The first day of action is complete in the Super High Roller Bowl and after an intense opening day, American player Nick Petrangelo leads the remaining 12 players. With just four making a profit and $2,76 million as the top prize, Day 2 of the three planned will take place tomorrow. Eight big-name players didn’t manage to find a bag as they were eliminated across a frantic opening day at the PokerGO Studio at ARIA in Las Vegas.

Busy Start Sees Kid Poker Chip Up  

With 20 entries, the eighth Super High Roller Bowl event generated a $6,000,000 prize pool on its opening day. That means a top prize of $2,760,000, with the runner-up earning $1,680,000, and third $960,000. Fourth place means a min-cash of $600,000. It won’t be Orpen Kisacikoglu who earns any return on his entry of $300,000, however. The Britain-based Turkish player moved all-in on the river with two pair, but Daniel Negreanu had made a Broadway straight and scored a vital scalp on his way to making Day 2 in a bid to retain his title.

Adrian Mateos is a force to be reckoned with in any tournament, but the Spanish three-time WSOP bracelet winner departed soon after. All-in for a short stack of just 54,000, around 18% of his starting stack (54,00), Mateos couldn’t catch favor with as Chris Brewer’s caught a flush on a cruel board of .

Alex Foxen was one of the favorites coming into the opening day, but he lost in unfortunate circumstances. On a board of , Foxen check-raised all-in with but he had run into Andrew Lichtenberger’s . No help arrived for Foxen on the river, and he was shortly joined on the rail by other luminaries such as Poker Masters Event #10 winner Jonathan Jaffe, ‘Cowboy’ Dan Smith, American businessman and philanthropist Bill Klein and British hedge fund manager and high roller crusher Talal Shakerchi.

Kenney Clinging On

With a dozen players remaining in contention, Bryn Kenney is shortest amongst them. With the 300,000 starting stack he began with taking a serious hit, Kenney may be top of the all-time money list, but he’ll only begin Day 2 with 208,000 chips. Also short is Kristen Foxen, wife of Alex and a three-time WSOP bracelet winner herself. The last remaining Foxen will kick off Day 2 with 251,000 chips.

Kenney’s all-time money list rival Justin Bonomo is also still in the hunt for what could be very significant winnings. If Kenney were to take the title, he would move around 5.7 million clear of Bonomo, but should the latter reign supreme on Sunday night, there would be virtually nothing between them. It could yet be a defining weekend between the pair in their race for supremacy, but Bonomo (337,000) will need to improve on his stack soon too.

Elsewhere in the middle ranks, the recent Poker Masters Leaderboard winner Stephen Chidwick ended the day with 404,000 chips, while Negreanu checked into his hotel room with 420,000 chips to his name. Chris Brewer (466,000) is another for whom the day was a measured success. Brewer’s own recent success will mean he is a big danger tomorrow.

Petrangelo Leads from Lichtenberger

At the top of the chart, Nick Petrangelo (887,000) has an advantage over Andrew Lichtenberger (811,000), with Isaac Haxton, who is enjoying a phenomenal 2023, in third place on 644,000. With Jason Koon (623,000) and Cary Katz (486,000) also hovering menacingly in the top five, it really is anyone’s Day 2 to dominate.

Who’ll win the 2023 Super High Roller Bowl VIII ring and a $2.76 million top prize? All the action is available to watch on PokerGO on both Friday and Saturday.