Sean Rafael Wins SHRB PLO IV for $1,150,000

Sean Rafael took down the Super High Roller Bowl: Pot-Limit Omaha IV title for $1,150,000, marking a major career milestone for the PLO tournament specialist. Rafael spent the better part of the last three years traveling the expanding global PLO tournament circuit. He put on a thoroughly dominant performance on his way to this marquee title, recording six of the last seven eliminations of the tournament, including four of his five final table opponents. “With how the final table went down, it was just like a bloodbath, but it was handed to me,” said Rafael. “Like that’s how the final table is meant to be played.”

Joao Simao was the last player standing in Rafael’s way. And though Simao has been on an absolute tear of late, winning almost $10 million at the recent Triton Jeju festival, not even he could halt Rafael’s momentum down the stretch. This seven-figure windfall represents the biggest live tournament result of Rafael’s career and the most significant trophy in his collection. This performance increased his career tournament earnings to $7,899,472. In the aftermath, Rafael was almost wistful about finally breaking through after numerous close calls over the last three years in big spots. “It feels a bit weird, with all things combined,” said Rafael. “I was [saying] earlier that I really like the chase, so it was fun to show up so many times and not quite get a big one. I’m curious if that hunger will like linger after the fact.”

High-Stakes PLO Action

The fourth edition of the PLO Super High Roller Bowl drew 27 entries on day 1 of the $100,000 buy-in tournament. Players were permitted a single re-entry before the close of registration at the start of day 2, but Alex Foxen, Eelis Parssinen, previous PGT PLO Super High Roller Bowl winner Jared Bleznick, and Ben Tollerene each got knocked out twice before the end of day 1. At the close of day 1, 11 players bagged chips. Five players elected to take advantage of a last-minute entry, as Jeremy Ausmus, Jesse Lonis, Nick Schulman, Cary Katz, and Lautaro Guerra started with a fresh stack at the start of day 2.

That brought the total field to 32 entries, producing a $3.2 million prize pool, which was split by the final six. It took until late in the night on day 2 for the money bubble to burst, as seven-handed play stretched on for about five hours. Youness Barakat, who started day 2 as chip leader, ultimately fell in seventh place, one spot short of a cash. After building up a considerable chip lead under the circumstances of the bubble, Rafael did the dirty work to burst it, flopping the nut flush to put away Barakat. Play continued for a brief stretch beyond that point, but the final six players bagged up with a chance to win $1.15 million the following day. Rafael had just over 4.9 million, with only Joao Simao (1.415 million) and Guerra (1.125 million) bagging up seven figures.

Final Table Eliminations: All Pain, No Spain

There were two Spanish players among the final six contenders for this title, but neither managed to fight their way back into contention. Cesar Garcia, who made two final tables and won the closing event during the recent PGT PLO Series, was the first of those two to go. Rafael raised the maximum amount from under the gun, and Garcia called, with the flop coming down . Garcia checked, Rafael bet about 25% of the pot, and Garcia raised. Rafael called, and the turn was the . Garcia shoved, Rafael called, and the cards were turned up.

Rafael was ahead with a set of eights, but Garcia had a fair number of outs with top two pair, aces and tens, and the nut spade flush draw. The river kept Rafael’s set on top, and Garcia went out in sixth place ($190,000). Guerra officially locked up a profit for the tournament by reaching the top five, and made the most of his second entry. But he, too, would also head to the rail in short order. Guerra got all in for 15 big blinds with against Rafael’s . Guerra was a 70.56% favorite preflop, according to the Card Player Omaha odds calculator, a fairly considerable edge considering the game. The flop and turn kept Guerra ahead, but the river made Rafael’s flush. Guerra was eliminated in fifth place ($255,000). With this score, Guerra now sits in a virtual tie for the top spot on the PLO all-time money list, with his $12.11 million in recorded scores in the game just narrowly trailing the $12.13 million of top-ranked Eelis Parssinen.

Rafael recorded his third consecutive final table elimination by dispatching Talal Shakerchi in fourth place ($350,000). Shakerchi got his last 6.5 big blinds all in preflop with , against Rafael’s . Rafael turned a Broadway straight, and dodged Shakerchi’s nut flush draw to finish the job.

Three-handed play carried on for almost a full 90-minute level, with Richard Gryko’s stack swinging the most over the course of that period. In one of the most critical pots of the final table, Rafael opened for a pot-sized bet of 210,000 from the button, and Gryko three-bet to 690,000 from the small blind. Simao four-bet all in from the big blind for 930,000, Rafael folded, and Gryko called all in for slightly less, a total of 845,000. Gryko’s was a dynamic hand, but his spades were dominated by Simao’s . That came into play as the board ran out , with Simao’s flush dwarfing Gryko’s. The Englishman finished in third place ($480,000).

Heads-Up Battle

Early on in heads-up play, Simao tanked for seven minutes and used up 14 time extension plaques facing an all-in river decision. Despite holding several key blockers, he correctly yielded to Rafael’s rivered straight. Simao closed the gap to less than 3:1 at his peak, but could not pull all the way back. On the final hand, the chips got in on a board. Simao’s was ahead of Rafael’s with one card to come, but Rafael still had a 27.5% chance to close out the tournament. The completed Rafael’s flush, and Simao was out in second place ($775,000).

POY and PGT Leaderboard Impact

With this win, Rafael earned 480 Card Player Player of the Year points. That pushes his total for the year to 4,176 POY points, good for 36th place on the yearlong leaderboard presented by CoinPoker, where players can also explore crypto action on CoinPoker. Simao (43rd), Gryko (63rd), Guerra (71st), and Garcia (91st) are all in the top 100 of the POY standings. Rafael also earned 400 PGT points for his SHRB PLO victory. With 684 PGT points on the season, Rafael jumps to 58th in their season-long standings, within striking distance of a top 40 spot and a seat in the season-ending $1 million PGT Championship. For players looking to sharpen their fundamentals, reviewing proper starting hands remains essential across all poker variations.