(Credit: Photo courtesy of pokercentral)44 players returned to the playing field on day two of the 2017 Super High Roller Bowl at the ARIA Resort & Casino. Just like the on day one, the players had to battle it out through seven levels of play to see which 19 would make it through to day three.
Having made it through the first day after an incredible win over Phil Hellmuth, Comedian Kevin Hart has to prove himself once again. Hart was not delusional in any way, and knew the odds were against him considering the level of talent remaining on the playing field, and realises he has to utilise his natural gift if he is to have any chance at repeating day one’s success.
“Well, personality is my only weapon that I can use,” he said. “My conversation, my voice – the ability to talk to people and possibly get people comfortable in an environment that they’re not comfortable in. A lot of these guys are very serious, staying within a realm of straight-face mental thinking,” said Hart. “If I can get you off that, if I can get you to talk to me, then I’m getting you to come into my world.”
“That’s the only advantage I have, these guys don’t make mistakes. They’re as solid as solid can be. I know that I made some mistakes yesterday, so I’m going to try to tighten up,” he added. “Once again, if you talk to me and you give me some conversation then I got you a little bit. All I got to do is get you to do what you normally don’t and that means you’re slowly stepping into my realm of poker.”
Hart’s second day of SHRB was even more eventful than the first, spending majority of the time at the feature table. He recorded yet another memorable feat when he eliminated Fedor Holz, last year’s runner-up. Hart went all-in for 110,000 with KQ. Holz called with KJ on a 5KT flop. The advantage went to Holz with a J on the turn, but ultimately the win was awarded to Hart with a 9 on the river, giving him a winning straight.
The comedian continued his winning streak when he went against Brian Rast. The pair got it on in a Qc8c6h flop in a single raised pot, with hard holding 97cc for the flush & straight draws, and Fast ahead with AcTc for the overlords and the flush draw. The 5h hit the turn, and then the river bricked for Rast and Hart celebrated with a lap of honour before dry humping the table.
The celebration was short lived, however, as Rast would have the last laugh as he sent the comedian home with his pocket kings.
It was an impressive run for Hart, especially considering the level of talent he was up against. These were some of the best poker players around the world. Although it was a short 2 days, he made some memorable plays, and definitely brought his share of entertainment values onto the show.
Justin Bonomo Leads The Pack
Finishing on top of the leader board with 2,628,000 at the end of Day 2 is the “social justice warrior”, Justin Bonomo.
“I just had a lot of fortunate situations – my bluffs worked, my value bets worked,” Bonomo said. “A lot of people think you’re lucky if you win an all in and you’re behind – yes, you’re lucky, but there’s other forms of luck too. When I made a big hand my opponents had a big hand too – there’s a lot of luck in that.”
The only other player with over 2 million in stack is 2015 GPI Player of the Year Byron Kaverman (2,063,000). After leading day 1, he continued the lead for most part of day 2 until Bonomo won a huge pot of around 700,000 in one of the final hands of the night against last year’s winner, Rainer Kempe.
Trailing behind in the distance is Dan Shak (1,482,000), Bill Klein (1,466,000), Christoph Vogelsang (1,391,000) and Leon Tsoukernik (1,335,000).
The rest of the sub-million stacks are lead by Pratyush Buddiga with 716,000
Several highly ranked players in the world didn’t manage to survive day 2, including the reigning GPI player of the Year David Peters, current GPI player of the year leader Bryn Kenney, 888poker Ambassador Dominik Nitsche, as well as the best tournament player in the world right now, Nick Petrangelo. Also saying goodbye is the only female player to enter, Lauren Roberts.
Day 2 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Stack |
| 1 | Justin Bonomo | 2.628,000 |
| 2 | Byron Kaverman | 2,063,000 |
| 3 | Dan Shak | 1,482,000 |
| 4 | Bill Klein | 1,466,000 |
| 5 | Christoph Vogelsang | 1,391,000 |
| 6 | Leon Tsoukernik | 1,335,000 |
| 7 | Pratyush Buddiga | 716,000 |
| 8 | Cary Katz | 701,000 |
| 9 | Jason Koon | 696,000 |
| 10 | David Einhorn | 685,000 |
| 11 | Jake Schindler | 567,000 |
| 12 | Stefan Schillhabel | 530,000 |
| 13 | Brian Rast | 526,000 |
| 14 | Rainer Kempe | 487,000 |
| 15 | Andrew Lichtenberger | 444,000 |
| 16 | Koray Aldemir | 356,000 |
| 17 | Zach Hyman | 267,000 |
| 18 | Jason Mercier | 243,000 |
| 19 | Daniel Negreanu | 225,000 |
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