Addamo Claims First Aussie Bracelet at 2021 WSOP in Vegas

Diversity is one of the best parts of the World Series of Poker…when it happens. There are no ethnic, racial, or national boundaries inherent in the game itself. A normal year at the WSOP in Las Vegas brings dozens of nationalities to the tables over the course of six or seven weeks, all with the same goal.

This 2021 WSOP was destined to be less international than in previous years. Travel restrictions, pandemic fears, vaccine requirements and complications, and other pandemic-driven fallout has prevented many players from making the trek from their home countries across the US border and into Las Vegas. Of course, there will be a WSOP Europe in the Czech Republic in November and December. In addition, a recent announcement from the United States government indicated the opening of the US borders on November 8, prompting the WSOP to extend Main Event opportunities to welcome players from outside of the US.

Thus far, with 22 days of the WSOP 2021 in the books, there have been very few non-American bracelet winners thus far. Until Day 22, there had been two bracelet winners from Israel and Canada each, as well as one each from Taiwan, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic. On Day 22, Michael Addamo put Australia on that list.

Event 38: $50K NLHE High Roller

Michael Addamo is known as an incredible high-stakes poker player. He has been crushing online and in live events alike for years and on a bit of a roll this year. He entered this elite field and dominated all the way through, holding the chip lead at the end of Days 1 and 2. Going into the final table, he fairly quickly eliminated the three shorter stacks to get heads-up with Justin Bonomo. Bonomo did take the lead from Addamo at one point, but Addamo slowly but surely took it back and won his third WSOP bracelet. He told PokerGO News:

“I just like winning big tournaments. I don’t know if there is any title that is more special than the other. Just beating the tougher fields are the most fun. … (Being regarded as one of the toughest competitors) does put some pressure because if you internalize and believe that, you can become complacent, and sometimes that might make you study less. I will just try and keep humble and try not to let it get to my head and just keep working and studying hard.”

Michael Addamo takes down the $50K High Roller for $1,132,968 and his third WSOP bracelet.
📸: @RomeForReal https://t.co/O9unR50dlL pic.twitter.com/Bm522xvIUX

— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) October 22, 2021

Event 39: $1,500 PLO

This tournament moved quickly on Day 2, working its way from 124 starting players to just 16 in about five hours. Ari Engel eventually busted in 15^th place for $8,200, Filippos Stavrakis in 12^th for $10,049, and finally Nitesh Rawtani in sixth place to end play for the night. The day’s original chipleader, Josh Arieh, made the final five with the chip lead, though he will have to fight a tough table to win his third career bracelet.

Event 40: $10K HORSE Championship

This relatively small field worked its way into the 23 money spots on Day 2, as Scott Seiver, Nate Silver, and Mike Gorodinsky were among the first to collect $16,218. Dylan Linde busted in 19^th place, and Gary Benson exited in 17^th – each taking home $17,738 – before the night ended.

The final day sees numerous bracelet winners topping the leaderboard, Kevin Gerhart with two, Benny Glaser with three, Chris Vitch with two, David Benyamine with one, and Marco Johnson with two. Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Max Pescatori, and Randy Ohel remain in contention as well.

Event 41: $2,500 NLHE Freezeout

Nearly 900 players wanted just a single-entry hold’em event and pooled their buy-ins for a prize pool nearing $2M. They played the first day until they burst the money bubble, then stopped the action to bag up for another day.

Event 42: $1,500 Razz

People love or hate this game, but no matter their feelings, more than 300 of them turned out to try to win a bracelet in it. Fewer than 100 players will start Day 2, and fewer than half of them will make the money. It will be a full Razz day at the Rio today.

Highlight of the Day

As mentioned, diversity is part of the WSOP excitement, and Lithuania made its live bracelet win debut this week when Karolis Sereika won a bracelet in Event 37. With an enthusiastic rail behind him and many more cheering from across the world in Lithuania, Sereika made history for his country. And he was happy to talk to PokerNews about it.

Lithuanians really love their poker and you can see how excited Karolis Sereika was to win his country's first live #WSOP bracelet!https://t.co/SxK4mxEYZb

— Chad Holloway (@ChadAHolloway) October 22, 2021