Aldemir Attempting to Keep Momentum Going

One of the biggest talking points after the Super High Roller Bowl live lottery was the number of German players that were selected for the year’s biggest event. Last year’s gold and silver medalists, Rainer Kempe and Fedor Holz, will return in 2017, along with seven other German players, meaning that a solid percentage of the final 56 player field will be trying to keep the Super High Roller Bowl title under German control.

While the semi-retired Holz likely won’t make an ARIA appearance until this summer’s Super High Roller Bowl, the Germans are represented well in today’s $25K ARIA High Roller.

Fresh off a 3^rd place finish in the Triton Super High Roller Series HK$250K event and a deep run at the WPT L.A. Poker Classic Main Event, Rainer Kempe is back stateside to try to regain the form that saw him claim last year’s Super High Roller Bowl title. Kempe is one of ARIA’s winningest High Rollers, helped by the $5,000,000 score for last year’s win.

On the other end of the spectrum, is Christian Christner. The Super High Roller Bowl rookie may be a bit of an unknown quantity on the live tournament scene but based on a small sample size of High Roller events, the rest of the field would be foolish to not consider him a contender.

Christner cashed in the $111,111 High Roller for One Drop this past summer and then finished 5^th at the $100,000 Super High Roller at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic late last year. That final table run was good for a career best score and while he won’t be participating in this summer’s Super High Roller Bowl, that Five Diamond event was won by another German who is competing in today’s $25K High Roller, Jan Schwippert.

In terms of What Have You Done For Me Lately, the hottest German through the first two months of the year is Koray Aldemir. He notched a podium finish in last summer’s High Roller for One Drop, good for a career best $2,100,000 score but more recently, Aldemir opened 2017 with a 10^th place result in the $10,000 Aussie Millions Main Event and followed that deep run with a victory in the HK$1,000,000 buy-in Triton Super High Roller Series Main Event.

Of the 35 names selected in the live lottery, Aldemir’s was the last to be selected and he was candid about the pressure he felt before seeing his name be selected.

“I was sweating, I was watching it live in Australia and I was pretty happy to be the last one.” Aldemir said when we caught up with him on the first break of the day.

“The win gives me some momentum,” Aldemir said about his Triton Super High Roller Series victory, adding, “I also won the first event at LAPC, so I’m looking forward to other tournaments.”

Those “other tournaments” that Aldemir is looking forward to are sure to be some of the biggest in the world and if he is able to keep the momentum going, the German’s could show well again at this year’s Super High Roller Bowl.