The 2024 Super High Roller Series continued its run at the luxurious Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Spa in Cyprus with the second event, a $25,750 No-Limit Hold’em tournament. This event saw a shorter table setup, transitioning from an eight-handed format from the day before to a seven-handed one, which created even more action.
After a hard-fought battle among a 39-entry field, it was Quan Zhou who emerged victorious, claiming his first-ever PGT title and a hefty $316,000 first-place prize after beating England’s Lewis Spencer in heads-up. This is Zhou’s second victory in a row, coming from a success at the Red Dragon Poker Tour in Jeju, where he took home $110,938. This latest cash is his second-largest of the year, behind only his maiden Triton win in the $26,000 Pot-Limit Omaha in South Korea in March’s series.
Zhou’s latest impressive run and more than $9.5 million in live tournament earnings places him among the best Chinese poker players. He is currently sitting in fifth on China’s All-Time Money List and continues to close in on the likes of Aaron Zang, Tony Lin, Biao Din, and Xuan Tan.
2024 Super High Roller Series Event #2 Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize Money |
| 1st |  Quan Zhou | China | $316,000 |
| 2nd |  Lewis Spencer | United Kingdom | $220,000 |
| 3rd | Ren Lin | China | $158,000 |
| 4th | Benjamin Heath | United Kingdom | $116,500 |
| 5th |  Felipe Ketzer | Brazil | $83,000 |
| 6th |  Jeremy Ausmus | United States | $62,000 |
2024 Super High Roller Series Event #2 Final Table Recap
Seven players returned to the final table of the Super High Roller Series Event #2: $25,750 7-Max, but only six spots would be paid, leaving one player to go home empty-handed. Ben Heath led the final seven with 74 big blinds, nearly double the stack of the next in line, Quan Zhou. On the other hand, Aram Zobian was the most vulnerable, sitting on just 13 big blinds.
However, Zobian managed to double through Ren Lin to stay alive to stay alive and complicate things for everyone at the table. The players battled for nearly two hours without an elimination, all with more or less even stacks. But Zobian’s work was all in vain as he eventually became the bubble boy after losing his final hand to Felipe Ketzer.
Once the bubble burst, the dynamics shifted, and Lin emerged as the new chip leader, building a considerable advantage over the rest of the field. His dominance grew when Jeremy Ausmus pushed with ace-queen from the button, only to be called by Lin’s pocket tens from the small blind. The board ran out favorably for Lin, eliminating Ausmus in sixth place and giving Lin a massive chip lead as he now had more chips than the remaining four players combined.
At this point, Zhou began to chip up when he sent Ketzer to the rail. Zhou’s king-eight held strong against Ketzer’s shove with a three-deuce. Meanwhile, Lin lost a crucial all-in against Lewis Spencer when Lin’s kings were cracked by Spencer’s queens after the board ran out “Lady Gaga” style, flopping a queen.
As Heath’s stack dwindled, he made a move from the small blind, pushing with queen-jack over Zhou’s button open. Zhou called with ace-three, and the 3♣7♥A♠ flop all but sealed Heath’s fate, sending him out in fourth place.
Lin’s aggressive run came to an end in third place after clashing once again with his fellow countryman Zhou. Lin moved in with king-jack but found himself dominated by Zhou’s ace-king. Although the 4♥Q♣A♣ flop gave Lin a few outs for a straight, the turn and river bricked, and Lin exited with $158,000 for his efforts.
Zhou went into heads-up against Spencer with a slight chip lead, but if you expected a lengthy battle similar to the start of the final table, you would be wrong. In just the second hand of heads-up play, Zhou opened with ace-deuce suited, and Spencer three-bet with pocket sixes. Zhou responded by moving all-in, and Spencer made a quick call. Zhou was a 1:2 underdog, but an ace on the flop flipped the situation in his favor, leaving Spencer drawing slim. With no help on the turn or river, Spencer finished as the runner-up, taking home $220,000, while Zhou claimed the victory and $316,000 for his first-ever PGT title.
* Images and hands courtesy of PokerGO.
