One of the hottest poker players of 2021, Michael Addamo from Australia is back to his winning ways. The 27-year-old entered May of this year with only live tournament cash so far in 2022 but soon got back to his winning ways. He won the opening title of the 13-day long Triton Series Madrid by defeating a field of 90 entries in the €20,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em eight-max to win his 18th career title and the top prize of €478,000 ($501,900 USD). The four-time WSOP bracelet winner eventually outlasted Malaysia’s Michael Soyza (runner-up for €332,000) in the heads-up play.
With his latest victory, Addamo took his live earnings to more than $22.7 million. He is Australia’s all-time tournament earnings leader, and is now ranked 27th on poker’s overall earnings leaderboard.
Final Day Action
The final day of the event (running from 13th to 14th May) began with Addamo (4,695,000) leading in chips. The shortest of all was Norway’s Morten Klein (345,000) who exited the event in ninth place (€50,400) when his A-10 ran into the A-K suited of Paul Phua, who started the day second in chips.
Fernando Garcia (8th for €66,600) was the next player to fall, with his 9-6 suited being unable to beat out the A-3 of Phua. A little later, Bracelet winner Danny Tang, who had become a short, got the last of his stack in with A-4 leading the K-J suited of Dong Hyun Kim, but a jack on the flop give Kim a lead that he maintained till the river. Tang took home €85,600 for his seventh place finish.
A little later, Rob Yong three-bet shoved with 10-9 over Wayne Heung’s open, only to receive a call from A-K. Heung’s hand held up and Yong was eliminated in sixth place for the €108,000 payout.
Despite his strong start to the day, Paul Phua was ultimately the next to fall. The Triton event all-time cash leader finished in fifth place for €138,500, with his K-8 failing to beat Soyza’s A-9 suited.
Delivering the next knockout was Addamo who had fallen from atop the leaderboard earlier in the day but managed a few double-ups and then found himself involved in a preflop race with his queens facing A-K of Heung Wayne. The queens held and Heung exited in fourth place (€172,000).
Dong Hyun Kim’s run ended with his pocket threes losing a race against the A-6 of Soyza, who hit a pair of sixes to win the pot. Kim took home €219,500 for his third place finish in the tourney.
Heads-Up
With that, Soyza took a 2:1 lead into heads-up with Addamo, who quickly moved ahead, with his Ad 7d winning against pocket sixes of Soyza. Addamo spiked a seven to make the best hand to take the chip lead. Finally, it wall ended with Soyza shoving all-in with Q-2 suited and Addamo making the call with A-4. Neither player improved, and Addamo’s ace high locked up the pot and the title for him.
Final Table Payouts (Euro)
1 – Michael Addamo – €478,000
2 – Michael Soyza – €332,000
3 – Dong Hyun Kim – €219,500
4 – Heung Wayne – €172,000
5 – Paul Phua – €138,500
6 – Rob Yong – €108,000
7 – Danny Tang – €85,600
8 – Fernando Garcia – €66,600
9 – Morten Klein – €50,400