Martin Kabrhel commanded the center of attention on Day 2 of the $250,000 Super High Roller, but an early run fizzled out when David Peters bluffed him on the stone bubble and the Czech pro will need to spin it back up to get back into contention on Tuesday's Day 3.
Meanwhile, seven-time WSOP champ Daniel Negreanu will move on to the next one after a ninth-place finish.
Monday's Day 2 continued where Day 1 left off, with plenty more chatter from the Czech pro and and a growing legion of fans that packed the rail to witness him play in the Horseshoe Event Center. The session began with two more levels of registration and settled in to a final field of 63 entries, setting up a $4.7 million prize for Tuesday's winner.
Lights, camera, Kabrhel
Kabrhel cast a shadow over the typical high roller lineup of poker superstars, with players like Negreanu, Jason Koon, Phil Ivey, and Adrian Mateos running deep into Day 2 with an eye on the top-10 paying spots. He picked up a lot of chips as the field dwindled, and he was the certified star of the show when it was time to kick over to a livestream. He even tried directing the show, moving camera men around and checking the monitors.
Elsewhere, players at the outer tables were taking advantage of the silence. Negreanu, who appeared deep into the WSOP and tired, was nursing an average chip stack at a relatively silent table. Across the aisle, Alex Foxen and Seth Davies headlined another table that was exercising their right to remain silent.
Keep up for $20K?
The table of Ivey and Chris Brewer, however, was anything but silent about Kabrhel. In fact, Ivey was looking for takers on a Kabrhel-related freeroll.
“Every time Martin asks a question, you have to ask him a question back,” Ivey told a curious Alex Kulev. The price was $20,000, and there was no risk.
“In this tournament?” Kulev asked. “I’d do it for the buy-in.”
Brewer said he would consider it seriously if he didn’t have backers. “If it was a $10K buy-in I’d do it.”
“I want it to be painful for someone,” Ivey said. There were no takers but the open challenge remained.
While this was going on, Kabrhel was picking up more chips on the feature table. A rivered flush sent Koon to the rail and a dinner break shuffled Kabrhel away from the TV lights.
Peters casts a spell
A parade of bustouts sent the tournament from four tables to three, and then three to two. The vanquished included Mateos, Schulman, Kulev, Jesse Lonis, and Ivey, who gave his chips to Kabrhel. Eventually, with a little over one level to play in the evening, the tournament hit the stone bubble with 11 players left, setting up a clash between Kabrhel and Peters that will be talked about for some time.
It started three-handed, with Negreanu and Peters sharing an ace-king against Kabrhel's suited ten-eight. It was that kind of day, so the flop fell 
and Kabrhel was in the cat bird seat.
A min-bet from Kabrhel kept Negreanu in the pot and Peters check-raised with his top pair. Kabrhel saw his chance and raised, which allowed Negreanu to get away from it and set up a heads-up confrontation with Peters. The turn was 
and Peters had the 
, which led to checks from both players and a 
on the river.
Kabrhel fired and Peters check-raised for most of the rest of the Czech's chips. The bluff worked and Kabrhel tossed the winning hand in the muck (silently). The pot shifted Kabrhel to the bottom half of the counts, and he will now return on Tuesday with the second-shortest stack.
Andrew Lichtenberger ended up being the unlucky one on the bubble, leaving 10 cashing players to sprint for the final table. Biao Ding fell soon after and Negreanu was the last player out before the eight survivors bagged for Tuesday's final table.
Thomas Boivin will return with the lead and it's a big one over Ben Tollerene in second and Alex Foxen in third.
$250,000 Super High Roller final table chip counts
| Rank | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Boivin | 28,025,000 |
| 2 | Ben Tollerene | 15,450,000 |
| 3 | Alex Foxen | 14,525,000 |
| 4 | Seth Davies | 10,500,000 |
| 5 | Bryn Kenney | 9,925,000 |
| 6 | David Peters | 9,650,000 |
| 7 | Martin Kabrhel | 3,675,000 |
| 8 | Chris Brewer | 2,725,000 |
