25 Days of SHRBowl: Battle-Tested Sophomores

The countdown to the year’s biggest event has begun and over the next 25 days, Poker Central will introduce the entire 2017 Super High Roller Bowl field. From the world’s best high-stakes players, to online crushers and successful businessmen, poker’s most exclusive event has it all. Follow Poker Central’s “25 Days of SHRBowl” to know who will be competing when cards get in the air on May 28th.

From two sets of rookies to two players that are no stranger to competing in the High Roller arena. Both Andrew Lichtenberger and Nick Petrangelo hail from the East Coast but have recorded career defining wins and massive results around the globe. Most of their tournament success has come in big buy-in events and they’ll each be making their second Super High Roller Bowl appearance later this month.

Lichtenberger competed in the inaugural Super High Roller Bow in 2015, when the event had a $500,000 buy-in, but was not involved in last year’s event. He may have missed the biggest tournament of the summer but Lichtenberger made up for that absence at the end of the World Series of Poker.

The New York native won his first WSOP bracelet in the 1,125-player $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event for $569,000, a result that has pushed “Lucky Chewy” near the $9 million mark in terms of career earnings. That WSOP win accounted for Lichtenberger’s second-best career score and he now boasts nearly 20 six-figure or better scores on his live resume, to go with over $3 million in online winnings.

Lichtenberger’s lone seven-figure haul, worth $1,770,000, came in 2014 when he took down the WPT Alpha8 $100,000 Super High Roller during the 2014 Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic. While he continues to churn out results, Lichtenberger hasn’t recorded an international cash in over a year, instead primarily focusing on Las Vegas-based High Roller events at ARIA. Conversely, Nick Petrangelo has been Mr. Worldwide over the last two years.

The Massachusetts native has been picking up Hendon Mob flags and sizable results at an astonishing clip through the first half of the year. Those results have all come in events with buy-ins over $10,000 and all but one have come in High Roller events.

Petrangelo, pictured above, opened the year with a runner-up finish in the $25,000 High Roller at the PokerStars Championship Bahamas series, before navigating himself to the winner’s circle Down Under. Petrangelo won the $100,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions, beating Mike Watson and Fedor Holz for $882,000 and the title.

Petrangelo has been unable to get back to the winner’s circle but has come dangerously close since that Australian victory. He notched two runner-up finishes in High Roller events at the PokerStars Championship Macau series and has final tabled both €25,000 and €50,000 events at the PSC Monte Carlo series. In total, Petrangelo has recorded cashes on four different continents and amassed over $2.5 million through the first few months of 2017.

That has the young American on pace for a career year. He has already eclipsed his 2016 efforts, which accounted for results on only two different continents and only $2.1 million in earnings. Petrangelo is also likely one big High Roller score from besting his 2015 results, which was Petrangelo’s best year as a professional. He burst onto the scene with eight six-figure scores, a victory at the WSOP for his first bracelet and ended the year with a seven-figure result to close the season with nearly $3.5 million in winnings.

While both Lichtenberger and Petrangelo will only be making their second Super High Roller Bowl appearance, Petrangelo made his debut in last year, there should be no sophomore nerves for either. They are both battled-tested High Rollers and are two of the most experienced younger players in this year’s Super High Roller Bowl field. 

Tomorrow, “25 Days of SHRBowl” will feature two more young American High Rollers and you can follow all of Poker Central’s coverage of the year’s biggest event here.