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 $103,000 buy-in event at the PokerGO Studio following a wild heads-up battle with Jason Koon to close out the event and the year.
Simao was all in and one card away from elimination very early on in his heads-up clash with Koon. Instead, he and Koon went on to battle 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 $10,0000 buy-in event at the North American Poker Tour Las Vegas festival, and a $10,000 invitational during the BSOP High Roller series in his home country of Brazil.
For his Super High Roller Bowl win, Simao earned 360 Card Player Player of the Year points. That pushed him up to 16th in the yearlong 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.
A $200,000 Bubble
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 to battle it out for the title.
The action started slowly, as chips shifted around between all five players. 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 went from chip leader to short stack.
Obara eventually ran into a nightmare scenario to break the deadlock. After slipping back down the chip counts, Obara picked up pocket kings and ran into Soverel’s pocket aces. There was no miracle from the board. 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. He looks set to finish the year a few spots outside of the top ten in the POY race, with 17 final tables and two titles.
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♠ just behind it. Schulman was drawing dead by the turn. He 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 $24.9 million in career cashes.
Soverel picked up a 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.
Koon appeared to have the title within his grasp in short order. 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.
A Heads Up War
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 commented, “Joao, I think you are about to win a $100K, man.” Koon eventually found the call with Q♦J♣, and he was right, as Simao showed Q♥10♥
Koon picked up a massive double, and Simao was soon short-stacked yet again. 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.
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. Simao opened a significant lead and bled Koon’s stack for a stretch as the pace slowed down.
Koon rivered trip deuces to double, and eventually pulled 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 an A♥ turn earned 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.
.@joaosimaobh wins Super High Roller Bowl X!
An epic five-hour heads-up slugfest with @JasonKoon comes down to a couple of pocket pairs, and it’s Simao getting the $1,100,000 victory.
Watch the final table on demand on https://t.co/2RQh5ROjQG. pic.twitter.com/nZPU6fgMUB
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) December 23, 2025
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 ($81,063,539) and Stephen Chidwick ($76,816,736).
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | Points | PGT Points |
| 1 | Joao Simao | $1,100,000 | 360 | 400 |
| 2 | Jason Koon | $650,000 | 300 | 195 |
| 3 | Sam Soverel | $350,000 | 240 | 105 |
| 4 | Nick Schulman | $200,000 | 180 | 60 |
Photo credit: PGT / Alicia Skillman.
