Rainer Kempe wins $5 million
The German defeats a sick final table which included Fedor Holz, Erik Seidel and Phil Hellmuth to win the Super High Roller Bowl.
The biggest poker tournament of the year so far has just concluded with a stacked final table, with two stars of German poker duking it out for the top two prizes.
Eventually Rainer Kempe defeated fellow German (and PokerStrategist) Fedor 'crownupguy' Holz to take down the title and $5 million first prize, the biggest tournament prize of the year so far.
This $300,000 event was capped at 49 players and some of the biggest names in poker bought in, including Antonio Esfandiari, Jason Mercier, Isaac Haxton, Doug Polk, Dominik Nitsche, Phil Laak, Daniel Negreanu, Daniel Colman, Phil Galfond and defending champion Brian Rast.
However, after three days of action, we were left with a star-studded final table that included Fedor Holz, Phil Hellmuth, Dan Shak, Bryn Kenney and Erik Seidel.
Phil Hellmuth exited in 4th for $1,600,000 after a final table performance that included all his usual 'Poker Brat' behaviour of complaining and berating his opponents. Erik Seidel exited in 3rd and in stark contrast, was ever the Gentleman, as always. His $2,400,000 cash was enough to see him leapfrog Antonio Esfandiari to second on the all-time money list, with $29,083,818.
Fedor 'crownupguy' Holz continues his non-stop rise to the top of poker with $3.5 million for his runner-up spot. This takes his live earnings to an incredible $11,757,646, having previously won a Super High Roller in the Philippines this January for $3,463,500, a WPT Alpha8 title in December for $1,589,219 and countless other scores, not to mention the WCOOP Main Event in 2014 for $1,300,000. All this and he is just 22-years-old.
Kempe is not as known as his fellow countryman, but he won a €25,000 High Roller at EPT Prague in December for €539,000. Now he is firmly on the poker map and joins a long line of successful German High Rollers.
Now all eyes turn towards the World Series of Poker, which has its first open event today with the Colossus.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Rainer Kempe | $5,000,000 |
| 2nd | Fedor 'crownupguy' Holz | $3,500,000 |
| 3rd | Erik Seidel | $2,400,000 |
| 4th | Phil Hellmuth | $1,600,000 |
| 5th | Matt Berkey | $1,100,000 |
| 6th | Bryn Kenney | $800,000 |
| 7th | Dan Shak | $600,000 |
| 1 (49) | ||
Just how good is Fedor Holz right now? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
