Johan Guilbert Wins Super High Roller Series Europe Event #2: $25,000 NL Hold'em for $506,250

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The Merit Poker presents Super High Roller Series Europe rolled on with Event #2: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em from Merit Royal Hotel Casino & Spa in North Cyprus. Coming out on top from the 81-entry field was Johan Guilbert, winning $506,250 in prize money.

The Merit Poker presents Super High Roller Series Europe is sponsored by Luxon Pay and GGPoker and features the $250,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl Europe as the main attraction. Events will be streamed for free on PokerGO. The series takes place at Merit Royal Hotel Casino & Spa in North Cyprus. All events are part of the PokerGO Tour presented by Guaranteed Rate, with players earning points based on the amount they cash for. The full PokerGO Tour presented by Guaranteed Rate schedule can be found here and the current leaderboard is available here.

Event #2: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em drew a field of 81 entries and generated a prize pol of $2.025 million. At the end of Day 1 of this two-day event, 10 players remained with Guilbert at the top of the leaderboard. Prior to Day 2, Sergio Aido busted in the money in 12th place and Hing Yaung Chow fell in 11th place.

Stephen Chidwick was the first player to bust on Day 2, falling in 10th place for $60,750. Chidwick had finished in second place in Event #1: $25,000 Short Deck Hold’em at this series, losing to Phil Ivey in heads-up play and picking up $264,000. After Chidwick, Vladi Chaoulov fell in ninth place and Pascal Lefrancois busted in eighth place, both for $81,000, then Saman Nakhjavani was eliminated in seventh for $101,250.

With six players left, Christoph Vogelsang got as short as one big blind, but the Super High Roller Bowl III champion battled his way back up the leaderboard. Eventually, Ali Imsirovic, who leads the PokerGO Tour presented by Guaranteed Rate leaderboard, busted in sixth place to Guilbert. Imsirovic got his money in good with pocket sevens against Guilbert’s pocket sixes, but Guilbert hit a six. Imsirovic cashed for $121,500.

David Stamm finished in fifth place for $162,000, then Vogelsang’s run came to an end in fourth place for $202,500. After Seth Davies busted in third place for $243,000, the heads-up match between Guilbert and Selahaddin Bedir was on.

The two players were virtually even in chips when heads-up play began, but the slight edge went to Guilbert. Guilbert worked to stretch out a big lead, but then Bedir pulled things back and took the lead. In the end, Guilbert proved to be too much for Bedir, though.

On the final hand, Guilbert raised from the button with the and Bedir defended with a call from the big blind with the . The flop was and Bedir checked. Guilbert bet 225,000 into a pot of 750,000 and Bedir made the call. The turn was the and Bedir checked. Guilbert fired 750,000 and Bedir, with 3.3 million behind, check-raised all in. Guilbert took some time and then made the call. The river was the to give Guilbert the victory. Bedir picked up $364,500 for the runner-up result.

For Guilbert, the victory marked the largest live tournament score of his career to date.

As a result of this event’s conclusion, Ali Imsirovic increased his lead atop 10 the PokerGO Tour presented by Guaranteed Rate leaderboard. Imsirovic scored 73 points for his sixth-place finish in this tournament and now has 2,673 total points. The cash was the 23rd of the year for Imsirovic on the PokerGO Tour presented by Guaranteed Rate.

Note: Leaderboard accurate as of date of article.

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