They say that success breeds success and this week’s collection of champions certainly proves that. From Michael Addamo making the PokerGo Tour his own to Jack Hardcastle continuing to impress in his breakout year, our top picks have all shown that momentum is a powerful thing. To see who else has hit their stride in recent days, scroll down for our list of Big Winners for the week ending Sunday, October 3.
Michael Addamo
Super High Roller Bowl VI
PokerGo Studio
$3,402,000
Addamo is on the heater to end all heaters after winning the sixth Super High Roller Bowl. The Australian has made the PokerGo Tour his own over the last two weeks thanks a brace of wins at the recent Poker Masters. While some would have been content to bank $1.8 million, Addamo decided to invest $300,000 and take part in PokerGo’s super high-stakes showdown on Wednesday. 21 of the world’s finest players started, but Addamo was on a roll that no one could stop. Justin Bonomo put up a spirited fight in the end, but Addamo clinched the final pot with a flush to win the title and take his recent earnings to more than $5.2 million.
Nikolay Tulin
‘badlucktou’
Venom PKO
Americas Cardroom
$716,095
($411,687 + $304,408 in bounties)
The popular Venom series continued to impress this week, which meant Tulin turned a modest investment (by poker standards) into a life-changing sum of money. A total of 2,321 players anted up in the $2,650 event. That meant the $5 million guarantee was beaten and the winner took home more than $410,000. That’s a significant payout in its own right. However, because this was a PKO version of Venom, Tulin was able to increase his overall return by banking a bevy of bounties. After he beat Jamie Reardon on Thursday, he picked up a total of $304,408 in bounty prizes. So, once the dust had settled and the Russian pro claimed his first major online title, his total payout was worth more than $700,000.
Giorgiy Skhulukhiya
Partypoker Live Millions North Cyprus
Merit Crystal Cove
$683,285
Skhulukhiya won Partypoker’s first post-COVID lockdown live event in just about as dominant a fashion as possible last week. 839 players entered the $5,300 main event, but only eight would make it to Monday’s final table. Skhulukhiya started as one of the biggest stacks and he used every chip to his advantage. It took two hours for Harpreet Gill to strike the first decisive blow and eliminate Hadi Khadra. From there, Skhulukhiya took control. The Georgian eliminated the final seven players, and he did it all within two hours. The final player to succumb to Skhulukhiya’s onslaught was Robert Heidorn. A♠ 8♣ got the job done and, with that, Skhulukhiya picked up the biggest win of his career.
Connor Drinan
World Series of Poker
$1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
$163,252
Drinan, a longtime fixture on the professional circuit, claimed his second career WSOP bracelet on Sunday night, winning Event #5 of the series. Drinan entered the event’s final day — and its final table — as the chip leader, though he didn’t stay at the top of the ladder throughout the session. Even so, he outlasted an accomplished group of competitors, including four-time WSOP bracelet winner Robert Mizrachi (third place for $71,602) to claim his second WSOP title and the first-place prize. The win is Drinan’s first at a live WSOP event; he claimed his first bracelet and a $1.4 million prize in last year’s WSOP Online $10K Super Millions event on GG Poker.
Jack Hardcastle
GUKPT Leeds
Grosvenor Westgate
£72,200
($98,836)
Hardcastle made easy work of the latest GUKPT final table. The English pro made the 250-mile trip from Portsmouth to Leeds last week to join 438 other players in the £750 ($1,015) main event. Grosvenor’s live tour has been cranking out champions for the last two months thanks to lockdown restrictions easing in the UK. Hardcastle took full advantage of that by winning his second event of 2021. The Englishman won the WPT Montreal Online main event in January before going on to finish fourth in the WPT DeepStack Showdown at the Venetian in Las Vegas. That run of form stood him in good stead at Monday’s final table where he defeated James Williams to claim his first GUKPT Main Event title.
Jeremy Ausmus
World Series of Poker
COVID-19 Relief Charity Event
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
$48,681
In early WSOP action this year, Ausmus picked up the series’ first open bracelet on Friday. While 420 players anted up in the WSOP’s opening event, it was only open to people who work in the industry. Therefore, when the COVID charity event started on Thursday, it was a chance for everyone to play for a good cause and, possibly, win a bracelet. Two hundred sixty-six players did exactly that; the $1,000 charity event took two days to complete and Ausmus came out on top. The American pro almost missed the deadline for entering the turbo event due to his own indecision and the long queues at the Rio. Once in the mix, however, he embraced the 20-minute levels and cruised to victory. The win earned Ausmus his second WSOP bracelet and took his lifetime earnings above the $8.7 million mark.
Matthew Zazaian
Mid-States Poker Tour Monster Stack
DeepStack Championship Poker Series II
The Venetian
$9,248
Zazaian picked up the second biggest win of his career at the perfect time last week. The Michigan native anted up in the $400 opening event of the Mid-States Poker Tour’s Las Vegas-based series. With the Venetian playing host, 92 players sat down for a shot at glory on Monday. It would only take a few hours for Zazaian to carve his way through the field and beat Likang Berninger heads-up. The timely bankroll boost might not get Zazaian into the Main Event. However, with the WSOP underway and plenty of tournaments on the menu, he might find it profitable to stay in Vegas for the next few weeks.
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