Final Five Player Profiles
Seat 1: Jesus Cortes, 30, Zaragoza/Spain - 2,885,000
30-year-old Jesus Cortes is a wild card in Super High Roller fields. The Spaniard is a newcomer to this exclusive club of top-shelf players, but the long-time poker fans might remember Cortes' fantastic run in the 2010 EPT Barcelona Main Event. Cortes came close to hoisting the trophy, falling to Kent Lundmark in the final duel. He was awarded €525,000 for the runner-up finish. While Cortes' latest reported live cash dates all the way back to 2012, he has been ahead of the game; Cortes has been grinding live cash games in London and Spain for the last years.
Seat 2: Sam "Str8$$$Homey" Greenwood, Toronto, ON/Canada - 2,675,000
Sam “Str8$$$Homey” Greenwood, along with both his brothers, cashed in the $25,000 PSPC (49th for $69,100; Max was 47th and Luc 98th) and has continued on form throughout the Super High Roller. Fourth on the Canadian all-time money list, Greenwood has nearly $13 million in live tournament winnings. He has a WSOP bracelet, multiple SCOOP/WCOOP titles and high roller victories from the EPT, Partypoker Millions and ACOP and even a 6th place finish in this very event ($100,000 Super High Roller) from the 2015 PCA. An outspoken and respected member of the high stakes poker community and Run It Once poker coach, Greenwood has the credentials to back up his opinions and has plenty of experience in the toughest high buy-in fields.
Seat 3: Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi, 54, London/UK - 1,670,000
Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi, 54, has just made back-to-back final tables here at the PCA, in two of the biggest events on offer. The first – the record-breaking PSPC – saw him finish 8th out of 1.039 entrants for $509,000, and this $100,000 Super High Roller guarantees him at least a further $485,300 tomorrow. Businessman Shakerchi is a poker amateur only in the sense that it is not his day job; he’s 158th on the all-time money list for live poker, and 6th in the England-only one, with over $6 million in winnings. He is also the 2016 $10,000 SCOOP High Main Event champion, which he won on PokerStars for $1,468,000 to add to his sizeable virtual trophy cabinet.
Seat 4: Henrik "hhecklen" Hecklen, 28, Aarhus/Denmark - 3,465,000
Elite high stakes cash game grinder Henrik Hecklen arrived in the Bahamas fresh on the back of his biggest live tournament victory, having triumphed in last month's EPT Prague €10k High Roller for €503,700. That result helped Hecklen move inside the top 10 on the Danish all-time money list. While the 28-year-old is closing on $2 million in live tournament cashes, his bread- and-butter is the online grind. Hecklen's moniker "hhecklen" can be found mostly in high stakes cash games, but his tournament accolades are also spectacular. Hecklen notched four six-figure results at PokerStars, including two just short of $500,000.
Seat 5: Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen, 34, Clayton, NC/United States - 4,555,000
Former #1-ranked player on the PocketFives online tournament leaderboard, Chris Hunichen is notoriously known as "Big Huni" in the virtual poker arena. Hunichen one of the most prolific online tournament players of all times, having racked up over $11.7 million cashes with $7.2 million coming at PokerStars. Hunichen settled in Costa Rica after the Black Friday, and his résumé is packed with dozens of outright victories. However, Huni's standout result has been a bronze medal in the 2018 SCOOP Main Event which earned him a hefty $618,943. Hunichen has been successful on the live circuit as well, having accumulated nearly $3.8 million in winnings. He scored his largest live cash last month at the Bellagio where he picked up $592,000 for a third-place finish in a $100,000 event.
*Profiles above courtesy of PokerStars.