Super High Roller Bowl: Wiktor Malinowski Wins SHRB Europe Main Event For Career-Best $3.70 Million 

The 2021 Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) Europe wrapped up on Wednesday after crowning Poland’s Wiktor Malinowski (cover image) as the latest Main Event champion! The former professional handball player and high-stakes crusher banked a personal-best $3.70 Million for the win!

Malinowski, known more prominently by his online moniker “Limitless,” made headlines in March when GGPoker Ambassador Fedor Holz challenged him to a heads-up match. The four-session GGPoker Face-Off Challenge eventually concluded with Holz winning three out of the four sessions, ending the challenge with a convincing $90,000 profit.

Malinowski has been a frequent fixture in several high-stakes tournament series, including the Triton Super High Roller Series and EPT Monte Carlo. The online high-stakes phenom is well-known for the numerous six-figure pots he has won online. Until recently, his most significant recorded tournament score was the €264,860 he earned as the seventh-place finisher in the €100,000 Super High Roller at 2019 European Poker Tour Monte Carlo. With this win, he has touched $4.39 Million in live tournament winnings.

2021 Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) Europe Series Recap

Running from August 23 to September 1, the 2021 Super High Roller Bowl Europe was held at Merit Royal Hotel Casino & Spa in North Cyprus.

The series kicked off with much aplomb, and the series-opener, Event #1: $25,000 Short Deck, grabbed more than the usual media coverage as the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey won the event for his first live poker tournament title of the year and a $408,000 payday.

The other standout performer at the series was the Lithuanian businessman, politician, and poker player, Antanas Guoga aka Tony G. After shipping Event #3: $25,000 Short Deck on August 26, he claimed his second title of the series in Event #7: $100K Short Deck just four days later.

2021 SHRB Europe Complete List of Winners

Final Day Recap

Coming back to the three-day-long Main Event, Day 1 registered 35 entries, and the day ended with United Kingdom’s Chi Zhang bagging the chip lead. With late registrations open on Day 2, seven more players entered, taking the player pool to 41 entries. The final day commenced with the six-handed final table, lead by Malinowski.

Malaysia pro Ivan Leow, who had previously final table bubbled Event #3: $25,000 Short Deck, looked ferocious on the FT. He knocked out Viacheslav Buldygin, David Peters, and Zhuang Ruan, while Malinowski secured Timothy Adams’s elimination.

Even after entering the heads-up showdown with a slight chip advantage, Leow could not go the distance. After a marathon of five-plus hours of heads-up action, Malinowski captured his first-ever SHRB title!

“It was a hell of a lot of fun,” Malinowski said in the post-match interview. “The final table took two hours and then played heads-up for five more. I haven’t played very well, and then I got ace-king. It was a great tournament. It’s good to have live poker back, so I’m looking forward to more action!”

With the Main Event gaining all the attention, not a lot was reported about Event #8: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em. Seth Davies came out on top in the event to collect the $435,400 top prize!

$250,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event

Day 2 of the $250,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event began with 29 players fighting to make it to the top six money spots, including the seven players who entered before the start of the day. Once the action became eight-handed, all seated players remained in the hunt for more than four hours.

Ali Imsirovic became the ‘bubble boy’ of the Main Event and he was eliminated by Wiktor Malinowski in seventh place.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Wiktor Malinowski – 3,100,000

2. Timothy Adams – 2,290,000

3. Zhuang Ruan – 1,760,000

4. Ivan Leow – 1,505,000

5. David Peters – 1,350,000

6. Viacheslav Buldygin – 305,000

Final Table Recap

Being the shortest stack, Viacheslav Buldygin was, expectedly, the first elimination on the final table. His failed to hold against Ivan Leow’s as the latter flopped top pair. Buldygin exited in sixth place.

Event #6: $100K NLHE runner-up finisher David Peters bowed out in fifth place when his were bested by Leow’s that spiked a nine on the turn.

Less than 10 minutes later, Timothy Adams ran his into Wiktor Malinowski’s . The runout bricked for Adams, eliminating him in fourth place.

Towards the start of Level 17, Zhuang Ruan’s were cracked by Leow’s that rivered a Jack-high straight on the runout .

Ruan’s third-place dismissal set up the heads-up between Ivan Leow (5,635,000) and Wiktor Malinowski (4,615,000). The heads-up lasted for over five hours, with the chip lead changing hands multiple times. In the end, Malinowski took down the title.

On the final hand, Malinowski shoved, and Leow called with his last 900,000.

Wiktor Malinowski:

Ivan Leow:

The community cards opened , and Malinowski turned a pair of eights, knocking Leow out in second place.

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Wiktor Malinowski – $3,690,000

2. Ivan Leow – $2,460,000

3. Zhuang Ruan – $1,640,000

4. Timothy Adams – $1,127,500

5. David Peters – $820,000

6. Viacheslav Buldygin – $512,500

Event #8: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em

Running along the sidelines of the Main Event, Event #8: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em did not receive much coverage. The two-day event attracted 19 entries, generating a $950,000 prize pool. Only the top three places were paid.

American pro Seth Davies had final tabled two events at the series, namely Event #2: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em and Event #4: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em, and missed out on clinching the title on both occasions. He finally got the monkey off his back as he took down the title for $435,400.

Davies defeated Jake Schindler in the heads-up to claim the title, while Mikita Badziakouski finished third.

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Seth Davies – $435,400

2. Jake Schindler – $362,600

3. Mikita Badziakouski – $152,000

Content & Cover Image Courtesy: PokerNews