The Super High Roller Bowl Pot-Limit Omaha $100,000 buy-in event won by John Riordan late last week was accompanied by a pair of $15,000 buy-in PLO tournaments. The two events, which like the SHRB PLO ran inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas, awarded a collective total of $720,000 and were won by a pair of top British poker professionals.
The first was the smaller of the two. It drew 13 entrants to finish with a $195,000 prize pool, with only the top two finishers making the money. The eventual champion was none other than tournament superstar Stephen Chidwick. He defeated Talal Shakerchi heads-up to secure the title and the top prize of $136,500. Shakerchi earned $58,500 as the runner-up.
This was Chidwick’s 11th career PokerGO Tour title, and his first of 2025. With nine PGT cashes so far this year, Chidwick (pictured above, left) now sits just outside the top 25 in the season-long standings.
The 36-year-old from Deal, England now has two qualified titles and 15 final-table finishes counting towards the 2025 Card Player Player of the Year race. He’s climbed to 14th in the overall standings presented by CoinPoker. His $74,585,306 in career earnings is the second-highest total of any player in tournament history. Only Bryn Kenney ($79,777,539) has cashed for more.
The second event was markedly larger, with 35 entries making for a $525,000 prize pool. Gruffudd Pugh-Jones came away with the title in the end, earning $148,500 for the win. The British poker pro (pictured above, right) now has more than $1.4 million in recorded scores to his name. Sean Rafael, who’s currently ranked 30th on the POY leaderboard, finished second for $141,700. This was his 14th final-table showing of 2025. Shakerchi followed his runner-up showing with a fifth-place finish.
SHRS $15,000 PLO 1 Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Stephen Chidwick | $136,500 | 0 | 109 |
| 2 | Talal Shakerchi | $58,500 | 0 | 47 |
SHRS $15,000 PLO 2 Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Gruffudd Pugh Jones | $148,500 | 288 | 119 |
| 2 | Sean Rafael | $141,700 | 240 | 113 |
| 3 | Richard Gryko | $134,800 | 192 | 108 |
| 4 | Nicholas Palma | $58,000 | 144 | 46 |
| 5 | Talal Shakerchi | $42,000 | 120 | 34 |
Photo credits: PokerGO Tour / Antonio Abrego.
