Three $5,000 buy-in high rollers have taken place at the Champions Club in Houston, Texas this week and with two PokerStake players among the winners, fans and investors alike celebrated victories. Daniel Sepiol, Victoria Livschitz and Aram Zobian all lifted TPO trophies as The Lone Star State played host to high roller action of the highest calibre.
Victoria Livschitz Conquers Opening High Roller for $45,500
The PokerStake player Victoria Livschitz won the opening high roller as she defeated the other in-the-money player Michael Wang heads-up. Winning a Texas Poker Open winners belt buckle, Livschitz also claimed the vast majority of the prizepool as the first of seven high rollers in this inaugural Texas Poker Open series concluded.
The $5,100-entry No-Limit Hold’em High Roller #1 saw 13 entrants in total, amounting a prizepool of $65,000. Players who busted outside of the money places were of champion-level quality, with PokerGO favorite Jeremy Ausmus, one of 2023’s finest Chino Rheem, recent highflier Jesse Lonis and PokerStake player David Coleman all falling just short of glory.
Others to bust included David Mzareulov, Casey Brown, U.S. Poker Open winner Aram Zobian, Chander Jain, and Joseph Coffaro. Jeremy Becker, the subject of a major WSOP prop-bet against Landon Tice this summer at the WSOP came third and as Wang and Livschitz began the heads-up for the $45,500 top prize, the Texas Poker Open belt buckle trophy was on the line.
Wang had the lead but both players held the lead on multiple occasions before Livschitz worked her way into a 3:1 chip lead. Wang held a king-high flush but ran it into Livschitz’ ace-high flush and shortly after, was short enough to shove for eight bigs with queen-jack. Livschitz called with a dominated hand, but her queen-nine hit a nine on the flop and sent Wang home in second place for $19,500, grabbing the title herself, the $45,500 enough to tip her lifetime earnings over $1 million.
Zobian Dominates Final Stages to Win Second High Roller for $48,600
The second Texas Poker Open high roller took place on Saturday, with 18 entrants this time, and three paid places on the leaderboard. A prizepool of $90,000 saw players such as David Mzareulov, Matthew Wantman, Isaac Kempton, Chander Jain, Frederic Normand, Ed Sebesta, Jim Collopy, Jeremy Ausmus and the Main Event final table chip leader Yunkyu Song all bust outside the money places.
It was Jeremy Ausmus who busted in fourth place, just bubbling the money. Victoria Livschitz was the immediate beneficiary of that bust-out, slipping into the money places for the second consecutive event but she couldn’t bag a second title, ending up going out in third place for $14,400 as her fellow PokerStake player Aram Zobian took out his most dangerous rival.
Heads-up, Daniel Negreanu’s protégé for the Vegas summer Jeremy Becker, missed out on the $48,600 top prize. Aram Zobian went into the final duel with a big lead and when Becker turned trips that still couldn’t catch Zobian’s flopped flush, all the chips went into the middle and ended up in front of Zobian for those winner photos no player minds being taken.
Daniel Sepiol Seals Third High Roller Victory
The third high roller had the most entrants so far, with 33 total entries at $5,100 each creating a prizepool of $165,000. The Champions Club in Houston, Texas, saw just five players finish inside the money places. It was James Mendoza who busted on the money bubble, just missing out on the money places.
After Phu Vo busted in fifth place for $13,200, the poker legend and PokerGO favorite Chino Rheem left in fourth place for $18,150. Three remained, and Aram Zobian – who won the second event – was unable to repeat the trick, busting in third place for $26,400.
Heads-up, a deal was struck between Josh Arieh and Daniel Sepiol, who did an ICM chop for the prize money that was left. Arieh had the lead so took the biggest chunk, winning $54,510 to Sepiol’s $52,740. Both players were happy to play a ‘flip’ hand of Pot Limit Omaha for the Belt Buckle and Sepiol it was who took it home as he made a straight to take the trophy and bump his lifetime winnings to over $6.84 million.
| Texas Poker Open $5,100 High Roller Event #3 Results: | |||
| Place | Place | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Daniel Sepiol | United States | $52,740 |
| 2nd | Josh Arieh | United States | $54,510 |
| 3rd | Aram Zobian | United States | $26,400 |
| 4th | Chino Rheem | United States | $18,150 |
| 5th | Phu Vo | United States | $13,200 |
Photographs courtesy of PokerGO, the home of the Texas Poker Open and the forthcoming 55th Annual World Series of Poker.
