens to beat Zhuang Ruan‘s busted flush draw.

Viacheslav Buldygin of Russia lost most of his stack with Ad-7d against Ruan’s Tc-Td. The rest of the Russian short-stack went into the middle with Ac-2s on a Qh-7h-3d flop. He lost to the Qd-Jc of Ivan Leow when the turn and river came 2h and 6s.

Peters was left with 12 big blinds after Leow cracked his kings. Peters min-raised to 100,000 with Kd-Kc, Leow three-bet to 310,000 with 9c-9s, and Peters four-bet to 580,000. Leow called before calling a 250,000 bet on the Jh-9d-2s flop. Peters bet 330,000 on the 3h turn and called when Leow shoved for 975,000. The 7h river doubled Leow’s stack and left Peters needing help.

Unsurprisingly, Peters busted in fifth. He committed his last ten big blinds with 4s-4c, and Leow called with Ah-9h. The five community cards ran Qh-Qs-Tc-9d-Jc to send Peters to the rail.

Everyone Is A Millionaire

Each of the remaining four players was guaranteed $1,127,500. Timothy Adams would not progress deeper than this position. Malinowski raised to 125,000 during the 25,000/50,000/50,000a level and called when Adams three-bet all-in for 1,300,000. Adams showed Jd-Td, Malinowski the Ah-As, and the board fell Kh-Qc-4c-3d-6h. Adams, a back-to-back Super High Roller Bowl champion, headed to the showers.

Third place and $1,640,000 when to Ruan. Ruan raised preflop, bet the flop, and shoved on the Jh-7d-4h-9d turn with Ad-Ac. Leow called him down with 8c-7s, and the Tc river rewarded his stubbornness. Another superb result for Ruan, who won the $50,000 Super High Roller event at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open at the start of August.

No deal was struck between Malinowski and Leow despite the $1,230,000 difference between first and second place. Malinowski initially trailed, but the Macau-based Pole specializes in one-on-one battles. And it showed.

Malinowski always looked in control but could not shake off Leow. That was until the 100,000/200,000/200,000a level. The Pole open-shoved with 9s-8d, and Leow called all-in for 900,000 with Jc-4c. Leow stayed ahead on the As-6d-5d flop, falling behind on the 8s turn. The 4h river busted Leow in second place for $2,460,000, leaving Malinowski to claim the title of champion and an impressive $3,690,000.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Wiktor Malinowski	Poland	$3,690,000
2	Ivan Leow	Malaysia	$2,460,000
3	Zhuang Ruan	United States	$1,640,000
4	Timothy Adams	Canada	$1,127,500
5	David Peters	United States	$820,000
6	Viacheslav Buldygin	Russia	$512,500

Joining A List Of Elite Players

Malinowski’s victory in the 12 Super High Roller Bowl puts him among some of poker’s greats. Brian Rast won the inaugural Super High Roller Bowl on July 2015. Rast collected $7,525,000, which is still the largest prize awarded by this event.

Other luminaries like Rainer Kempe, Christoph Vogelsang, Justin Bonomo, Timothy Adams, Isaac Haxton, and Cary Katz have all won this event.

Brad Johnson

You name the game, and you can bet your bottom dollar that Brad has either played it or placed a wager on it! Brad calls himself a natural gambler, and someone who gains as much enjoyment from writing about the crazy game of poker as he does playing it.

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