The Aria Super High Roller Bowl, with its $300,000 buy-in, is the second-highest buy-in tournament in poker after the charity $1m buy-in BIG ONE for ONE DROP.

After two very successful editions so far the SHRB returns to Aria next month with a sold-out list of 56 young guns, savvy pros and dedicated high rollers guaranteeing the event will be another memorable one.

Also back for another go is 888poker, which announced recently it will return as the primary sponsor for the SHRB and more upcoming Poker Central events to be announced.

888poker Ambassador Kara Scott will also return as host.

Event of the Year

After a $500,000 buy-in in its first year the buy-in was dropped to $300,000 last year and that seems to be the sweet spot.

The field is capped at 56 players and, while you might think that it might be difficult to find that many poker players willing to pay so much money for a poker tournament, you’d be wrong.

35 of the seats went on the open market and they sold out within a single day. So many players, in fact, put down the deposit to play a lottery had to be held for those spots.

The Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, which will again host of the event, kept the other 21 seats reserved for specifically invited players and satellite winners.

The tournament is officially sold out and will begin on May 28 as the reigning champion for “Event of the Year” at the American Poker Awards.

Rast, Kempe Return to Battle A-List

The inaugural edition of the Super High Roller Bowl ran in 2015 with a $500,000 buy-in and a field of 43 players.

American pro Brian Rast claimed the first-ever title and $7.5 million in prize money. Since then Rast has won five HR events with over $25k buy-ins and final tabled another four.

Last year the victory went to Rainer Kempe. The German player made a deal with then beat Fedor Holz heads-up in a field of 49 players to cash for $5 million.

This year the field is the largest and strongest yet. Eleven of the top 15 players of the GPI will play including the top 5: Nick Petrangelo, David Peters, Justin Bonomo, Bryn Kenney and Holz.

The two past winners will also come back to reclaim their titles alongside Andrew Robl, Jason Mercier, Dan Smith, Christoph Vogelsang, Byron Kaverman, Dan Colman, Igor Kurganov and 888poker figurehead Dominik Nitsche, to name a few.

Also in the mix are a range of stars from the post-Moneymaker era such as Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, John Juanda, Tony G and Phil Hellmuth.

Business Titans Take on Best

Which many of the seats are occupied by top-tier poker pros they will be challenge by a group of well-known players for whom poker isn’t a profession.

Business titans David Einhorn, Bobby Baldwin, John Morgan, Leon Tsoukernik, Bill Klein and Bill Perkins all have signed up again to test their poker acumen against the game’s best.

Should one of them succeed, he’ll take down $6 million for his efforts. The prize pool in total is $16.8m.

As mentioned, 888poker ambassador Kara Scott will host the Super High Roller Bowl again in 2017 and the event will be streamed online on Poker Central.

888poker will also offer one lucky player a shot at a VIP backstage pass including travel, accommodation and meet-and-greets with players. Stay tuned for details. www.pokerlistings.com will also be on hand live for interviews and features as it plays out inside the Aria.

888poker is the second largest poker room on the internet. Playing on 888poker will give you the chance to qualify online for numerous tournaments like the 888Live events in London, Rozvadov and Barcelona or in Montreal and Sao Paolo.

It’s also the exclusive home and provider of satellites for the 2017 WSOP Main Eventand $888 Crazy Eights event. Sign on for your own poker account via our 888poker review here and be eligible for an $888 bonus.