Did any poker player squander the $250,000 buy-in in the WSOP Super High Roller?

Dejan Kaladjurdjevic attempted a bold bluff in the WSOP $250,000 Super High Roller event, only to lose his buy-in within a few levels. Although he briefly took the lead after re-buying in, he was ultimately eliminated.

Dejan Kaladjurdjevic knows exactly what it takes to reach the deep end of a Super High Roller tournament. This Montenegrin high roller did just that in the 2024 Triton Montenegro $125K NLH Main Event, finishing second and winning $3,196,000.

However, his first attempt to win the $250,000 Super High Roller title at the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was thwarted early in the tournament – he attempted a bold five-high bluff at the opening level of this summer’s highest buy-in tournament.

Scene setting

Kaladjurdjevic lost a third of his starting stack of 1.5 million chips in the first level (3,000/5,000/5,000 bba). He was completely outmaneuvered by Stephen Chidwick, the second-highest earner in history, in a ten-minute hand. PokerNews' Maxime Taldir reports as follows:

Alex Foxen, in the final position, bet 18,000 on the flop of J♣9♠8♥.

Chidwick in the big blind checked and called, but Kaladjurdjevic checked and raised to 43,000 from the hijack position. Foxen called, and Chidwick re-raised to 110,000. Both Kaladjurdjevic and Foxen called.

Chidwick continued betting 185,000 on the turn with 6♣. Kaladjurdjevic called, while Foxen folded with a suspicious look on his face.

The river card is K♠, and Chidwick bets 525,000. Kaladjurdjevic takes a long time to think, uses up all five of his time bank cards, and finally folds.

This is not the start Kaladjurdjevic wanted.

Catching up on losses?

When it came to the second level (3,000/6,000/6,000 bba), Kaladjurdjevic's chips dropped from 1 million to 868,000, and that's when his chips suffered a real blow.

Aleksejs Ponakovs raised to 13,000 from the middle, and Christoph Vogelsang and Kaladjurdjevic called from the close and big blind respectively.

After Kaladjurdjevic and Ponakovs checked on the flop with 2♥4♦2♠, Vogelsang bet 14,000. Kaladjurdjevic called, but Ponakovs raised to 55,000. Vogelsang folded, and Kaladjurdjevic then re-raised to 138,000. Ponakovs called.

Kaladjurdjevic bet 260,000 on the turn with 10♠, and his opponent called. He then went all-in for 712,000 on the river with 7♥.

Ponakovs pondered for nearly two minutes before finally calling his final 667,000 with A♥A♦. Kaladjurdjevic, with only 5♣3♥, a failed straight draw, had 45,000 chips remaining.

There was no Mizrachi-style comeback.

The WSOP has a long history of "one chip, one chair" stories, and you only need to recall Michael Mizrachi's performance in the Main Event last summer. Kaladjurdjevic hopes to be the latest player to rise from the ashes, and he's giving it his all.

He tripled his chip stack from 18,000 to 62,000 with J♣2♣, beating Foxen's 7♠7♦ and Brandon Wilson's 4♥4♦. In Level 3, he doubled again with A♦Q♦ against Ponakovs' A♠J♣, bringing his chip count to 120,000, equivalent to 15 big blinds. However, these chips ultimately went to Wilson, and Kaladjurdjevic became the first player eliminated in the $250K event.

In a hand with a pot of 106,000 and a board of J♥6♥2♦2♠Q♠, Kaladjurdjevic in the big blind went all-in with 65,000. Wilson in the small blind eventually called.

Kaladjurdjevic: Q♣10♣
Wilson: A♦2♣

Kaladjurdjevic hit two pair on the river, but Wilson had triplets, and Kaladjurdjevic was eliminated.

The second bullet was in better condition.

Kaladjurdjevic immediately used his only re-entry opportunity and battled Ponakovs again. This time the pot was in Kaladjurdjevic's hands, giving him the chip lead and propelling him to 2.05 million chips at the first break.

The $250,000 Super High Roller event has already attracted 31 entries, with a total prize pool of $6,860,000. In addition to the aforementioned top players, Daniel Negreanu, WSOP Paradise Super Main Event champion Bernhard Binder, Kristen Foxen, and Jason Koon are also among the contenders.

Based on current figures, the trend indicates that this tournament will surpass the record of 63 entries set in 2025, when Seth Davies won with $4,752,551.

Day 1 will close after Level 8, with late registration open until the end of Level 10 (approximately 2:15 PM on Sunday, the second day). The champion will be announced on June 15th.

PokerNews is providing live coverage of the WSOP event, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. local time.

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