Joao Simao ended 2025 on one of the hottest runs in tournament poker, capping off a tremendous few months by winning the Super High Roller Bowl X for $1.1 million. Simao took down the $100,000 buy-in event at the PokerGO Studio following a wild heads-up battle to close out the event and the year.
The Brazilian pro was all in and one card away from elimination very early on in his heads-up clash with Jason Koon, and came from behind on several occasions to stay in contention. He and Koon battled for more than five hours, with Simao ultimately coming out on top.
This victory comes on the heels of three other wins since early November. Most notably, Simao won his third career WSOP bracelet, first Triton title, and $3,067,000 in a $150,000 buy-in event at World Series of Poker Paradise. He also took down a $10,000 buy-in event at the North American Poker Tour Las Vegas festival, and a $10,000 invitational during the BSOP Super High Roller Series in his home country.
For this latest win, Simao was awarded 360 Card Player Player of the Year points. That pushed him up to 16th in the POY standings presented by CoinPoker. He also secured 400 PokerGO Tour leaderboard points to climb to fifth in that high-stakes-centric race.
Simao now has more than $17 million in lifetime earnings, extending his lead on Brazil’s all-time money list.
Over three days of poker, 23 total entries produced a prize pool of $2.3 million in this latest SHRB showdown. The stakes were high when the final five players returned on day 3, with just four making the money.
Jun Obara started the day as the short stack, but then went on a heater and climbed all the way into the chip lead without a pure double-up. Sam Soverel had the opposite experience, going from chip leader to the bottom of the leaderboard. A cooler would soon change things again, however.
After losing some of his stack, Obara picked up pocket kings and ran into Soverel’s pocket aces. There was no miracle from the board, and Obara then lost the remainder of his chips to Simao with Q♥J♣ against A♣2♣.
The Japanese pro, in the midst of a breakout year including a Triton title in South Korea in September, went out on the $200,000 bubble. With 17 final tables and two titles, he finished just outside the top 10 in the POY race.
Nick Schulman was soon out the door, as well. Schulman five-bet all in with A♦Q♠, and Koon called with pocket jacks. There was a Q♥ in the window, but a J♠ followed just behind it. Schulman was drawing dead by the turn.
The New York native doubled his buy-in, earning $200,000 for his fourth-place finish. The seven-time bracelet winner and 2025 Poker Hall of Fame inductee is now approaching $25 million in career cashes.
Soverel picked up another double with a set of kings, and looked poised to pull back into contention when he got all-in with pocket tens leading Koon’s A♠8♥. Koon turned a heart flush, though, to knock Soverel out in third, good for $350,000.
The four-time bracelet winner’s lifetime haul now sits at $31.7 million after a great 2025. He had a pair of wins in $10,000 PLO events at ARIA in June for nearly $235,000 and added four more six-figure scores in July, including his third WSOP bracelet and $986,337 in the $10,000 six-max no-limit hold’em event. October brought four more final tables, including a runner-up finish in the $100,000 Super High Roller Bowl PLO event for $825,000.
Soverel then finished 1-2 at the North American Poker Tour at Resorts World in November for a combined $314,000 before heading to the Bahamas for the WSOP Paradise series. There, he won bracelet no. 4 in the $100,000 Triton PLO main event, along with a career best $2,594,000.
As a result of his stellar run, he just cracked the top 10 in the POY race. He also entered the final days of the 2025 PGT season as the top-ranked player, with four qualified wins and 28 cashes overall.
Koon was on cruise control towards the title when he started running into trouble. He put a short-stacked Simao all in with K♣9♦, and Simao called it off with Q♠9♥. Koon remained ahead until the Q♦ river saved Simao’s tournament. Simao soon doubled again, with kings and a superior kicker to Koon’s, and it was suddenly a match.
Simao utilized his newfound chips to up the aggression and in short order took over the chip lead. He threatened to put Koon on the brink himself, shoving the river of a K♠2♥2♦Q♠J♥ board. Koon went into the tank and eventually found the call with Q♦J♣. He was right, as Simao showed Q♥10♥ to once again flip the match in Koon’s direction.
Simao shoved with K♦5♦, and Koon snapped him off with K♣Q♥. For the second time on the night, Koon had Simao on the ropes and in bad shape.
“First time I said it was a nice night for more poker,” Koon said. “I’m done with the poker now.”
Koon was, in fact, not done. Simao got a golden 7♦6♦5♥ flop and proceeded to make quads by the river to add insult to injury.
Soon thereafter, Simao doubled and nearly evened the counts, turning a pair of aces with A♦Q♣ and getting called all the way down by Koon’s pocket eights.
The pace slowed, but Koon rivered trip deuces to double and pull back ahead. Koon had one final chance to eliminate Simao, and for a third time, he was well ahead. His pocket tens kept the advantage over Simao’s A♣5♥, but the A♥ on the turn gave Simao the last double-up he’d need.
Simao then picked up pocket eights against Koon’s pocket fives and held on to secure the victory.
Koon now has nearly $70.7 million in career cashes to his name, good for third on poker’s all-time money list. He trails only Bryn Kenney’s $81,063,539 and Stephen Chidwick’s $76,816,736. The West Virginia native also moved into 19th in the POY standings, with his 15th final table of 2025.
Final Table Results
1 Joao Simao — $1,110,000
2 Jason Koon — $650,000
3 Sam Soverel — $350,000
4 Nick Schulman — $200,000