Should you’re a high-stakes poker participant, there are few opponents you would be extra sad seeing at your desk than Michael Addamo. Certainly, Ali Imsirovic joked when accepting the Gamers Selection for Hardest Opponent on the 2022 International Poker Awards that he solely gained “as a result of Addamo is not right here.”
Overbets, triple-barrels, seven-figure scores. These are all issues that come to thoughts when considering of Addamo, who since pivoting from chess to poker in 2012 has racked up over $22 million in Hendon Mob earnings to place him atop the Australia all-time cash checklist.
In the course of the fall of 2021, Addamo went on one of the notable runs in fashionable poker historical past first taking down three PokerGO Excessive Rollers earlier than successful his third and fourth World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) bracelets in Occasion #38: $50,000 Excessive Curler Occasion #87: $100,000 Excessive Curler No-Restrict Maintain’em, whereas additionally nabbing an ARIA Excessive Curler victory in between.
Via simply 9 stay cashes between September and November 2021, six of which have been outright victories, Addamo walked away with $9.four million as he cemented his repute as one of many hardest and most expert gamers on the high-roller circuit.
However there’s extra to Addamo than flip bets 3 times the scale of the pot and unfathomable bluffs. The 29-year-old Australian cares deeply about ethics and has been vegan for the higher half of a decade. Extra not too long ago, Addamo began exploring his artistic aspect via the humanities.
PokerNews not too long ago caught up with Addamo, who notably didn’t play on the 2023 WSOP however will be sure you flip up at one of many subsequent high-roller stops.
Take a look at Michael Addamo’s Participant Profile on PokerNews right here!
How did you uncover poker and what about it attracted you?
I used to be fairly a prolific chess participant rising up. I believed my skillset might be transferred throughout to poker fairly naturally, and I had heard others had finished the identical. I used to be enticed by the in-depth technique and intricacies of every spot, and I cherished observing the patterns and exploiting my opponent’s errors.
I had plenty of self-belief I might do extraordinarily properly on the sport, and finally make it to the excessive stakes, nothing would cease me.
What made you resolve to pursue poker over chess?
The monetary facet of poker made it rather more interesting, and the very fact it’s important to put your individual hard-earned cash on the road for every of your choices, I discovered enthralling. You actually needed to trust in your choices or pay the final word worth. I’m extremely aggressive and I really like that aspect of poker.
You might be always cited as one of the tough gamers to play in opposition to on the high-stakes circuit. What separates you out of your rivals in Excessive Curler occasions?
There are plenty of actually robust and difficult opponents. I personally like to make use of a lot of huge guess sizings, in spots the place the opponent’s ranges are restricted to weaker holdings, to extract each most worth and to garner folds from the weaker elements of my opponent’s holdings.
You’ve demonstrated you don’t have any drawback placing your opponents to the check or pulling of big bluffs with hundreds of thousands of {dollars} on the road. How do you get your thoughts off of the cash to have the ability to pull the set off?
“If I feel it’s the optimum spot to take action, I’ve no points having the ability to pull the set off in these huge spots.”
I’m fairly indifferent to the cash aspect of it when I’m taking part in. I feel via every spot logically and make one of the best choice I can. And if I feel it’s the optimum spot to take action, I’ve no points having the ability to pull the set off in these huge spots.
Quite a lot of it comes from confidence in my sport, I can perceive the mechanics of every spot and discover the right worth bets and bluffs, or at the least to one of the best of my capability.
You had an unbelievable run within the Fall of 2021 that noticed you successful a number of seven-figure scores and your third and fourth WSOP bracelets What did that run do for you by way of confidence or setting your self up financially?
“I really feel extraordinarily grateful for attaining that stage of success and it’s actually one thing I’ll always remember.”
That fall I achieved unbelievable event success, one thing I couldn’t have imagined I’d have come near attaining.
Clearly, there’s various luck concerned in a run like that, however I additionally felt on the prime of my sport and in tune with every spot and was in a position to attain a stage of hyper-focus all through that sequence.
I really feel extraordinarily grateful for attaining that stage of success and it’s actually one thing I’ll always remember.
What’s one thing distinctive about you that not lots of people learn about?
I’ve been vegan for six years, I actually look after animals, and ethics are actually essential to me. Poker is sort of an individualistic pursuit, so I care about giving again to the group as an entire.
In my spare time, I’m very energetic, I wish to play numerous sports activities, and I’ve additionally not too long ago taken a liking to extra artistic issues like drawing, dancing, and improv.
