The Australian Poker Open was born in style his week, with two of poker’s biggest talents taking down titles in the inaugural series. The Super High Roller Bowl also welcomed its first Australian edition, with a champion’s prize of over AU$2 million being claimed by Timothy Adams. Here is a rundown of the aussie action.
Super High Roller Bowl Australia: Winner – Timothy Adams
This AU$250,000 (US$167,300) event, held in partnership with World Poker Tour, attracted 16 runners to the table, generating a prize pool of AU$4 million (US$2,676,800). Just 3 players would go on to get paid, with all of them already being established regulars on the High Roller circuit.
The first day saw the 16-player field cut down to just 5, with Elio Fox finding himself on the right side of variance in a few spots. This helped him carry the chiplead into day 2, with about a third of the chips in play. This patch of rungood did not hold out for the second day however, and he soon began to slip backwards. This slip soon became a catastrophic crash to earth when his set of sevens walked into the clutches of Kahle Burns’ straight to eliminate Fox in 5th.
Aaron Van Blarcum’s day would come to an end soon after, when his two pair came up short against the flush of Burns. This brought the bubble to an end, with each player guaranteed to pocket AU$640,000. Cary Katz fell next, leaving Burns and Adams to fight it out. Burns held a near 3 to 1 chiplead coming into the match, but soon found stern resistance from both Adams, and the deck. Every key pot seemed to the way of Adams, and with Burns down to less than 10 big blinds, he got it in with queen-jack and was busted by the ace-nine of Adams.
The final payouts are as follows:
1st – Timothy Adams (Canada) – AU$2,160,000 (US$1,445,472)
2nd – Kahle Burns (Australia) – AU$1,200,000
3rd – Cary Katz (United States) – AU$640,000
Australian Poker Open Championship: Winner – Stephen Chidwick
This multi-event race which spanned the series is what brings a freshness to series’ such as this, with a player needing to perform consistently well to claim the title. The title of series champion was very much in the balance heading into event 7 at The Star Gold Coast. The latter stages of the tournament were about as riveting as any bubble can be, with Chidwick hanging on with the shortest stack and needing a min-cash to secure the title.
Just as it looked like the coveted crown may get away from Chidwick, a bolt of variance lightning struck down Kahle Burns when his pocket kings were blasted off the table by Addamo’s flopped set of eights. Chidwick secured the Championship title in dramatic fashion, adding to the US Poker Open title he already holds.
| 2020 Australian Poker Open Championship Standings – TOP 5 | ||||
| Name | Country | Payout | Points | |
| 1 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | $949,000 | 650 |
| 2 | Andras Nemeth | Hungary | $534,100 | 630 |
| 3 | Michael Addamo | Australia | $1,685,500 | 560 |
| 4 | Mike Watson | Canada | $241,500 | 450 |
| 5 | Luc Greenwood | Canada | $717,700 | 360 |
AU$100K Main Event: Winner – Michael Addamo
The Main Event capped off the Australian Poker Open series, with each player paying AU$100,000 (US$66,920) to enter. The field size reached 28, to create a total prize pool of AU$2,800,000 (US$1,873,760). The latter stages were tense, with Chidwick attempting to secure the handful of points he needed, but once that had been accomplished Chidwick’s elimination in 4th place came quickly and was soon followed by that of Alex Foxen.
Aaron Van Blarcum then did his best to dislodge a rampant Michael Addamo from the top of the chip counts, but the Australian pro would not be denied the inaugural Main Event title of this series. Having carried a strong chiplead into heads up play, Addamo dispatched his opponent to collect the title and top prize.
The final payouts are as follows:
1st – Michael Addamo (Australia) – AU$1,288,000 (US$861,930)
2nd – Aaron Van Blarcum (United States) – $784,000
3rd – Alex Foxen (United States) – $448,000
4th – Stephen Chidwick – (United Kingdom) $280,000
Article by Craig Bradshaw
