Vogelsang finished first after an exciting heads-up battle with Jake Schindler and took down the $6 million first prize.
The $300,000 buy-in tournament kicked off on Sunday with some familiar names in the 54-player line-up: Fedor Holz, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Doug Polk, Jason Mercier – a galaxy of stellar poker players. The most famous person at the tables did not come form the poker world, however – it was comedian Kevin Hart. The stubby comic managed to get to Day 2 by busting Phil Hellmuth and Fedor Holz too.
So the action continued without the the two celebrated poker pros. Day 2 brought about the infamous Doug Polk-Leon Tsoukernik hand we wrote about yesterday. Day 5 brought about the eventual winner.
The three card players remaining for the last day were American Jake Schindler and two Germans, Christoph Vogelsang and Stefan Schillhabel. Schindler started the day with a massive chip lead, 10.6 million against Vogelsang’s 5.2 million and Schillhabel’s 885 thousand.
The short stack didn’t last long, as expected: he 4-bet all-in with AJ off which Vogelsang called with pocket Qs.
Vogelsang doubled up fast in the heads-up match against Schindler with a King-high flush all-in hand, but the American was able to take back the lead after a while until the German doubled up again with the help of a set of 8s.
In the last hand Schindler was dealt J8 suited of hearts on the button and limped, Vogelsang checked his T7 off. The flop fell 3T2 rainbow Schindler bet 100,000 which Vogelsang called. The turn seven gave Vogelsang two pairs, which he checked over to Schindler who bet 400,000 on his gutshot then got check-raised by Vogelsang to 1.5 million. A 2 came on the river, changing nothing. Vogelsang bet 2.3 million, about two third pot, to which Schindler reacted after tanking with a bluff all-in that did not go through: Christoph Vogelsang called and won the 2017 Aria Super High Roller Bowl.
He almost doubled his live tournament earnings with this 6 million: it’s $14 million now. Interestingly this was Vogelsang’s first live tournament victory.
