[toc]The record-breaking Super High Roller event of the 2016 World Championship of Online Poker concluded on PokerStars earlier this week, with Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz securing his sixth seven-figure score of the past 12 months.
Holz, who just last month won the EPT Barcelona Super High Roller for $1.47 million, finished runner-up to Swedish player bencb789 after the two struck a heads-up deal to take home just over $1 million apiece.
The WCOOP Super High Roller
The $102,000 buy-in Super High Roller is the highest buy-in online poker tournament in history, doubling the $51,000 entry fee for the same event in 2015.
This year, 24 players (plus four re-entries) took the prize pool to $2.8 million.
The entry list, naturally, was a Who’s Who of high stakes poker with the likes of Jason Mercier, Doug Polk, Ben Sulsky, Bryn Kenney, Igor Kurganov and Isaac Haxton all falling short of the three money spots.
All three remaining players had experience at big PokerStars final tables, most notably Holz who won the 2015 WCOOP Main Event for $1.3 million.
Once “salfshb” was eliminated after his A-K didn’t hold up against A-Q, Holz and his opponent quickly discussed a deal.
The original payout of $800,000 for second and $1.4 million for first was quickly amended to award each player a little over $1 million, with an additional $56,000 to play for.
Heads-up lasted just a few hands, when Holz ran a bluff with a busted flush and straight draw only to be looked up by two pair.
WCOOP $102,000 Super High Roller results
The post-deal payouts for the record-breaking event were as follows:
- bencb789 (Sweden) $1,172,360.60
- Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz (Austria) $1,067,639.40
- salfshb (United Kingdom) $560,000
Fedor Holz’s $18 million year
This $1,067,639 cash is Fedor Holz’s sixth tournament cash of $1 million or more in the past twelve months, as well as his tenth podium finish in High Roller and Super High Roller events since December 2015.
His amazing run began with a $1.6m victory in the WPT Alpha8, just a couple of months after taking down $1.3 million for topping the 2015 WCOOP Main Event.
He followed this up in January by winning the Triton Super High Roller Series at Solaire Resort and Casino for $3.4 million.
Holz had to wait another four months for his next few million, the longest gap between Super High Roller final tables on his 2016 resumé, when he came second to Brian Rast in the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl for $3.5 million.
He then began an insane run at the Aria, winning three $50,000 buy-in events for a combined $1.3 million and then taking third for an additional $400,000. His incredible summer came to an end at the $111,111 buy-in High Roller for One Drop, for which Holz won $4.9 million and his first WSOP bracelet.
At this point, Holz announced he would be retiring as a full-time poker player and focusing on other avenues in life. Since then, however, he has won the EPT Barcelona Super High Roller event for $1.4 million and has now added another million-dollar score to his long list.
