Sam Soverel Wins NAPT High Roller as Coleman Falls Just Short

At a final table littered with big names and eight American poker heroes, Sam Soverel conquered all. The high roller regular proved yet again just why he is a man feared at any stakes in No Limit Hold’em as he took care of a final table packed with talent. Players such as David Coleman, Nick Seward, Danny Wong and others battled bravely but couldn’t overcome Soverel as the United States star leapt up the All-Time Money List on The Hendon Mob.

Bumper Buy-Ins for High Roller in Vegas

The city of Las Vegas is no stranger to big action, and PokerStars were always going to make the prizepool juicy enough to attract the best of the best. With 170 total entries, a prizepool of $1,328,900 would see 23 players make the money with a min-cash worth $19,150 and the top prize of $385,750 a superb return on the winner’s initial investment.

Players such as Dan Sepiol (22^nd for $19,150), Martin Zamani (19^th for $22,000) and Scott Seiver (16^th for $25,300) all made a return on their money, with Alejandro Lococo (14^th for $29,100) and David Stamm (10^th for $38,500) going close to the final table without quite making the cut.

Once at the nine-handed final table, it was a meeting of eight Americans and one player from the Ukraine, as Valentyn Shabelnyk attempted to survive with home country heroes all around him. The first player to bust, however, was Ryan Hohner, who busted in ninth place for $44,250. Soon after, Brian Altman lost most of his stack to Shabelnyk, before the Ukrainian lost out to Seward as Altman’s fellow American took his chips, as Altman’s king-seven was no good against Seward’s two-pair.

Wong Gets it Wrong

Shortly after Altman’s elimination, Danny Wong busted in seventh place for $63,700. All-in with pocket kings, he started his final hand way clear of Barry Woods with ace-ten. That stayed the same on the 7-3-2 flop and the nine on the turn was no concern for the at-risk player either. An ace on the river proved fatal for Wong, though, sending him home as a three-outer eliminated him from the event.

Adam Adler was all-in with king-jack next and got a quick call from Sam Soverel with ace-queen. A seven-high board of 7-5-5-2-6 was no good for Adler, as Soverel’s ace-high hand prevailed. Despite that pot heading his way, Soverel was short stack with 1 million chips with five players left, with Shabelnyk on 1.1m, David Coleman on 1.5m, Nick Seward on 1.95m and the chip leader Barry Woods on 3m.

Nick Seward took out the Ukrainian Valentyn Shabelnyk in fifth place for $101,900 when the latter called off his stack with queen-ten of clubs. Seward had shoved with ace-jack of hearts, and a board of 7-7-6-5-9 stacked the Ukrainian, putting Seward into second place behind Barry Woods.

Coleman’s Hooks Get Sunk

“I didn’t sleep much last night, I kind of partied a bit!”

One of PokerStake’s finest, David Coleman, won $132,450 in fourth place when he became Sam Soverel’s latest victim. Coleman got it in good, too, shoving with pocket jacks only to lose to Sam Soverel’s ace-seven of spades. A flop of T-9-5 was safe enough for Coleman, but the eight on the turn gave Soverel an open-ended straight draw. It was the cruellest of turn cards that came to deliver Coleman from the event as a jack landed on the river.

Three-handed play saw Barry Woods go from hero to zero over a damaging level that ended with his exit in third for $172,200. All-in with ace-three offsuit, Woods was ahead of Soverel’s king-jack but the deck once again favored the eventual winner, a board of Q-9-5-J-K sending play heads-up with Soverel on 6,425,000 chips and Seward on just over 2 million.

Soverel began heads-up with a better than 3:1 chip lead and the early skirmishes went his way before middle pair with a king kicker was good enough to give him a 7:1 lead. The writing was on the wall, and while Seward recovered slightly, he was still a massive underdog when a board of K-T-8-6-A prompted a shove from Soverel with king-nine. Seward sat pondering the call for some time before making it, tossing ten-four into the muck as he stood, shaking Soverel’s hand after the heads-up battle had gone all wrong for the runner-up, earning him a score of $241,100. Soverel could celebrate, taking home $385,750 and the famous ‘Spadie’ trophy.

“I didn’t sleep much last night, I kind of partied a bit,” admitted Soverel about his casual preparations for the event. “I don’t know how I played; I think I made a couple mistakes, but it worked out in the end.”