Final Hand Cooler Keys Michael Addamo to SHRB VI Victory

Jon Sofen
Senior Editor U.S.
4 min read
michael addamo poker

Michael Addamo scooped the Super High Roller Bowl VI title on Wednesday for $3.4 million, his third consecutive high roller tournament win. In the process, he became Australia's all-time winningest live tournament player.

Addamo, now with $13.5 million, surpassed 2005 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem, who has $12.7 million in cashes. Kahle Burns drops to third place in Australian history at $10.7 million.

PlacePlayerStack
1stMichael Addamo$3,402,000
2ndJustin Bonomo$1,890,000
3rdSean Winter$1,008,000
4thChris Brewer$0
5thAlex Foxen$0

Month to Remember

michael addamo poker

It's been a memorable month for the SHRB champion. He started things off with a win in Poker Masters Event #11: $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em, for $680,000. In the ensuing Poker Masters tournament — Event #12: $100,000 No-Limit Hold'em — he again took it down, this one for $1,160,000, along with the Purple Jacket, which is awarded to the overall series champion.

The Australian poker pro looked to make it three straight in the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. On Day 1, he busted out to a strong start thanks in large part to a massive pot he won against Daniel Negreanu in Level 1.

In that hand against Negreanu, he got paid off with the nut straight when he over-bet the river. Interestingly enough, he used the same strategy to finish off Justin Bonomo heads-up for the title on the very last hand of the tournament.

Alex Foxen's Luck Runs Out

Heading into the final day, Addamo held a massive chip lead over his four opponents. The pressure was on given that 40% of the remaining players on Wednesday would go home down their $300,000 buy-in, and the minimum cash was just north of $1 million.

Alex Foxen entered play fourth in chips and was looking to rebound from a disappointing Day 2 finish. The former college football athlete held a huge chip lead throughout much of Day 2, but lost back more than half his stack before Tuesday's session concluded. On Day 3, he couldn't get anything going and was eliminated in fifth place out of 21, two spots shy of the money.

Unlike Foxen, Chris Brewer had been nursing a small stack throughout most of the final two days. He never could quite grind his way back into contention. With Bonomo holding a big stack on the button, he jammed 104 with the two small stacks — Brewer and Sean Winter — in the blinds.

The blind stealing attempt didn't work because Brewer woke up with AQ and promptly made the call. But he would end up bubbling when the board ran out Q75JK, giving Bonomo a winning flush. That set up three-handed play and the pressure of the money bubble was no longer a factor. The following is a look at the chip counts when three-handed play began:

PlacePlayerStack
1stMichael Addamo3,055,000
2ndJustin Bonomo2,740,000
3rdSean Winter505,000

Addamo Goes Wire-to-Wire

shrb ring poker

Winter was fortunate to have escaped the bubble, but he wasn't able to hold on much longer, although he did pick up a few chips before his final hand. In that hand, Addamo raised the 30,000 big blind to 65,000 on the button with AJ and then called an all-in three-bet from Winter (1010) for 815,000 total.

The board came out KQ5107, giving Addamo the nut straight and a huge chip lead over Bonomo as heads-up play was about to begin. Winter was out in third place and received $1,008,000 for his efforts.

Bonomo, who made his return to live tournament poker for the first time in nearly two years, made a few plays during heads-up play. He grinded for over an hour, but couldn't ever catch up, and lost a rough hand to end the tournament.

From the button, Bonomo opened to 80,000 with Q10 and his heads-up opponent called the raise with 72. The flop came out 432 and both players checked. When the Q turned over on the turn, Bonomo hit top pair but was drawing dead. Addamo, who used the over-bet to his advantage multiple times during the tournament, bet 250,000 into a pot of 190,000.

Bonomo, holding top pair, made the call only to see, as PokerGO commentator Nick Schulman said, "the worst card in the world" on the river. That card was the 10.

Addamo again over-bet the pot, this time putting his opponent all-in for just over 2 million chips. Bonomo used a multitude of time extension chips before deciding that top two-pair was just too strong heads-up to fold. He made the call and found out the bad news. As a consolation prize, he received $1,890,000, and the winner took home $3,402,000.

Super High Roller Bowl Winners

YearEventBuy-InEntriesWinnerPrize
2015Super High Roller Bowl I$500,00043Brian Rast$7,525,000
2016Super High Roller Bowl II$300,00049Rainer Kempe$5,000,000
2017Super High Roller Bowl III$300,00056Christoph Vogelsang$6,000,000
2018Super High Roller Bowl ChinaHK$2,100,00075Justin BonomoHK$37,830,000
2018Super High Roller Bowl IV$300,00048Justin Bonomo$5,000,000
2018Super High Roller Bowl V$300,00036Isaac Haxton$3,672,000
2019Super High Roller Bowl London£252,50012Cary Katz£2,100,000
2019Super High Roller Bowl Bahamas$250,00051Daniel Dvoress$4,080,000
2020Super High Roller Bowl AustraliaA$250,00016Timothy AdamsA$2,160,000
2020Super High Roller Bowl Russia$250,00040Timothy Adams$3,600,000
2020Super High Roller Bowl Online$102,00050Justin Bonomo$1,775,000
2021Super High Roller Bowl Europe$250,00041Wiktor Malinowski$3,690,000
2021 Super High Roller Bowl VI$300,00021Michael Addamo$3,402,000 

Remember, the Super High Roller Bowl is only available to PokerGO subscribers. If you’re not currently subscribed, you can get a monthly subscription for $14.99, a three-month plan for $29.99, and an annual subscription for $99.99. You can also save $10 off an annual subscription by using promo code “PokerNews” at checkout.

*Images courtesy of PokerGO.

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Jon Sofen
Senior Editor U.S.

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