The final day of the $10,300 Super High Roller is upon us as part of the 2023 PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas at Resorts World with just six players remaining. One of those players will walk away with the top prize of $174,550 and a PokerStars trophy, and leading the way is California's David Stamm (852,000).
The California tech worker entertained the table last night by talking about his love of electronic dance music. Along the way, he managed to spin up a ten big blind stack to eventually take the final table chip lead over Sam Soverel (622,000), Jim Collopy (415,000) and Jesse Lonis (374,000), who made it to the final table with a boost that came from picking off a bluff from Tom Orpaz earlier in the day.
Sergio Aido held a big chip lead after doubling through Collopy with kings against Big Slick, but a few cold hands later and the Spaniard ended the night toward the bottom of the counts with 354,000, ahead of only Richard Green (180,000).
$10,300 Super High Roller Chip Counts
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Jesse Lonis
United States
374,000
25
2
David Stamm
United States
852,000
57
3
Jim Collopy
United States
415,000
28
4
Richard Green
United States
180,000
12
5
Sergio Aido
Spain
354,000
24
6
Sam Soverel
United States
775,000
52
Each remaining player is guaranteed a payout of at least $37,200, while the winner will receive nearly five times that.
Action will pick back up on Level 21 with blinds of 10,000/15,000/15,000. Levels are set to remain 60 minutes in duration, though they will be halved to 30 minutes if a deal is made.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize
1
$174,550
2
$114,460
3
$82,985
4
$62,955
5
$48,645
6
$37,200
Shannon Shorr and the gregarious John Morgan both made the money but were eliminated before the end of Day 2.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team is on-site here at Resorts World and is ready to provide updates as the $10,300 Super High Roller reaches its climax.
Sam Soverel opened to 20,000 from the hijack and Jesse Lonis called in the cutoff before Jim Collopy three-bet to 90,000 with just one chip behind in the small blind. Action folded to Soverel, who assessed the situation as he broke away from telling an inflammatory story.
"And if you [Lonis] call, he [Collopy] can still fold for 1k?" said Soverel. "This is exciting."
Collopy checked on the 9♠7♦4♠ flop and Soverel bet 60,000. Lonis called and Collopy also called with his final 1,000.
Soverel checked on the Q♣ turn and Lonis also checked. Soverel checked again on the 3♠ river and Lonis bet 118,000. Soverel took a sip of his Pellegrino, a switch from the variety of beers he drank deep into Day 2, before calling.
Lonis showed 8♠7♠ for a flush as Soverel and Collopy were respectively forced to show 10♦9♣ and A♦K♣. Soverel shook his head and moved on to the next hand as Collopy headed to the payout counter.
Sam Soverel was down to less than 100,0)0 and it looked like most of his chips went to Richard Green. Green then opened from the hijack and Soverel pushed in his stack with a single chip behind. Jesse Lonis called in the small blind and Green also called.
"Are you two gonna check it down?" inquired Soverel.
The flop of Q♥4♦3♠ checked through and Lonis bet 15,000 on the 9♣ river as Green and Soverel both called.
Lonis and Green checked on the 8♦ river and Green showed K♥Q♠ to beat out the 5x5x of Lonis and A♠7♠ of Soverel to mark the latter's elimination.
Richard Green open-jammed a stack of around 250,000 on the button and Sergio Aido re-shoved a stack of 435,000 in the small blind to get things heads-up.
Richard Green: Q♠10♥
Sergio Aido: A♦J♦
Green couldn't pull ahead as the board ran out 7♥10♠A♥5♠K♦ to mark his elimination in fourth place after a rollercoaster morning.
"And then there were three," Lonis said after telling Green he would see him in the Pot-Limit Omaha event.
Jesse Lonis opened to 60,000 on the button and David Stamm defended out of the big blind.
Stamm checked on the flop of A♥2♣5♠ and Lonis continued for 70,000. Stamm called. Stamm checked again on the 4♦ turn and Lonis checked back.
The J♦ river completed the board and Stamm bet 320,000. Lonis called. Stamm showed 5♦2♦ for two pair, but it was no good against the aces-up of Lonis with A♠4♠.
Jesse Lonis had chipped away at David Stamm's stack before a final confrontation where Stamm opened to 80,000 on the button and Lonis put him to the test by three-betting all in. After some deliberation, Stamm called to put himself at risk.
