Don’t touch Justin Bonomo right now, he’s on fire. The recent Super High Roller Bowl China champion continued his sizzling hot start to the year on Day Two at the SHRB in Las Vegas by snatching the chip lead with 14 players remaining.

Monday’s action inside the new PokerGo Studio saw Phil Ivey head to the exits after his flopped straight lost to Bryn Kenney’s turned full house.

Fedor Holz, Bill Perkins, and 2016 champion Rainer Kempe, were also among the Day Two casualties. Defending champion Christoph Vogelsang isn’t far off the lead as he looks to go back-to-back in this $300,000 buy-in tournament.

Kid Poker Holding Steady

Daniel Negreanu entered the day with a massive chip lead at just over 1.6 million and never got much going on Day Two but was able to hover around his Monday starting stack most of the day, finishing at 1.5 million, good for 5th place.

Day Three Starting Chip Stacks

1 Justin Bonomo (United States) 2,144,000

2 Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom) 1,983,000

3 Seth Davies (United States) 1,754,000

4 Christoph Vogelsang (Germany) 1,717,000

5 Daniel Negreanu (Canada) 1,515,000

6 Jason Koon (United States) 1,271,000

7 Mikita Badziakouski (Belarus) 1,162,000

8 Kahle Burns (Australia) 608,000

9 Byron Kaverman (United States) 606,000

10 Steffen Sontheimer (Germany) 533,000

11 Nick Petrangelo (United States) 330,000

12 Matt Hyman (United States) 328,000

13 Sam Soverel (United States) 230,000

14 Sergio Aido (Spain) 198,000

Day Three kicks off at noon PT with live coverage beginning at 1 on PokerGo. With $5 million going to the winner and only seven of these players to walk away with money, the pressure will increase on Tuesday.

Play will continue until the final table of seven remain and the tournament will conclude on Wednesday.

Those who are in Las Vegas for the summer can catch the action live, in-person at the PokerGo Studio outside the Aria on the Strip.

Can Anyone Stop Bonomo?

You can’t stop Justin Bonomo right now, you can only hope to contain him. The Las Vegas resident has done some serious damage on the high stakes poker scene this year, twice cashing for seven figures and, if the current SHRB chip leader finishes in the top 5, that will make it three. And it’s only May.

Bonomo, who now has almost $27 million in lifetime live tournament winnings, scored his biggest career win in March, $4.8 million, for winning the SHRB in Macau, China.

When interviewed by PokerGo’s Maria Ho, he admitted luck has played a major role in his 2018 heater but also said he’s been playing great poker, a claim few of his opponents would disagree with.

“ZeeJustin” can thank a cooler flop against Fedor Holz for his massive chip stack.

Hand of the Day

Justin Bonomo A♣K♣

Fedor Holz J♣10♣

Holz three-bet Jason Koon’s pre-flop raise (hand unknown) from 12,000 to 35,000. Bonomo then put out a four-bet in the small blind to 95,000. Koon folded, Fedor opted to take a flop, which came 7♣5♣3♣, gin for one player, yahtzee for the other.

Bonomo bet out 70,000 and got a call. He again led for 150,000 when the 3♠ landed on the turn and Holz went for a raise to 390,000. ZeeJustin made the call.

After the 7♦ turned over on the river, Bonomo checked and Holz moved all-in for 450,000.

In this spot, most players would instantly call, but Bonomo wanted to think for a moment before making his decision. Could Fedor have a 7 or a 3 for a full house given how this hand played out? ZeeJustin eventually decided Holz didn’t have any 7s or 3s in his range, so he made the correct call and sent the German superstar home.

On the way out, the usually non-emotional Holz questioned why it took Bonomo so long to make what he felt was an obvious call.

Bonomo said during a PokerGo interview later that he wasn’t slow rolling Holz and that, “I think he believes me.”

Justin Bonomo is running so hot right now that even Fedor Holz can’t cool him off. Will one of the 14 remaining players in the Super High Roller Bowl be up to the task on Tuesday? We’ll let you know tomorrow.

nocz_joker entered this week’s Sunday Million final table with the chip lead and ended in the same position an hour and 45 minutes later.

What sounds like it might have been an inevitable run was actually anything but. Big hands, action boards, and a group of players willing to gamble combined for a final that cruised by in most entertaining fashion. After dropping to within just a few big blinds of elimination, nocz_joker managed to come back, put it all together, and pull off a memorable Sunday Million victory.

