The final event of the Super High Roller Series Europe festival in Cyprus saw Jake Schindler take the title, winning a massive $3.2 million in the process. In doing so, Schindler’s win also confirmed what we almost already knew when the last tournament kicked off – that Phil Ivey was the overall SHRS Europe Leaderboard winner, banking an additional $25,000.
With just five players cashing and seven players making the final day, two more stars of the game had to miss the money on a final day of drama inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA in Las Vegas.
Two Leading Lights Bust the Bubble
Over the last two years, Ali Imsirovic and Michael Addamo have arguably been the two men in the richest form across both 2020 and 2021, amassing millions in poker winnings both live and online. That both men would bust before the five money places of the event kicked in says a huge amount about the standard of the opposition at the purple felt.
It was the five-time Super MILLION$ winner Michael Addamo who was the first player to bust on the final day, and he began the day as short stack, too. Addamo, who hails from Australia, busted with ace-king, as he was unable to overtake the Canadian player Timothy Adams’ pocket queens, resulting in a rare bust outside the money in super high roller terms for Addamo.
Adams was short too at the time, but that hand boosted him up above others, including the Bosnian-American Ali Imsirovic, who enjoyed a big win in the Wynn Millions High Roller event just last month. With the final half-dozen players battling on the bubble for several hours, it was eventually Imsirovic who departed without profit, running pocket kings into Adam’s pocket aces in a killer cooler that left all five remaining players in profit.
The Lead Changes Hands
Adams was on the rise in leaderboard terms at that time, but that was all about to change. After the first elimination inside the money places, Schindler was soon looking at the top of the leaderboard with renewed hope that he might occupy that place soon enough. It was Dutch player Teun Mulder who busted in fifth place for $560,000, when his ace-queen fell to Schindler’s king-jack, a jack on the flop spelling the end for the popular player from the Netherlands.
There was a dinner break between Mulder’s exit and Adams’ own departure as the chip leader with half a dozen players remaining slid out in fourth place for a disappointing result – albeit boosted by the $880,000 payday. By that point, Schindler had a firm grip on at least one half of the event trophy, with a stack of 4 million chips ahead of everyone, with German plyer Christoph Vogelsang the closest competitor with 1.5 million chips.
Adams busted with ace-jack, which was committed pre-flop only to run into Paul Phua’s ace-queen and the Malaysian businessman and super high roller poker player held through the board with ease once a queen arrived on the flop.
It wasn’t too long before play went heads up. Vogelsang was the man to bust out in third place, his queen-nine a fairly wide call pre-flop against Phua’s pocket sixes, and the German couldn’t hit to depart for a score of $1,280,000.
Schindler Closes it Out Against Phua
“‘Let’s get heads up again.’ It almost happened.”
Heads-up, Schindler more than had the chip edge on his opponent, and after a short duel, had the victory. After folding top pair in a crucial hand, Phua opened up and made an aggro move at the worst possible time, being all-in with queen-four and up against Schindler’s queen-jack, which turned out to be unassailable.
Phua won $2,080,000 for his run to second, but for Schindler it was a massive $3.2 million score and sweet revenge for his friend Vogelsang outlasting him when the two met in the Super High Roller Bowl III event in Las Vegas back in 2017 for $6 million.
“It’s sweet to get a title in one of these,” Schindler said after his win. “I came up short against Christoph [in 2017]. I made a joke to him earlier when we were walking around, like, ‘Let’s get heads up again.’ It almost happened.”
Schindler goes to 11th on the all-time money list, with over $30 million in tournament earnings across his career. He is still just 32 years old.
“This has to be the biggest win,” he admitted. “I just tried to play each hand at the time and play my best, think about each situation as they came along.”
Super High Roller Series Europe Final Table Results: |
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| Position | Player | Country | Chips |
| 1st | Jake Schindler | U.S.A. | $3,200,000 |
| 2nd | Paul Phua | Malaysia | $2,080,000 |
| 3rd | Christoph Vogelsang | Germany | $1,280,000 |
| 4th | Timothy Adams | Canada | $880,000 |
| 5th | Teun Mulder | Netherlands | $560,000 |
