Jared Bleznick is the winner of the largest buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha tournament in history, outlasting the 37 other players who put up $100,000 at the Super High Roller Bowl. He wins $1.29 million and a ring.
The PokerGO event made for its subscription-based streaming service was officially part of its Super High Roller series, but also acted as the kick-off for the PokerGO Tour’s PLO Series II that runs at the Aria until Oct. 30.
It’s not serendipity that Bleznick is the winner of the biggest buy-in PLO event in history. He is one of the best PLO players in the world who, according to his PGT bio, “was a fixture in the highest stakes PLO games on both Full Tilt and Pokerstars back in the day under his alias ‘Harrington25.’”
The victory puts him over the $2 million mark in PokerGO high roller events, all but one playing PLO. It’s mostly the same for his World Series of Poker cashes. He hasn’t won a WSOP bracelet yet despite making 11 final tables. Here’s guessing he’ll soon add one to his collection.
Poker hardware isn’t the only thing Bleznick is obsessed with collecting. He’s also a sports card junkie who co-owns a store with his brother. He made everyone aware of his passion at the final table, using a couple time extension chips to open up two boxes of Panini One and One basketball cards (listed at $999 a box) — in the middle of a hand with a player all-in.
Let’s just say he was having more fun than Stephen Chidwick and Issac Kempton, both of who were still in the hand during a critical spot. Kempton just committed the last of his chips with an all-in after Chidwick raised when Bleznick decided to ham it up.
“I’ll open another box, because I play faster than all you guys and I don’t need these,” he said referring to the time extensions.
The move obviously annoyed both Chidwick and Kempton, who silently stared at Bleznick as he used a razor to crack open the boxes.
And just think, there was still about 12 hours left until Bleznick had all the chips.
Negreanu bubbles, Rheem first to go
Daniel Negreanu was this event’s bubble boy, leaving seven players to battle for the big payout. Besides Chidwick and Kempton, Bleznick had to get through Issac Haxton, who earned enough PGT points to take over the top spot on its leaderboard from Daniel Weinman, who earned all of his PGT points by winning the WSOP Main Event (events with buy-ins $10,000 or more count).
Haxton, who is approaching $45 million in poker tournament cashes, won the $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl for $2.7 million at the start of October, one of four high roller victories he locked up in 2023.
It was his 21st final table of the year, all in big buy-in events. He won seven of them. But not this one. Haxton added another $836,000 to a 2023 haul that is over $13 million for finishing second.
Chidwick finished third, which was his 12th cash on the high roller circuit this year, good for fourth on the PPT leaderboard. He cashed $570,000.
Kempton is one of the best young players going for it on the high roller trail. The $418,000 cash here is his second-best, a good $600,000 behind the $1 million-plus for finishing second at the $10,000 Winn Millions in 2022.
Aaron Katz, a 2004 WSOP bracelet winner, made his biggest score by finishing fifth for $304,000.
Sixth-place finisher Frank Crivello is the 2020 WSOP Online PLO champion. The $228,000 is also his biggest tournament score.
Chino Rheem finished seventh for $152,000, pushing his high stakes tourney cashes up over the $14 million mark.
| Place | Player | Prize (USD) | PGT Points |
| 1 | Jared Bleznick | $1,292,000 | 400 |
| 2 | Isaac Haxton | $836,000 | 251 |
| 3 | Stephen Chidwick | $570,000 | 171 |
| 4 | Isaac Kempton | $418,000 | 125 |
| 5 | Aaron Katz | $304,000 | 91 |
| 6 | Frank Crivello | $228,000 | 68 |
| 7 | Chino Rheem | $152,000 | 46 |
The PGT PLO Series II continues through the end of the month. The final tables of most events will be broadcast by PokerGO.
