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Michael Addamo Continues Hot Streak, Wins Super High Roller Bowl For $3.4 Million

27-Year-Old Secures Third Title In Two Weeks To Become Australia's All-Time Money List Leader

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Michael Addamo is on an unbelievable hot streak, leaving some of the best players in the world in his wake as he secures multiple huge titles and millions upon millions in tournament earnings along the way.

The 27-year-old Australian poker pro took down back-to-back events at the end of the Poker Masters to earn over $1.8 million and secure the Purple Jacket in mid-September. Less than two weeks later, he emerged victorious in the 2021 Super High Roller Bowl $300,000 buy-in event, defeating a field of 21 entries to add another $3,402,000.

These live wins come after an extended run online, where Addamo has climbed the ranks with multiple high roller titles, including the partypoker MILLIONS Online Super High Roller, two WPT Online high rollers, and a whopping four GGPoker Super MILLION$ events.

“It hasn’t really sunk in,” admitted Addamo when PokerGO reporters asked him whether he’s been able to put his back-to-back-to-back high roller wins in perspective yet. "I think maybe after a week with some good sleep and rest that I’ll be like, ‘All right, that was an insane week.’”

Incredibly, Addamo’s final opponent in this event was none other than three-time Super High Roller Bowl event winner Justin Bonomo, who beat Addamo heads-up two to win the 2020 SHRB Online. This time around Addamo was able to get some revenge and secure his first SHRB ring.

“I’d say I’m a very competitive person, so I was definitely trying my best and battling hard,” said Addamo when asked about the rematch with Bonomo.

The score brought Addamo’s career tournament earnings to $17,942,679, which includes some online scores in tour events where real names are reported. The cash was also enough to see him surpass 2005 World Series of Poker main event champion Joe Hachem ($12.4 million) to become Australia’s live tournament earnings leader.

Addamo earned 600 PokerGO Tour rankings points for his latest win, bringing his total for the year to 1,601. With three titles and four cashes on the tour, his qualified earnings now exceed $5.5 million. He currently sits in seventh place on the PokerGO Tour leaderboard as a result of his surge in September.

The final table began on the bubble with just five players battling for the final three spots in the money. With a buy-in of $300,000, there ended up being a seven-figure difference ($1,008,000 to be exact) between finishing fourth in this event and making the final three. Addamo held the chip lead, with Bonomo comfortably in second place.

Alex Foxen lost a key pot with his pair of eight beaten by the eights and deuces of Bonomo, leaving Foxen on just a handful of blinds. Foxen slipped even further before managed one double up to keep his hopes alive, at least momentarily. Not long after that, he shoved from the small blind for around seven blinds with ADiamond Suit5Club Suit and received a call from Bonomo in the big blind with KClub Suit10Heart Suit. Bonomo turned a pair of tens and rivered a straight to take down the pot and narrow the field to four.

Chris Brewer at the 2021 SHRB final tableWith that, Bonomo surpassed 80 big blinds to put more distance between himself and short stacks Brewer and Sean Winter who had around 19 and 23 big blinds, respectively. Winter slipped to the bottom for a while, but win a preflop race with a small pocket pair facing two broadway cards to take an important 5.5 big-blind lead over Brewer. The bubble ultimately burst a few hands later, when Brewer called all-in from the big blind for just under 12 big blind with ADiamond SuitQSpade Suit. Bonomo had raised enough on the button to put Brewer at risk with 10Heart Suit4Heart Suit. The flop came down QDiamond Suit7Heart Suit5Heart Suit, giving Brewer top pair and Bonomo a flush draw. The JSpade Suit on the turn made Brewer a 4:1 favorite to win the hand and leapfrog Winter on the leaderboard. The KHeart Suit completed the board, though, filling Bonomo’s flush to send Brewer to the rail on the million-dollar bubble.

Winter found a quick couple up to nearly 30 big blinds when his pocket deuces beat the A-2 suited of Bonomo. Not too long after that, he three-bet all-in with 10Heart Suit10Diamond Suit facing a button raise from Addamo, who remained in the lead despite Bonomo’s recent pair of eliminations. Addamo called with AClub SuitJClub Suit and the board ran out KClub SuitQSpade Suit5Spade Suit10Spade Suit7Club Suit to give Addamo a straight. Winter’s set of tens was not quite enough, and he hit the rail with $1,008,000 as the third-place finisher. This was Winter’s third seven-figure tournament payday, increasing his lifetime earnings to more than $19.1 million.

Winter also earned plenty of rankings points with his deep run in this event. He took home 240 Card Player Player of the Year points for what was his 15th POY-qualified final table of the year. With 3,301 points, Winter now sits in 11th place in the 2021 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker. He also earned 400 PokerGO Tour points, moving him into third place on that leaderboard.

Justin BonomoHeads-up play began with Addamo holding 3,670,000 to Bonomo’s 2,630,000. Addamo extended that lead in the early going without much fanfare, only to have Bonomo build back to nearly where heads-up started by the time the final hand of the event was dealt. With blinds of 15,000-30,000 and a big blind ante of 30,000, Bonomo raised to 80,000 from the button with QSpade Suit10Spade Suit. Addamo called from the big blind with 7Diamond Suit2Diamond Suit from the big blind and the flop came down 4Diamond Suit3Diamond Suit2Heart Suit and Addamo checked. Bonomo checked behind and the QDiamond Suit turn gave Addamo a flush. He bet 250,000 into the pot of 190,000 and Bonomo called with his newly found top pair. The river brought the 10Club Suit and Addamo moved all-in into the pot of 690,000. Bonomo went deep into the tank, having improved to top two pair. After plenty of thought, he announced the call and was shown the bad news. Addamo locked up the pot and the title with his flush, while Bonomo was eliminated in second place.

Bonomo earned $1,890,000 as the runner-up, falling just short of securing his fourth SHRB title. He won his first in the 2018 SHRB China, and later that year took down the SHRB IV. Those two victories saw him earn $4,823,077 and $5,000,000. He added another $1,775,000 as the 2020 SHRB Online champion.

He has now cashed in six of the 13 SHRB events ever held, accumulating $14,595,299. That means approximately 25 percent of his $57,141,422 in career earnings have come in SHRB events. With this win and some marquee online finishes, Bonomo surpassed Bryn Kenney ($56,649,561) to move into first place on Card Player’s all-time money list.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

Place Player Earnings POY Points PokerGO
1 Michael Addamo $3,402,000 360 600
2 Justin Bonomo $1,890,000 300 400
3 Sean Winter $1,008,000 240 400

Winner photo provided by PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.