Liv Boeree and Justin Bonomo Chasing Michael Addamo and $6m in Super Main Event

The Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas is the setting and tonight, one player will win $6 million and the WSOP bracelet they all wanted this December. The Super Main Event has a $50 million prize fund and with just nine players left, stars such as Justin Bonomo, Liv Boeree and Michael Addamo are all in pursuit of the gold. Who’ll win? After drama on the penultimate day, it could be anyone’s final.

Praying for Progress

With 36 players beginning Day 4 of the $25,000-entry event with 1,978 buy-ins, the Australian player Michael Addamo began in fine form. Pressing every opponent he faced to painful decisions, he bullied his way up to a massive lead. Busting Joonhee Yea and Alexander Zubov, the latter by Addamo cracking his jacks with queen-ten, the impressive Australian was running over anyone in his path to glory.

Others weren’t so fortunate. The German Sirzat Hissou began in the top chipcounts but ended his event early, making it to 12^th place but no further. Chinese professional Ren Lin went one place further, despite entering the final level of the day third in chips. He lost back-to-back hands against Italian legend Mustapha Kanit to leave himself on the outside looking in with 10 left.

By the time those two had made their exits, the chips were changing hands with alarming regularity, as twice Liv Boeree entered a meditative state – literally – to survive. The British player, making her first appearance in a major live poker event for many years and with no training or study in recent times, twice relied on the power of meditation to stay alive. All-in not once but twice with ace-high against pocket kings, Boeree closed her eyes and meditated to each flop. If she manifested an ace, she was good, as one appeared on each flop and she survived twice.

Moneymaker Bubbles the Finale

With 10 players left, the most infamous of them all was a short stack. Chris Moneymaker’s success in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, where he won $2.5 million and the bracelet from an $80 online satellite, is legendary. He was in good positions on Day 4, but each time suffered from bad luck.

Several times, Moneymaker made good plays against Boeree as he proved that for all of his opponents many skills, the nous and experience built up over the years have rounded him as a poker player. Moneymaker is simply put a much better player than the one he was when he won the Main Event all those years ago and despite bubbling the final table, his $500,000 winnings for this event more than confirm that fact.

When the end came for the Americas Cardroom pro, it was brief and for a bubble worth a quarter of a million dollars, practically free of drama. Once again it was Boeree he was up against except this time, she had the best of it, the British player’s pocket jacks starting and ending Moneymaker’s final hand ahead of the American’s pocket nines.

Moneymaker was gone and the remaining players could celebrate a famous final table. One of their number will win $6m. Eight of the final nine will win million-plus scores.

Addamo Holds the Lead, Bonomo Courts Drama

The final nine are an eclectic bunch, with Michael Addamo leading on 196.8 million chips. That is the equivalent of 66  big blinds, and with the shortest stack the 48.4 million (16BB) held by German Georg Lehmann, everything could change at a very level-stacked final table by several comparisons.

Closest behind Addamo is Austria’s Chris Nguyen on 143.1 million (48BB), with Italian Mustapha Kanit (141.2m/47BB) just a single blind behind him. Liv Boeree starts with 37 big blinds, or 111.4 million, with Brazil’s Marcelo Aziz close to her on 105.5m (35BB). With Chinese player Yinan Zhou (88m/29BB) and Belarrusian Vadzim Lipauka (66.3m/22BB) tipped for greatness in their careers, perhaps the most interesting player is just behind them.

Justin Bonomo starts the final with 63.4 million chips, just 21 big blinds. He’s in hot pursuit of the All-Time Money List leader Bryn Kenney on The Hendon Mob. Bonomo sits around $8m behind but the top prize of $6m would make a huge difference in his hunting down of the New Yorker. After courting controversy by wearing a headdress perceived to be in support of Palestine, Bonomo risked expulsion, but ditched the headwear to keep his seat.

No-one wants to miss out on the final table.