Bleznick leads pack in $100k PLO Super High Roller Bowl, Negreanu still in hunt

The PokerGO Tour's first-ever Super High Roller Bowl: Pot-Limit Omaha began Monday afternoon at the PokerGO Studio in the Aria Las Vegas.

The event generated 38 entries, creating a prize pool of $3,800,000, divided amongst the top seven finishers. The eventual winner will receive $1,292,000, along with 500 PGT points, and the inaugural Super High Roller Bowl: Pot-Limit Omaha ring.

The first-of-its-kind event drew a number of notable names including Daniel Negreanu, Stephen Chidwick, Isaac Haxton, Chino Rheem, Chris Brewer, Jeremy Ausmus, Ben Tollerene, and many more.

Several players known specifically for their PLO prowess made appearances. Players like Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who finished fourth in this year's WSOP Main Event; Eelis Parssinen; Lou Garza, winner of the WSOP $10k PLO Championship; and Phil Galfond.

Chidwick, Haxton, and Rheem all come into the SHRB: PLO with recent major PGT victories under their belts.

Chidwick and Rheem each won events at the 2023 Poker Masters, with the former earning the player of the series title. Rheem himself just won the series champion title at the PGT's Mixed Games II and will look to continue his PGT hot streak with a strong performance in this event. Haxton, meanwhile, entered the event fresh off a victory at Super High Roller Bowl VIII, which ran just over two weeks ago. After claiming his second SHRB title, Haxton aims to go back-to-back for his third.

Bleznick takes sizable chip lead into Day 2

Jared Bleznick managed to distinguish himself from the rest of the field over the course of Day 1 play, no easy feat when you consider the caliber of the players in the event. Bleznick chipped up steadily throughout the day, always on the upwards trajectory.

Jared Bleznick takes a sizeable chip lead into Day 2 after a late spurt

Antonio Abrego

It wasn't until towards the end of play, however, that his stack exploded into chip lead territory. In a massive, three-way, all-in pot Bleznick somehow found himself ahead with merely an overpair to the board and an inside straight draw. Bleznick's opponents, Sean Winter and Steven Veneziano, had outs to scoop, but the turn and river provided only blanks. The double KO for Bleznick further bolstered his already impressive stack of chips.

Ben Tollerene sits second in chips after a similar end to the day saw his stack also bound up the leaderboard. The other tables in the room had already bagged up their chips and left for the day when a wild one went down between Tollerene and Laszlo Bujtas. In a seemingly innocuous hand, two pot-sized raises went in on the river with Tollerene showing down the jack-high straight flush for the winner.

The action picks up again tomorrow at blind level 4,000/8,000/8,000. The remaining 17 players begin Day 2 action at 12:00pm PT, with the stream kicking off one hour later at 1:00pm PT on PokerGO. The table draws and chip counts are listed below.

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

^{All Images Courtesy of PokerGO}