David Stamm: 5♥5♠
Jesse Lonis: K♠10♦
The flop of 6♦8♦8♠ kept Stamm's fives ahead and the 3♥ turn didn't change anything. However, the 10♥ river gave Lonis the winner as Stamm was eliminated in second place for $114,460.
It took three hours, but Jesse Lonis won his latest poker trophy and some extra savings for his two young daughters after defeating David Stamm in the $10,300 Super High Roller as part of the 2023 PokerStars North American Poker Tour Las Vegas at Resorts World. Lonis came out on top of the lengthy heads-up battle to win $174,550, just one of several six-figure scores this year for the young poker star.
The Super High Roller event, which kicked off the return of the NAPT after a 12-year hiatus, drew 59 players for a prize pool of $572,300. Shannon Shorr (8th - $22,890) and John Morgan (7th - $28,615) fell on Day 2 before six players returned on Day 3, including high stakes regular Sam Soverel (4th - $48,645) and Spanish crusher Sergio Aido (3rd - $82,985).
$10,300 NAPT Super High Roller Final Table Results
PLACE
PLAYER
COUNTRY
PRIZE (IN USD)
1
Jesse Lonis
United States
$174,550
2
David Stamm
United States
$114,460
3
Sergio Aido
Spain
$82,985
4
Richard Green
United States
$62,955
5
Sam Soverel
United States
$48,645
6
Jim Collopy
United States
$37,200
7
John Morgan
United States
$28,615
8
Shannon Shorr
United States
$22,890
The New York native's latest victory comes at the tail end of a year that kicked off with a win at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) for $367,400 and included a bracelet win at the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the $50,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for $2,303,017.
“It feels like the Triple Crown," Lonis told PokerNews in a winner's interview. "I got the one in the Bahamas, the WSOP and now this one. So it’s nice. It feels good, obviously. I feel like I’m playing good and everything’s aligning pretty nice. And running good too. So it feels good to win this one.”
"You Can Have the Trophy, I’d Rather Have the Money"
The Day 3 field shrunk rapidly with the quick eliminations of Jim Collopy, Soverel and Richard Green, who had a rollercoaster day that saw him doubling up Stamm and Aido before falling in fourth for $62,955.
Aido was next to fall as he three-bet jammed with king-ten only to run into the ace-king of Stamm, who held up to enter heads-up play with a formidable chip lead over Lonis.
Stamm, a retired tech businessman from California with more than $1.4 million in live earnings, couldn't hold off the young poker star who was motivated by some earlier beats he took in the tournament.
“It was really tough in that aspect," Lonis said. "I just kept trying to stay the course because I would take a few big coolers, but I wasn’t getting frustrated. I just kept playing my game and just knowing that eventually I would hold in the big spots and just kept the course. And I didn’t really make any mistakes that I remember, which is rare in tournaments. So I feel like I really played my A-game and made some really sick hero calls in this one. And I think I folded correctly a lot. So it was a real battle. It was a test.”
But Lonis was motivated by more than bad beats. While he battled for the win behind a reflective pair of aviators and a Puma bomber jacket, he was thinking about his wife and two daughters at home here in Las Vegas.
“When I was heads-up, I was telling him [Stamm], I care about the money. I told him, ‘You can have the trophy, I’d rather have the money.’ And everything is just preparing them for the future and everything. So obviously the money is just very important. That’s why we play this game and go crazy at times. But it feels amazing, and they're definitely my biggest motivation, for sure.”
While Lonis came out on top in "probably the longest heads-up I’ve played," he credited Stamm as being a tough opponent.
“We’ve played quite a few times in the last couple of years and I know he’s actually pretty studied up for an older gentleman," he said. "He studies the game like these young kids do. He’s definitely studied more than I have. He’s not a bad player. He understands the spots. He’s always asking if he’s doing the right thing, but he plays pretty good.”
Lonis had joked earlier at the final table that he'd "never studied a day in my life." How does he manage to stay competitive at poker's highest levels without hitting the lab?
“I understand the game pretty good. It’s a volume game. It’s like anything. If you play every day and practice every day, you’re going to be great. And I’ve always just had the confidence to play against anybody. So I think that helps, just that I look at everyone equal no matter who they are … I guess I’ve got good intuition too. I can read situations pretty well and know when it’s time to go and when to fold.”
A celebration will have to wait as Lonis wasted no time hopping into $5,300 Pot-Limit Omaha with many of the opponents he faced in the Super High Roller.
That wraps up the PokerNews live reporting team's coverage of the $10,300 Super High Roller, but be sure to check out the NAPT Las Vegas portal for coverage of other events.