The first post-SCOOP Sunday Million of 2018 saw its start time moved up an hour, helping to draw nearly 6,400 entries before late registration closed. nocz_joker spent a fair portion of the latter part of the day with the chip lead, holding it from 12 tables until eight, and then taking it over again with 14 players left and holding it through to the final table.

Germany’s Henk88 was the unlucky player to bubble this week’s final. Henk88 shoved for 5.9 million in the big blind after firgli opened for 520,000 on the button. firgli called with 8♥8♦ and promptly flopped a set. Henk88 turned flush and gutsot draws but never got there, leaving in 10th place while these nine players progressed to fight over the big money:

Seat 1: paardman (2,257,666 in chips)
Seat 2: jackpot875 (13,559,469 in chips)
Seat 3: Mortan23 (1,792,588 in chips) two-time past Sunday Million finalist, went heads-up for Super Tuesday title twice in 2017
Seat 4: nocz_joker (16,000,760 in chips)
Seat 5: mentor1904 (3,336,310 in chips) Sunday Million finalist last March
Seat 6: T3G3S (8,112,076 in chips) past SCOOP & WCOOP winner
Seat 7: alpinko (1,575,722 in chips)
Seat 8: firgli (14,086,069 in chips) SCOOP 2018 finalist
Seat 9: NemesisMsop (3,119,340 in chips) past SCOOP & TCOOP finalist

It didn’t take long for the action to become fatal to the short-stacked players. firgli opened the 13th hand of the final table with A♥J♥ all-in from the small blind and NemesisMsop called for about nine big blinds with K♥J♠ in the big. The board brought no help and NemesisMsop left in ninth.

One orbit later firgli was the lone caller after alpinko opened all-in for 2 million iwth A♠J♦. firgli’s A♥K♣ stayed ahead the whole way and alpinko was out in eighth. The next hand saw Mortan23 open-shove for 792,588 chips in the small blind; nocz_joker called with A♣3♥ in the big blind and flopped two pair to end Mortan23’s tournament in seventh.

Those two knockouts closed out the midnight ET hour. paardman avoided the same fate after returning from the break, winning a flip with A♦T♥ after shoving from the big blind over the top of jackpot875’s opening raise with 7♠7♦. jackpot875 called the shove for about 13 big blinds total but lost out when the T♣ came on the flop and the A♥ joined it on the turn.

Ten minutea after that win, paardman picked up A♠A♣ in the cutoff and raised small to 735,000. mentor1904 check-called all-in for about seven big blinds with K♥Q♠ for top pair and then turned the Q♣ for two pair, kings and queens. The the J♠ cmae on the river, giving paardman aces and jacks and eliminating mentor1904 in sixth.

Back and forth

At that point nocz_joker (17.1 million) and jackpot875 (16.5 million) led the five remaining players, but things were still wide open with the blinds and antes at 175,000/350,000/35,000.

paardman proved how crazy things could get almost immediately by doubling through nocz_joker with K♣K♥ against Q♠J♦, raising on the button and then calling after nocz_joker check-raised all-in with top pair on a jack-high flop. That win gave paardman 24 million chips and the lead, while nocz_joker dropped to 5.1 million. Then T3G3s opened with K♣K♠ on the button and called when paardman jammed form the big blind with A♣T♣, giving T3G3S the double to 14.8 million. And then nocz_joker doubled back to 14 million through paardman, winning a flip with A♥J♠ against T♥T♣.

paardman got back on the horse and rode into another flip a few minutes later, this one with A♥K♥ against jackpot875 for an 18-million-chip pot. Two aces on the flop made trip aces to beat jackpot875’s pocket nines. Then nocz_joker closed out the hour with a 17.4-million-chip win when 4♣4♦ held up against jackpot875’s K♠Q♠ on a jack-high board.

All that action left paardman, nocz_joker, and T3G3S within four big blinds of each other at the top and jackpot875 and firgli bringing up the rear with 11 and 12 big blinds each, respectively. jackpot875 won a crucial pot after returning to play, topping T3G3S’s K♦Q♥ with A♦Q♠, then lost it all back to nocz_joker two hands later when the latter held K♣K♠ in the small blind and jackpot875 attacked from the button with J♣T♠.

