Michael Addamo Wins Triton Series Madrid €20,000 High Roller

Michael Addamo was arguably the hottest tournament poker player on the planet in the final months of 2021. The 27-year-old four-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner from Australia made eight high-stakes final tables from September through November, winning six titles and cashing for more than $9.4 million along the way. Addamo came into May of this year with only one live tournament cash so far in 2022 but soon got back to his winning ways. He defeated a field of 90 entries in the Triton Series Madrid €20,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em eight-max event to secure his 18th career title and the top prize of €478,000 ($501,900 USD).

This score saw Addamo increase his recorded earnings to more than $22.7 million. He is Australia’s clear all-time tournament earnings leader, and now sits in 27th place on poker’s overall earnings leaderboard.

In addition to the title and the money, Addamo also locked up 648 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win in this event. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year. He remains outside the top 300 in the POY race, for the time being.

The final day began with Addamo on top of the leaderboard and a few players in the danger zone. The shortest of all was Morten Klein, who hit the rail in ninth place ( $52,920 USD) when his A-10 ran into the A-K suited of Paul Phua, who started the day in second chip position.

Fernando Garcia (8th – $69,930) was the first to fall inside the money, with his 9-6 suited unable to beat out the A-3 of Phua. Bracelet winner Danny Tang soon followed as he was left short after his pocket queens ran into the pocket kings of Rob Yong. Tang ultimately got the last of his stack in ahead with A-4 leading the K-J suited of Dong Hyun Kim, but a jack o the flop give Kim a lead that he never relinquished. Tang took home $89,880 USD as the seventh-place finisher. He also scored 162 POY points for his fifth final-table finish of the year. He now sits in 43rd place in the 2022 standings.

Yong clashed with Wayne Heung in the next massive pot. He three-bet shoved with 10-9 over Heung’s open, only to receive a call from A-K. Heung’s hand held up and Yong was eliminated in sixth place ($113,400 USD).

Despite his strong start to the day, Phua was ultimately the next to run out of chips. The Triton event all-time cash leader secured his record-furthering 19th in-the-money finish, with his run ending when his top pair on the flop was beaten by the nut flush draw and overcards of Michael Soyza. The flush came in on the turn to leave Phua drawing dead. He earned $145,425 USD for his fifth-place showing.

Addamo had fallen from atop the leaderboard earlier in the day, and was at one point down to just a handful of big blinds. He managed a few double-ups to get back in the mix, and then found himself involved in a classic preflop race with his pocket queens facing the A-K of Heung. The queens held and Heung was knocked out in fourth place ($180,600 USD).

Dong Hyun Kim’s strong showing in this event reached its end when his pocket threes lost a race against the A-6 suited of Soyza, who made a pair of sixes to pick up the pot and narrow the field to two. Kim took home $230,475 USD as the third-place finisher.

With that Soyza took almost a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Addamo. That dynamic was soon flipped on its head thanks to a preflop race of Addamo’s A7 against the pocket sixes of Soyza. Addamo spiked a seven to make the best hand and move ahead on the leaderboard. In the final hand, Soyza shoved with Q-2 suited and Addamo called with A-4. Neither player improved on a king-high runout with a pair of sevens on board, and Addamo’s ace high locked up the pot and the title for the Australian. Soyza earned $348,600 USD as the runner-up.

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

Winner photo credit: Joe Giron / Triton Poker.

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