Addamo Rolls Back the Years in WSOP Paradise $25,000 Super Main Event

David Salituro Live Reporter

Dec 18, 2024 4 min read

A few short years ago, there was a span when there was no better poker player on the planet and no one more feared on the felt than Michael Addamo. Today on Day 3 of the WSOP Paradise $25,000 Super Main Event, Addamo wound back the clock.

Addamo was the beneficiary of the day’s biggest highlight, flopping the nut flush as Tom-Aksel Bedell shoved for 37,000,000 with top set of aces in a three-way all in. Addamo held on to win the largest pot of the night and finish as massive chip leader over the remaining 36 players with 85,350,000.

The Australian crusher has largely been absent from the poker scene for the last few years, but back in 2021, Addamo enjoyed a run that most players can only dream of. In a two-month stretch he had four million-dollar scores and earned nearly $9.5 million, including two WSOP bracelets. He was at the top of the poker pyramid, the unquestioned hottest player in the game renowned for his ability to relentlessly seize control of a tournament. Addamo cashed in the Triton Main Event earlier this series, but that was his first WSOP cash since his win in the $100,000 High Roller back when he was in his heyday three years ago.

Addamo is back where it seems he belongs, in a commanding position to take down another big title. But there are still two days left in the tournament and a field full of players who will try to take him down.

Day 3 Top 10 Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Michael Addamo	Australia	85,350,000	107
2	Marcelo Aziz	Brazil	60,000,000	75
3	Pablo Melogno	Uruguay	54,325,000	68
4	Christopher Nguyen	Austria	49,350,000	62
5	Yinan Zhou	China	49,000,000	61
6	Sirzat Hissou	Germany	39,275,000	49
7	Ren Lin	China	37,850,000	47
8	Joonhee Yea	South Korea	36,400,000	46
9	Sebastian Toro	Colombia	36,250,000	45
10	Chris Moneymaker	United States	34,000,000	43

Marcelo Aziz seemed poised to end the night atop the leaderboard. He came to the main feature table during the last two levels as the chip leader and only kept up that momentum, picking up aces to bust Rostyslav Nahurnyi then hitting trips to send out Ana Marquez. Only the massive pot on the other feature table prevented Aziz from ending up as chip leader, but he still wound up in second place with 60,000,000. Pablo Melogno rivered a full house and got paid on a 15,000,000 river raise by Pascal Lefrancois on his way to finishing with 54,325,000 and in third place, while Christopher Nguyen flopped top set of queens to crack Namhyung Kim’s aces on the last hand of the night and bagged 49,350,000.

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Also inside the top 10 is the man who helped spark the poker boom. Chris Moneymaker had a fortunate double up when he rivered a straight to beat Ermo Kosk’s two pair and didn’t let up from there. The 2003 Main Event champion went runner-runner to make another straight and bust last year’s finalist Matt Glantz as he finished the day with 34,000,000.

Ren Lin, poker’s consummate table showman, is in seventh place with 37,850,000 after winning a massive coin flip with jacks to beat Christian Rudolph’s ace-king. The rest of the field is littered with some of the biggest names in the game. They include Chris Klodnicki (30,625,000), Matthias Eibinger (25,350,000), and Justin Bonomo (22,450,000). Further down the leaderboard are Sorel Mizzi (14,225,000), Lou Garza (13,125,000), Liv Boeree (11,875,000), Mustapha Kanit (9,400,000), this summer’s heads-up champion Darius Samual (8,700,000), Christoph Vogelsang (8,400,000), and Rainer Kempe (7,200,000).

Day 3 began with 207 survivors being joined by 90 players who made their way directly into the money via online flights on GGPoker. It was a star-studded field at the start, but not all of them had a fruitful day on the felt. Triton Million champion Alejandro Lococo ran queens into Derric Haynie’s aces to finish in 225th, while Daniel Negreanu lost a flip with tens to Justin Carey’s king-jack to bust in 170th. Alex and Kristen Foxen found themselves sharing a table at the start of the day, but that didn’t last long as Kristen ran top pair into Lefrancois’s two pair and busted in 210th. Alex then jammed with ace-king for 5,000,000 but Chris Hunichen woke up with aces to eliminate the Triton Main Event champion in 135th.

Other players to make their way to the payout desk throughout the day included Scott Seiver (286th), Felipe Ramos (244th), Santhosh Suvarna (240th), Timothy Adams (233rd), Nacho Barbero (204th), John Juanda (171st), Erik Seidel (161st), David Peters (158th), Chris Brewer (109th), and Adrian Mateos (103rd). Nick Schulman (92nd), Stephen Chidwick (86th), Hunichen (84th), and Darren Elias (58th) managed to make their way inside the top 100. Popular chess streamer Alexandra Botez fell in 187th when Piekazewicz made quad aces, while defending champion Stanislav Zegal had his title defense end in 127th.

The remaining 36 players return tomorrow at 12 p.m. local time to play down to the final table. The action picks up on Level 27 with blinds of 400,000-800,000 and an 800,000 big blind ante. Everyone left has locked up $140,900, while a spot at the final table is guaranteed at least $1,000,000. The eventual champion takes home $6,000,000 out of the $50,000,000 prize pool in addition to the Main Event gold bracelet.

That is what will be on everyone’s minds tomorrow as they jostle for a spot at the final table, and PokerNews will be back providing live updates throughout the day.

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David Salituro Live Reporter