Another day, another new event on the schedule for the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe. Although last year did have the €111,111 High Roller for One Drop, won by Dominik Nitsche, this year it's a straight-up €100,000 Super High Roller to decide bragging rights, the latest WSOP gold bracelet-winner and who will be walking away with a shedload of cash.
The event looks likely to be a big one, with unlimited re-entry for twelve levels. There are ten 60-minute levels scheduled on Day 1, so plenty of time for players to jump in for subsequent bullets into Day 2.
Level
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
1
5,000
10,000
2
5,000
10,000
10,000
3
6,000
12,000
12,000
4
8,000
16,000
16,000
5
10,000
20,000
20,000
6
12,000
24,000
24,000
7
15,000
30,000
30,000
8
20,000
40,000
40,000
9
25,000
50,000
50,000
10
30,000
60,000
60,000
Players will receive 2,000,000 chips for their entry with blinds starting at 5,000/10,000. The tournament is scheduled for three days, and PokerNews will be covering every minute of the highest buy-in event at this year's WSOPE.
Jean-Noel Thorel opened the action with a raise from the cutoff to 30,000. Adrian Mateos sat in the small blind and three-bet to 150,000. Thorel called and they went heads-up to the flop.
The flop was dealt and Mateos started out with a continuation bet to 100,000. Thorel clicked it back and made it 200,000 and Mateos called.
The turn was the and Mateos checked this time. Thorel continued his aggression with a bet of 400,000. Mateos called again and both players didn't waste any time by acting quickly.
The river card was added to complete the board and Mateos checked again to Thorel. The Frenchman checked behind and Mateos took the pot down showing .
Just 15 minutes before the first break of the day, there was the first cry of 'Seat open!' from the Super High Roller field.
Jean-Noel Thorel had left the building; Mikita Badziakouski informing us on a board with three diamonds, the pair got it in with Thorel holding for the nut straight.
Badziakouski however held for the nut flush and sent Thorel to the rail.
With around 10 minutes remaining in the level, Shan Huang opened to 27,000 from under the gun. Alex Foxen three-bet to 82,000 in the hijack and Christoph Vogelsang four-bet to 215,000 in the cutoff. The action came back to Huang who laid his hand down and Foxen called.
The flop fell and Foxen check-called a bet of 135,000 from Vogelsang. The turn brought the and Foxen checked again. Vogelsang thought for a couple of minutes before sticking in a bet of 325,000. Foxen looked to his left and stared into the eyes of Vogelsang before making the call.
The river was the and Foxen checked for the third time. Vogelsang thought again and slid in the rest of his 1,050,000 chips. Foxen snap-called this time and Vogelsang turned over . Foxen tabled for top two pair and eliminated Vogelsang as the players were sent on a break.
Niall Farrell opened from early position and Renato Nowak flat-called on the button. Adams three-bet from the big blind to 180,000 and Farrell called.
Nowak then four-bet all in for around 1.8m and Adams moved all in for slightly less. Farrell covered both players and he called.
Renato Nowak:
Timothy Adams:
Niall Farrell:
The flop came giving two players sets. On the turn Farrell picked up a flush draw to go with his gutshot, but the river bricked out and Adams tripled up.
David Peters made it 27,000 in the hijack with and Steffen Sontheimer looked down at in the cutoff. Sontheimer re-raised to 90,000 and Peters just called. The flop fell to give Peters quad jacks and he just checked. Sontheimer continued for 50,000 and Peters called.
The turn was the and Peters check-called another bet of 225,000 from Sontheimer. The river brought the and Peters checked one more time. Sontheimer tossed in a value bet of 485,000 only to have Peters check-raise to 1,350,000. Sontheimer went into the tank for a couple of minutes before finally making the correct fold.
Ivan Leow opened to 25,000 from under the gun and Steffen Sontheimer three-bet to 85,000 in the hijack. The action came back to Leow who four-bet to 225,000. Sontheimer four-bet all in and Leow called off his stack of 1,445,000.
