It’s been a hectic couple of days. Here’s everything you need to know from the opening weekend of the PokerStars High Roller Series.
- Six events down, 21 to go
- “daskalos20” books $244K win in series opener
- Two close calls for “Roo_400”
- Top ROI figures so far
- Full results from first weekend
One weekend in and we’ve already completed six of the 21 events in the High Roller Series, leaving one more week of high-stakes action on the schedule. Three tournaments kick off today and one will wrap up. On the schedule today:
High Rollers 05: $5,200 8-Max Progressive KO, $500,000 guaranteed – Day 2 – 1 p.m. ET
The chip stacks at the end of High Rollers 05, Day 1
High Rollers 08: $10,300 8-Max, $1,000,000 guaranteed – 1 p.m. ET
High Rollers 09: $1,050 PL Omaha, $150,000 guaranteed – 2:30 p.m. ET
High Rollers 10: $530 8-Max Progressive KO, $250,000 guaranteed – Day 1 – 4 p.m. ET
“daskalos20” grabs $244K top prize in series opener
With the High Roller series, it’s fair to expect that most of the champions will be players whose names and exploits are already quite familiar to us. Such was the case in the opening event.
Andreas “daskalos20” Christoforou
The first day of play ended with just 13 players — the only ones who would collect any cash — remaining in the field. They regathered at 1 p.m. ET yesterday with Andreas “daskalos20” Christoforou of Cyprus holding the chip lead. Three hours later the tournament was over and daskalos20 was still at the top of the heap.
With this win, the past Sunday Million champ doesn’t just add another trophy to his cabinet — he also collects the largest prize of his career at PokerStars while facing down the best competition in the game. This is one that Christoforou will remember for some time — the $244K he collected for winning this tournament tops his Milly score from 2017 by almost $80K.
Roo_400 spins satellite win into two big scores
O Canada!
Aside from the winners’ huge top prizes, the biggest story out of the first weekend of this series was a pair of runner-up finishes for a Canadian player going by the screen name “Roo_400.”
Roo_400 won the $10,300 entry into Event #1 through a $530 satellite and eventually placed second behind daskalos20 for $187K — enough for a whopping 383-percent return on investment.
That would have enough to satisfy most players, but Roo_400 wasn’t done there. The Canadian turned around and placed second in the second event, a $1,050 Progressive KO tourney, for another $53K in prize money and bounties.
Tough competition abounds, of course. But with such a good start to the series, it wouldn’t surprise us to see Roo_400’s name appear in this space again before this week is done.
Top ROI finishers
Vienna-based Gambler4444 leads the ROI list
Satellites to High Roller Series events are available for as little as $5.50, which means there is ample opportunity to spin a small sum into a life-changing score. Even if you don’t start all the way at the bottom, a full range of satellite buy-ins means it’s possible to win big money for a fraction of the normal cost.
Roo_400 is actually only in second place on this list. Austria’s Gambler4444, a past Super Tuesday and Sunday Million winner, turned a $55 satellite entry into more than $32K with a fourth-place finish in Event 02. Here’s a quick look at some of the other biggest returns on investment during this series so far.
1. Gambler4444 (Austria) – $55 satellite into $32,033.27 – 582.423% ROI
2. roo_400 (Canada) – $530 satellite into $187,534.88 – 353.839% ROI
3. MyOnlyMemory (New Zealand) – $109 satellite into $22,792.94 – 209.11% ROI
4. snugg135 (Ireland) – $22 satellite into $3,372.66 – 153.303% ROI
5. piper_kl88 (Germany) – $109 satellite into $14,176.17 – 130.057% ROI
Results so far
High Rollers 01: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max]
Entries: 106 (80 entries, 26 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,060,000
1. Andreas “daskalos20” Christoforou (Cyprus) – $244,261.02
2. Roo_400 (Canada) – $187,534.88
3. Chris “Apotheosis92” Kruk (Canada) – $143,982.66
4. Conor “1_conor_b_1” Beresford (Netherlands) – $110,544.75
5. pm_marke (Netherlands) – $84,872.29
6. kimokh (Lebanon) – $65,161.91
7. EEE27 (Finland) – $50,029.03
8. Malaka$tyle (United Kingdom) – $38,410.47
9. iamivar (Sweden) – $32,125.31
Chris “Apotheosis92” Kruk
High Rollers 02: $1,050 NLHE 8-Max PKO
Entries: 652
Prize pool: $652,000
1. Pimmss (Netherlands) – $56,901.33 + $57,015.59
2. Roo_400 (Canada) – $41,586.12 + $12,078.12
3. papan9_p$ (Russia) – $30,393.27 + $8,960.94
4. Gambler4444 (Austria) – $22,212.95 + $9,820.32
5. Alex198818 (Netherlands) – $16,234.34 + $10,687.51
6. caIcuIer_ (United Kingdom) – $11,864.90 + $6,578.13
7. Mararthur1 (Russia) – $8,671.46 + $4,171.88
8. Jwall888 (Canada) – $6,337.57 + $6,843.75
Conor “1_conor_b_1” Beresford
High Rollers 03: $530 NLHE 8-Max Turbo
Entries: 656
Prize pool: $328,000
1. Cocojamb0 (Bulgaria) – $50,377.12*
2. ModzillaPL (Canada) – $48,714.56*
3. Bernardo “bedias” Dias (Brazil) – $30,579.73
4. Oliver “ollie_p” Price (United Kingdom) – $22,349.23
5. Sksjohny (Czech Republic) – $16,333.94
6. Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira (Netherlands) – $11,937.69
7. Disquesi! (United Kingdom) – $8,724.66
8. FreeLancerZZ (Malta) – $6,376.45
*Indicates a deal was made
Oliver “ollie_p” Price
High Rollers 04: $1,050 NLHE 6-Max Hyper Turbo
Entries: 299
Prize pool: $303,742.14
1. Manuel “Fellatiado” Ruivo (Poland) – $57,977.39
2. Pershingcube (Thailand) – $42,974.86
3. Remi Lebo_10 (Ukraine ) – $31,854.56
4. OMGitshunt (Belarus) – $23,611.79
5. Kimokh (Lebanon) – $17,501.89
6. neneADSL (Mexico) – $12,973.06
Manuel Ruivo
High Rollers 06: $530 NLHE 8-Max
Entries: 451 (316 entries, 135 re-entries)
Prize pool: $250,000
1. Joao “Naza114” Vieira (United Kingdom) – $44,811.01
2. papan9_p$ (Russia) – $33,306.67
3. heimeiren (China) – $24,755.87
4. Darwinsfish (Netherlands) – $18,400.32
5. Marto115 (Bulgaria) – $13,676.42
6. tinnoemulder (Netherlands) – $10,165.27
7. luelue399 (Canada) – $7,555.55
8. fuoliver1 (China) – $5,615.82
Joao Vieira
High Rollers 07: $1,050 NLHE 6-Max
Entries: 195 (120 entries, 75 re-entries)
Prize pool: $200,000
1. NEWFlat (Russia) – $39,890.96
2. JK-GuRRuNEAA (Hungary) – $30,153.46
3. MyOnlyMemory (New Zealand) – $22,792.94
4. IsnapUcry (Sweden) – $17,229.12
5. simon1471 (United Kingdom) – $13,023.46
6. t4t0PAGAU (United Kingdom) – $9,844.40
7. ThePateychuk (Russia) – $7,852.06
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