The end of the line came less than 10 minutes later whne jackpot875 jammed with A♣K♥ under the gun. nocz_joker called with K♠J♥, made trips on the 3♠J♠J♦ flop, and knocked jackpot875 out in fifth. firgli went out on the following hand with 6♥6♦ against T3G3S’s A♣T♠ thanks to the A♠ on the flop, ending the night in fourth.

paardman was in a solid second place at that point with more than 20 million chips. Then a call with K♣J♣ in the big blind went wrong when small-blind raiser T3G3S showed down K♠Q♥ and neither player imrpoved on the ten-high board. paardman opened all-in for 12 big blinds two hands later, holding 9♦9♥, but fell in third when nocz_joker’s A♣8♣ paired with the A♠ on the river.

Knocking out paardman gave nocz_joker 41.7 million chips to start the heads-up match, almost double T3G3S’s 22.1 million. An action board turned that around just a few hands in — nocz_joker flopped top two pair with T♣8♠ but was beaten when T3G3S’s J♥7♥ turned a straight.

T3G3S had the lead with 39.5 million chips but nocz_joker got aggressive and won five of the next six pots to trim the deficit to just four big blinds. Another string of six wins in a row moved nocz_joker into the lead for the final hand, which started with T3G3S limping on the button and nocz_joker checking in the big blind. Both players checked the 6♠5♥2♦ flop before nocz_joker check-raised all-in after the 7♣ turn. T3G3S insta-called with 4♥3♣ for a seven-high straight, which left nocz_joker in need of a five or a six to lock up the tournament. The 6♣ on the river delivered the title to nocz_joker.

It was a wild ride but nocz_joker held on when it mattered most. Congratulations to the Czech player on a massive win!

5-27-18 Sunday Million ($215 NL Hold’em) results
Entrants: 6,384 (5,234 entries, 1,150 re-entries)
Total prize pool: $1,276,800
Places paid: 1,160

1. nocz_joker (Czech Republic) $172,360.22
2. T3G3S (Poland) $120,958.30
3. paardman (Austria) $84,881.15
4. firgli (Malta) $59,566.93
5. jackpot875 (Germany) $41,802.17
6. mentor1904 (Austria) $29,335.50
7. Mortan23 (Faroe Islands) $20,586.74
8. alpinko (Slovakia) $14,447.11
9. NemesisMsop (Brazil) $10,138.55

The British Bases in the Republic of Cyprus have denied reports that they have raised objections to the €550-million Limassol casino plan over environmental or any other concerns, local news outlet Cyprus Mailreports.

The Bases said in a recent statement that they “have no jurisdiction in areas” across the Mediterranean island nation, which meant that they could not have any direct influence on the project’s future.

Back in the fall of 2016, Hong Kong-based gaming and hospitality company Melco Resorts & Entertainment was selected by the Cypriot government as the winning bidder for the nation’s first casino resort. Melco, which currently operates properties in Macau and the Philippines, is planning to build a €550-million resort in the Zakaki area in Limassol. The property will feature a full-fledged casino with slot machines and gaming tables, as well as a hotel, food and beverage facilities, retail space, numerous attractions, and a meeting and events center, among others.

Reports have emerged across local media outlets that the Bases have raised environmental concerns over the impact of the multi-million development on the nearby Akrotiri Salt Lake and wetlands. However, according to separate reports, the Bases were actually trying to hamper the project so as to be able to proceed with their own military activities agenda. The Bases denied those reports.

Environmental Impact Assessment

Melco announced earlier this month that it would break ground on its new resort on June 8. However, construction cannot begin before the developer is given the green light by the government’s environment department. According to local media, the department was expected to provide its comments on the project by the end of the month. However, it is believed that the Bases’ reported concerns might have become the reason for a delay in the department announcing its views on the plan.

It was understood that Melco had hired two firms – Envi Services and Pro Plan Ltd. – to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment. The assessment was carried out to find out whether the construction of the casino resort would have any negative impact on special conservation and protection areas.

It is believed that the Bases, which were reached out to by the government, raised concerns over the fact that there will be noise and lights not far from the Akrotiri wetlands and these could have quite a negative impact on the wildlife in the area.

According to the Melco-commissioned environmental report, there would be no such impact as the casino resort will be part of an urban zoning area. The assessment went on to point that the area mentioned by the Bases was actually not inhabited by protected wildlife. The report also suggested that the Bases might actually be interested in the area for their military purposes.

Melco’s resort is expected to open doors in 2021. A temporary casino will open in Limassol this summer and will operate while the main property is under construction. It is believed that the major complex will draw an additional of 300,000 international tourists each year once operational and will generate 4% of the nation’s GDP after two years of operation.