John Riordan's previous high score was a $210,180 win in the Main Event at WSOPC Palm Beach in 2011 — back when the Circuit ran at Palm Beach Kennel Club. It was Riordan's first recorded cash on The Hendon Mob, and he's had countless more since, but none bigger than the first until now.
That changed on Wednesday night at the PokerGO Studio, where Riordan beat a field of 37 entries to win the $100,000 Super High Roller Bowl Pot-Limit Omaha tournament for $1,250,000.
Riordan had to go to great lengths to get it, entering the day in the middle of the pack at a final table of five led by Sam Soverel. The three-time WSOP champ had a clear chip lead over Joao Simao in second and the rest of the pack, which was rounded out by Joni Jouhkimainen in fourth and Artur Martirosian in fifth.
Pay jumps like you've never seen
Marirosian and Jouhkimainen fell quickly in the first hour, both at the hands of Soverel, who put a lot of padding on a large lead. The min-cash was $300,000 — already a career high for Riordan. Three-handed play started with the eventual champ on the bottom, trailing Simao by a little and Soverel by a lot. Each player had already locked in $550K, but another $275K was waiting for the runner-up.
With pay jumps equal to the most money he has ever made, Riordan was in rare air.
"When you're playing something this big and every pay jump is enormous, everybody's well aware of them," he told us after the win. "There were no easy ladders. Everybody's playing for the win."
Soverel picked up more chips and started running away with it, but that was slowed down by a timely double for Riordan that leapfrogged him into second place. He soon doubled again and Simao faded until Soverel picked off a bluff and put the Brazilian away for good. See it below:
Bonus revenge
Heads-up play started and Soverel had a big lead — 7.6 million to 3.4 million — with blinds at 40K/80K/80K. But the advantage was cut down quickly when Riordan won a big pot with trip sixes, and the lead was gone all together after Soverel folded another pot to a big raise.
For the first time all day, Riordan thought he had a chance at his first seven-figure score, and a chance to get his lick back from a big pot that happened on the bubble on Day 2. Both players were battling to eliminate Dylan Weisman in eighth place, but Soverel turned over a flush to take the big pot.
"Once I got chip lead heads-up, that's when it really was like 'Oh you're not at risk, they're at risk', Riordan said. "I was clinging on the whole time. I mean he's the one who beat me in a massive pot on the bubble yesterday. I know how tough he is."
Not long after Riordan grabbed the lead, Soverel made his move on a flop of 
with 
. Riordan called and turned over 
with a meaty nut flush draw to end the tournament. A 
fell on the turn to convert the flush and the river was a blank for Soverel, handing Riordan $1,250,000 and the Super High Roller Bowl PLO title.
The Super High Roller Bowl series continues for one more day with the finale of the third and final event on Thursday, live on PokerGO's YouTube channel.
2025 Super High Roller Bowl PLO results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Riordan | $1,250,000 |
| 2 | Sam Soverel | $825,000 |
| 3 | Joao Simao | $550,000 |
| 4 | Joni Jouhkimainen | $400,000 |
| 5 | Artur Martirosian | $300,000 |
| 6 | Bryce Yockey | $225,000 |
| 7 | Jared Bleznick | $150,000 |
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO.
