Michael Addamo Wins European Poker Tour Barcelona €50,000 Single Day High Roller

Quality over quantity.

High-stakes poker pro Michael Addamo has recorded just 14 live tournament cashes since the start of 2021. But the four-time bracelet winner from Australia has certainly made those scores count. Addamo has accumulated more than $12.5 million dollars across these select in-the-money finishes, resulting in an average payday of $896,356 when making the money during this period. During this sample, Addamo has won nine titles and secured five seven-figure scores.

The 28-year-old’s most recent title run saw him emerge victorious from a field of 62 entries in the 2022 European Poker Tour Barcelona €50,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em single-day high roller event. This was his 20th recorded career title. The top prize of $944,849 increased his lifetime earnings to more than $25.2 million, extending his lead on Australia’s all-time money list.

Addamo also secured 612 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his third title and fifth final-table finish of the year. With 2,405 total points and more than $3 million in earnings so far, Addamo has climbed to 46th place in the 2022 POY race sponsored by Global Poker.

This briskly paced event paid out $3,129,140 in prize money to the top eight finishers. Morten Klein was knocked out on the money bubble, with his kings being cracked by the ace-king of Mikalai Vaskaboinikau.

Addamo got off to a fast start at the official final table, knocking out Michael Soyza (8th – $123,909) and bracelet winner Sam Greenwood (7th – $154,891) to overtake the lead heading into six-handed action.

Bracelet winner Dan Smith got all-in with two pair and a flush draw facing the higher two pair of two-time bracelet winner Aleksejs Ponakovs. Smith found no help on the river and was eliminated in sixth place ($201,365).

Addamo had a bluff picked off by Ponakovs during five-handed play that saw him relinquish the top spot on the chip counts, but he soon rebounded by eliminating fellow four-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos in fifth place. Mateos shoved from the small blind with Q-5 and Addamo called with 8-6 suited. Addamo made sixes and tens to win the pot. Mateos earned $263,319 for his deep run. The Spanish superstar now has more than $29.7 million lifetime cashes under his belt.

Vaskaboinikau’s run came to an end in fourth place when his pocket eights ran into the pocket nines of David Yan. Both players made a set by the river, but Yan’s remained best to see Vaskaboinikau sent home with $340,765.

Addamo doubled through Ponakovs during three-handed action, leaving the Latvian on fumes. He soon committed himself with A-Q, only to get outflopped by the A-7 of a surging Addamo. Ponakovs was unable to regain the advantage in the hand from there and was sent packing in third place ($449,183).

With that Addamo took roughly a 7:5 lead into heads-up play with Yan. He was able to pull away even further by the time the final hand was dealt. With blinds of 40,000-80,000 and an 80,00 big blind ante, Yan shoved for 1,935,000 from the button with A2. Addamo called with Q10 and the board cane down QJ932 to bring the tournament to a close. Yan was awarded a career-best payday of $619,565 as the runner-up finisher.

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

Photo credit: Danny Maxwell / Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd.

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