Australia’s Addamo Wins WSOPC Ring and $489K
We are less than a week into 2021 and Australia’s Michael Addamo has already won big. Really big. Addamo became a WSOPC ring winner on January 3, an accolade that came with US$374,604 ($489,110).
There are not many titles that Addamo hasn’t won so far in his career. There will likely be none he hasn’t claimed by the time he steps away from poker. Addamo can cross off a WSOPC ring from his to-do list because he reeled one in this weekend.
Addamo got his grind on in Canada this weekend so he could play online poker at GGPoker. This is where the WSOP Winter Online Circuit is in full swing. The Australian superstar was one of 8,725 players who bought into the New Year Colossus for US$400 ($522). All those entrants created a massive prize pool weighing in at US$3,280,600 ($4,821,278).
Day 2, the final day’s action took place on January 3 and saw 1,356 players return to the fray. Each returning player shared the common goal of locking up a WSOPC ring and a huge top prize.
Addamo Reaches WSOPC Ring Event Final Table Second in Chips
There was little doubt Addamo would win a WSOPC ring when he reached the final table second in chips. The Aussie is one of the world’s best poker tournament players and when someone of his calibre has plenty of chips, there’s only usually one result.
US$37,460 ($48,904) was the least any of the nine finalists could win. This went to Hong Kong’s Sparrow “FacelessMan” Cheung who crashed out in ninth-place.
Addamo soared into the lead when he busted Rui “OlliOctavius” Sousa in eighth. He remained in the top two chip counts throughout the final table.
“minterofbtc”, “Hazes”, and Tenn “ViiolAwo” Tonts fell by the wayside. The latter’s exit in fifth-place resulted in a US$118,459 ($154,648) prize hitting his account.
“benchplayer8” and Addamo clashed several times and Addamo got the better of the exchanges. Our hero won a massive pot from his opponent to soar to 260.7 million chips. His nearest rival held 37.5 million at this stage.
Addamo put benchplayer8 out of his misery in fourth then sent Don “pikerdon” McCall to the showers in third. The writing was on the wall because Addamo held a 319,677,058 to 27,937,674 lead over Tudor “hotsince93” Lazar going into heads-up.
It was all over a few hands after the one-on-one battle commenced. The chips went into the middle of the table, Addamo holding Qc-Js and Lazar Ah-Ks. A queen on the flop of the 7h-Qd-9s-8c-5c board handed victory and the WSOPC ring to Australia’s Addamo.
$400 New Year Colossus Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) | Prize (AUD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Addamo | Australia | $374,604 | $489,110 |
| 2 | Tudor “hotsince93” Lazar | Hungary | $280,910 | $366,735 |
| 3 | Don “Pikerdon” McCall | Canada | $210,653 | $275,013 |
| 4 | benchplayer8 | China | $157,967 | $206,230 |
| 5 | Tenn “ViiolAwo” Tonts | Estonia | $118,459 | $154,648 |
| 6 | Hazes | Austria | $88,832 | $115,970 |
| 7 | minterofbtc | Austria | $66,614 | $86,964 |
| 8 | Rui “OlliOctavius” Sousa | Portugal | $49,954 | $65,214 |
| 9 | Sparrow “FacelessMan” Cheung | Hong Kong | $37,460 | $48,904 |
Addamo has more than US$8.3 million ($10.8 million) in live tournament winnings and several more from online poker. His exact online winnings aren’t known because he removed his details from the best tracking site. Needless to say, Addamo is an absolute beast of a poker player and 2021 could be his best-ever year. He’s won a WSOPC ring for starters and we’re four days into 2021!
It’s a crying shame that Addamo and scores of Australian have left the country to continue playing poker. Some of the world’s top tournaments players no longer live in Australia because of the lack of online poker options.
Such luminaries as Jonathan Karamalikis, Matthew Wakeman, and Kahle Burns are all poker refugees. Here’s hoping the rules and laws change sooner rather than later and we get to keep our stars at home.
