Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov Leads the Pack Into Day 2
Welcome back to PokerNews' continued coverage of the 2016 Super High Roller Bowl.
The man of the day was Timofey Kuznetsov, otherwise known as "Trueteller" in the high-stakes online poker world. His run to the top started early, when in Level 2 he doubled through Matt Berkey with a straight versus two pair. From there, Kuznetsov climbed and climbed, tormenting Phil Hellmuth with three-bets and winning small pot after small pot along the way to a finishing stack over 1.1 million.
Kuznetsov was the only player to bag up a seven-figure stack, with his next closest competitor being the man he doubled through, Berkey, with 745,500.
Last year, Kuznetsov took fourth in this event for $2.15 million. And then just a few days ago on Friday, he won the $50,000 Super High Roller that ARIA held for $748,446. Needless to say, he does pretty well at this venue.
Sunday's Day 1 saw the 49 players in the field plop down in the plush ARIA Resort & Casino seats to do battle with their $300,000 buy-in on the line. Of those 49, 14 were eliminated, with Antonio Esfandiari falling first.
Brian Rast, the defending champion of this event, was the man who made "The Magician's" chips disappear when his 
topped Esfandiari's pocket queens thanks to a king on the river after the money went in preflop. Esfandiari was short at the time, and Rast went on to bag up 535,000, which was good enough for 11th overall.
The man Rast defeated in heads-up play last year, Scott Seiver, didn't fare too well on Day 1, as he joined Esfandiari on the rail. Seiver was all in during the fifth level of the day on the 
flop with the 
against Fedor Holz's 
. The 
turn and 
river did no good for Seiver and he'll have to wait for that next big score. On the other hand, Holz bagged up 736,500, good for third overall.
Others who advanced were Daniel Colman (666,500), Daniel Negreanu (653,500), Jason Mercier (568,500), Phil Laak (527,000), and Tom Marchese (432,500).
The top seven spots are set to pay out, with $5 million going to the winner. The other paid places will receive $3.5 million for second, $2.4 million for third, $1.6 million for fourth, $1.1 million for fifth, $800,000 for sixth, and $600,000 for seventh.
The plan for Day 2 is another seven 75-minute levels, with play wrapping up shortly after 11 p.m. PT. The cards are scheduled to be in the air at 1 p.m. on Monday, and you can find all of your Super High Roller Bowl coverage right here on PokerNews.com.
While you wait for action to begin, check out this video where Sarah Herring talk to Bill Perkins and Byron Kaverman about a new brand bet.