Steffen Sontheimer:
Ivan Leow:
It was a classic flip and Sontheimer took the lead with the in the window followed by the and . The turn was the leaving Leow drawing to a queen. The river was the and Sontheimer improved to a straight to send Leow walking away with his hands in the air.
Igor Kurganov had raised to 50,000 and big blind James Chen moved all in for 342,000 in total. Kurganov thought about it for a bit before calling the all-in bet and they got all in.
Igor Kurganov:
James Chen:
The flop was good for Chen when it fell , but the turn made winning a bit tougher for Kurganov. The river was the and Chen was eliminated by Kurganov.
Registration for the tournament is still open until the second level of Day 2 and there are unlimited reentries allowed.
Julian Thomas got a part of his stack in the middle against the entire stack of Shan Huang. Shan had about 15 big blinds left when he got it in the middle with against the of Thomas.
The flop was not the worst for Huang when the dealer spread out . The turn and were not the cards Huang needed and when he got up to walk away he was still all smiles.
"I'll be back, but probably later" were his final words, for now.
Things looked very grim for regulated and legal online poker in Australia when the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016 was passed in 2017, essentially shutting down the option to earn a living in front of their computers for aspiring poker players living in Down Under. Possible solutions? Relocating or focusing on live poker, after all the Crown Casino in Melbourne is the biggest casino complex in the southern hemisphere.
One of the affected Aussie online grinders was Michael Addamo, who earned most of his early merits in poker on the virtual felt. Addamo had already made the transition to live poker by then, even though the vast majority of his live cashes were still on home soil until the summer of 2016. A group of Australians can now regularly be found at the international poker tables such as Alex Lynskey, Kahle Burns, Aaron Lim and Martin Kozlov.
“I think I am actually one of the youngest from them,” Addamo said with a smile on the face. Not so much, there is less Australians playing MTT's now. There are a few guys that jump to events, but there are not so many that actually travel around actually. Not many of them have relocated.”
His outfit during the two days of the €25,500 Super High Roller? A t-shirt, shorts, long scarf around the neck and slippers, as if he'd just come out of the spa. But which of the two victories feels more special for the Aussie after one night of sleep?
“I think this one feels a bit more special: I previously played in a lot of High Rollers and didn't run good in those, so it feels good to get a High Roller win.”
Since 2016, Addamo has traveled to more international events and enjoyed quite some success in the United States and Macau. His biggest buy-in was a High Roller Event in Macau, where he already faced some of the players from Hong Kong and Malaysia that made the trip over to Rozvadov to take part in the ongoing high-stakes action.
The Aussie entered Day 1 of the €100,000 King's Super High Roller in level four and currently competes in his second most-pricy event, just one of many new young players that have emerged on the live poker circuit over the past few years.
“I played one in Macau that was maybe $120k, yeah, but it's pretty close. Having a hand sample on the players (from Asia) is definitely very important,” Addamo admitted in the break just before he officially received his second gold bracelet from WSOP tournament director Jack Effel over on the feature table set at King's Casino.
That this indeed happened has not quite sunk in yet, however.
“No, I mean, this is obviously quite absurd. I ran ridiculously good and I don't know what else to say. It has been a really good year.”
There may be more to come for the Aussie with plenty of big poker events on the horizon until the end of the year, and a certain festival on home soil is also not too far away with the Aussie Millions taking place in Melbourne in January 2019.
“I think this year there are still quite a few good events. I will probably do the partypoker event on the Bahamas after this, in December I am not sure, there are a few options. Prague or maybe Bellagio for Five Diamonds, then Bahamas in next year and Aussie Millions. And after that, I might take a little break.”
Addamo came close at winning an Aussie Millions ring three times and won a High Roller event at the Crown Poker Championships in 2017. With his success, he is certain to be taken even more serious at the tables on home soil from now on.
“Sure, I get more recognition. There was a lot of guys that I have played with coming up the stakes. I played 1/2 at the casino when I started and there's just a lot of guys that know me for a while. I am from Melbourne originally. When I started I played a little bit at Crown and mostly online. It would be quite nice to win a title in my hometown.”
Make sure to follow along the PokerNews live updates to find out if Addamo will make another deep run during the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe.