High-stakes online professional Wiktor ‘Limitless’ Malinowski captured a resume-topping live score after taking down the Super High Roller Bowl Europe $250,000 Main Event for his first SHRB ring and the $3,690,000 first-place prize.
The quarter-million-dollar tournament attracted an elite field of 41 entries and created a prize pool of more than $10.2 million. Poker superstars including Phil Ivey, Michael Addamo, Bryn Kenney, and Ali Imsirovic all made their way to Merit Royal Hotel & Casino in Cyprus to take their shot at a seven-figure score but it was Poland’s Malinowski who topped them all. In the end, ‘Limitless’ was able to lean on his expertise in heads-up play in what turned out to be a lengthy heads-up match against Malaysian tournament specialist Ivan Leow in order to win his career-best cash.
It didn’t take long for the first player to fall. With the blinds at 25,000/50,000 (50,000 ante) Viacheslav Buldygin, who started the day with just eight big blinds, was all the way down to fewer than two big blinds. Holding 
, he called the 50,000 big blind, leaving himself just 40,000. Right behind him, Leow also called holding 
and Ruan Zhuang checked his big blind option with 
. The three players saw a flop of 
. It checked through to Leow who put in a bet of 90,000. Zhuang quickly folded and Buldygin committed the rest of his chips. The turn came the 
giving Buldygin some additional outs, however, the 
river was not one of them and the Russian exited in sixth place for $512,500.
It was an up and down day for David Peters who, early at the final table found a critical double up and then, not long after provided a double-up of his own to Leow when Leow’s 
flopped a set on Peters’ 
. With just ten big blinds left, Peters moved all-in from under the gun holding 
. Right behind him, Leow leveraged some of those chips he took off Peters and made the call with the 
. The rest of the table got out of the way and the pair saw a flop of 
, keeping Peters ahead. The 
turn gave Leow a pair and left Peters looking for one of the final fours in the deck. The river came the and Peters headed for the exit to collect his $820,000 fifth-place prize as Leow took over the chip lead.
It was just ten minutes later when Malinowski picked up 
and put in a raise to 125,000. It folded to Timothy Adams who, in the big blind with 
, moved all-in for his final 25 big blinds. Malinowski snap-called putting Adams at risk. The 
flop brought open-ended straight outs for Adams but kept Malinowski as a three-to-one favorite. The turn changed nothing and when the 
hit the river, Adams was eliminated in fourth place for $1,127,500.
With three left, Malinowski and Leow were nearly even in chips with Zhuang looking up with just over 15 big blinds. After the first break, on the first hand of 30,000/60,000 (60,000 ante), Zhuang raised to 120,000 holding 
. Leow made the call, defending his big blind with 
. The flop came 
and when Leow checked it over to Zhuang put out a bet of 200,000, which Leow quickly called. The turn came the , keeping Zhuang ahead but offering Leow additional outs to a gutshot straight. Leow checked again, and with a little more than a pot-sized bet left, Zhuang moved all-in for 755,000. This time, Leow took his time and got a complete count. Deep in the tank, he used multiple time bank extensions before eventually making the call. With only nine outs in the deck, the river came the , giving Leow the straight and cracking the aces of Zhuang. Zhuang fell in third place and picked up a career-high score of $1,640,000.
As heads-up play got underway, Leow held a 15 big blind chip lead over Malinowski. However, it only took one hand for Malinowski to bring the chip stacks to even. After that, the grind began. Malinowski and Leow embarked on a heads-up battle that lasted over five hours with grabbing and losing momentum and the chip lead being passed back and forth.
The early hours of heads up belonged to Malinowski and eventually, Leow clawed his way back to the chip lead. As the blinds increased to 100,000/200,000 (200,000 ante) the stacks were within four big blinds of each other when the penultimate hand of the match had the biggest swing of the tournament. Malinowski raised to 400,000 holding and, with the larger stack, Leow moved all-in with his . Malinowski call, putting himself at risk. Both players stood and watched as the flop came 
keeping Malinowski ahead but offering Leow some extra outs. The turn was the 
, bringing some additional chop outs. But the river was the and Malinowski picked up the biggest pot of the tournament, leaving Leow’s stack crippled to just three big blinds.
It was all over the next hand when Malinowski moved all-in holding 
and Leow stuck it in as well with the . The flop came , but it was the 
turn that paired Malinowski and there was no help for Leow with the river. After a hard-fought heads-up match, Leow took home $2,460,000 as the runner-up and Wiktor ‘Limitless’ Malinowski captured his first Super High Roller Bowl Main Event ring and the $3,690,000 first-place prize, far and away a career-high live score.
Super High Roller Bowl Europe Main Event Final Table Results
- Wiktor Malinowski – $3,690,000
- Ivan Leow – $2,460,000
- Ruan Zhuang – $1,640,000
- Timothy Adams – $1,127,500
- David Peters – $820,000
- Viacheslav Buldygin – $512,500