25 Days of SHRBowl: No Separating These Three

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.

There are many levels to the poker hierarchy and while a few players may take their seat in the occasional High Roller, there is a rare breed of professionals that almost strictly compete in the High Roller arena. That level is not for the faint of heart. The swings are volatile, the competition is fierce and the stakes are always high but for Justin Bonomo, Jake Schindler and Isaac Haxton, that level is home.

In terms of top-to-bottom resumes, Justin Bonomo may have the best results sheet of any Super High Roller Bowl participant. Since coming onto the live scene in 2006, Bonomo, pictured top, has amassed over $15 million in career earnings and that figure has him just one sizable score away from pushing into the All-Time Money List top ten.

Bonomo’s first six-figure score came over a decade ago and since, he has cashed for over $100,000 thirty-five times. That is consistency that few players in the world can show but along with those results, Bonomo has two seven-figure scores on his resume. The first came after Bonomo won the EPT 8 Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller in 2012 for nearly $2,200,000 and two years later, he was in the World Series of Poker winner’s circle.

Bonomo won his first and only bracelet in 2014, outlasting an over 1,500-player field to win the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Six Handed event for $449,000. Since that WSOP breakthrough, Bonomo has recorded six podium finishes at the WSOP. Most recently, Bonomo finished 2^nd in the illustrious $50,000 Poker Players Championship this past summer, a High Roller event that requires players to well versed in all the games.

While Bonomo has been a staple in the poker world for the last decade, Jake Schindler, pictured above, is relatively new to the scene. The Pennsylvanian made a massive splash at the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, winning the $25,000 High Roller for $1,192,000 and he has been a six-figure scoring machine ever since.

After adding another victory later that year, in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $100,000 Super High Roller, Schindler took his talents to ARIA. That is where Schindler has done the most damage, turning the ARIA High Roller events into his personal playground over the last few years.

Since 2015, Schindler has over a dozen six-figure scores from ARIA High Rollers and through the first half of this year, he has arguably been one of the most consistent players in the series. Schindler already has two $25,000 ARIA High Roller victories in 2017, meaning he could be headed for another banner year.

2016 was Schindler’s best as a professional. He won three ARIA High Rollers and notched a career-best non-High Roller result in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event. Schindler finished 3^rd for $736,000 and midway through 2017, Schindler’s recent results have pushed his career earnings dangerously close to $10 million.

ARIA is the clear choice for domestic High Roller action but Isaac Haxton, pictured above, has seen success in nearly every corner of the world. In the last year alone, Haxton has recorded cashes in Macau, Panama, Prague, Monte Carlo and the Bahamas, with his first major tournament title coming last December in Prague.

Haxton won the €25,000 High Roller at EPT Prague for just under $595,000 and amazingly, that victory isn’t enough enough for a spot inside Haxton’s top five career scores. That’s because Haxton has had deep runs in some of the world’s biggest events, including a runner-up finish in the Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge in 2014.

Phil Ivey took the title and Haxton settled for a $2,500,000 payout for 2^nd , with that career-best result accounting for Haxton’s third seven-figure result. He also recorded massive $1,000,000 payouts in the GuangDong Asia Millions Main Event in 2013 and the 40^th Anniversary Event at the World Series of Poker in 2009. In total, Haxton has amassed over $13 million in career earnings and has finished with over $1 million in earnings for the last four years, something Bonomo and Schindler can’t claim.

You are splitting hairs trying to compare resumes though and it is nearly impossible to separate these three High Rollers. Bonomo and Schindler are coming off the best years of their career and Haxton tasted the winner’s circle for the first time in 2016. That means that all three will be poised to replicate that success this summer, with the Super High Roller Bowl being their top priority.

Tomorrow, “25 Days of SHRBowl” hits the midway point and we feature two high-stakes players that are also great friends. Follow all of Poker Central’s coverage of the year’s biggest event here.