Wiktor Malinowski Wins Super High Roller Bowl Europe ($3,690,000)

Wiktor Malinowski has won the Super High Roller Bowl Europe Main Event for $3,690,000.

He topped a field of 41 players and defeated Ivan Leow in a tense and gruelling five-hour heads-up at the Merit Hotel & Casino in Cyprus.

The former professional handball player is known as “limitless” online. Having started out playing freerolls in 2014, Malinowski has worked his way up the cash game stakes before transitioning to High Roller tournaments.

From the Triton Super High Roller Series to the European Poker Tour, Malinowski has been a regular in some of the biggest Super High Roller tournaments, but was without a tournament victory until now.

He now has that, along with a coveted Super High Roller Bowl ring.

Super High Roller Bowl Europe Final Table Results

There was a seven-figure payday for 20-year-old Zhuang Ruan in third, ahead of Timothy Adams in fourth place.

Adams was looking to win a third live Super High Roller Bowl in a row after victories in Australia and Russia, but would have to settle for $1,127,500.

Winner’s Reaction

“It’s good to have live poker back, so I’m looking forward to more action!”

This was Malinowski’s first live Super High Roller Bowl appearance and he came into the final day as the chip leader. The high stakes online cash grinder now has his first live tournament win under his belt.

“It was a hell of a lot of fun,” Malinowski told PokerNews. “The final table took two hours and then played heads-up for five more.

“I haven’t played very well, and then I got ace-king. It was a great tournament. It’s good to have live poker back, so I’m looking forward to more action!”

Read More: Malinowski Wins $842K Pot Off Addamo in Biggest-Ever Online NLHE Cash Game Hand

Final Table Recap

It was a frenetic start to the final table, with short-stack Viacheslav Buldygin watching on as both David Peters and Zhuang Ruan scored doubles.

However, Ruan’s double came at the expense of Buldygin, which pushed him closer to the exit, before he was eliminated by Leow. The Malaysian then cracked kings to double through Peters and into the chip lead.

Although Wiktor Malinowski would regain the chip lead, Leow’s elimination of Peters in fifth place would see him move ahead once more.

Timothy Adams had been looking to join Justin Bonomo as the only player with three Super High Roller Bowl titles, and to win his third live SHRB in a row, but fell in fourth place after shoving into the aces of Malinowski.

And after the pair returned from break, it was Ruan with the aces who shoved into Leow. He called and rivered a gutshot straight to crack aces and send Ruan to the rail in third.

Read More: High-Stakes Online Crusher Wiktor Malinowski Joins Live High Roller Scene

Heads-Up Play

The tension was palpable as the pair entered heads-up with Leow in the lead. However, Malinowski battled back and it was him in the chip lead for large portions of the contest.

The pair bantered back and forth, revealing their hole cards after certain hands and speculating as to whether the opponent bluffed them.

“You play very good,” Malinowski said to his opponent as the heads-up match approached five hours, shortly after Leow folded to Malinowski’s shove – the first of the heads-up match.

With the blinds getting steadily higher, there was always going to be a pivotal moment. And so it proved with Leow shoving ace-four into the ace-king of Malinowski for the Pole to double, with Malinowski sending Leow to the rail shortly afterwards.

Super High Roller Bowl Results