Addamo, Chidwick, Other Poker Elite Thrive in GGPoker Super MILLION$
As the poker world has turned nearly its entire focus to online poker in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the best tournament players in the world have found themselves battling more frequently on the virtual felt. Following its launch in June, the GGPoker Super MILLION$ has became one of the top destination for poker’s elite.
The Super MILLION$ is one of four events on the weekly MILLION$ schedule and features by far the largest buy-in. The other three are the High Roller MILLION$ ($500 buy-in), the Zodiac MILLION$ (¥500 buy-in) and the Global MILLION$ ($100 buy-in). Each of those events are doing well in their own right, but the murderer’s row field that frequents the $10,000 buy-in Super MILLION$ each Sunday sets it apart.
The fields often include the likes of Stephen Chidwick, Timothy Adams, Ali Imsirovic, Alex Foxen, Isaac Haxton, Artur Martirosyan, and former #1-ranked PocketFivers Niklas Astedt, Fedor Holz, and Yuri Dzivielevski all playing under the real name. The high buy-in and relative strength of the field are helping to turn the five-month old tournament into one of online poker’s most prestigious Sunday events.
The Dominance of Michael Addamo
No player has had more success in this event than Australian Michael Addamo. The Super MILLION$ has run 23 times and Addamo has five cashes, four final tables appearances, and three victories for $1,537,452.90 in winnings. Addamo’s wins came on June 28, July 19, and August 16. His two other results were a 33rd place finish on August 23 and a third place finish on October 18. He also finished on the stone bubble on September 20.
No other player has won more than once.
| Player | Earnings |
|---|---|
| Michael Addamo | $1,537,452.90 |
| Connor Drinan | $1,456,713.22 |
| Eelis Parssinen | $1,074,288.97 |
| AlmaAAta | $1,041,413.97 |
| M Eibinger | $956,063.40 |
The Consistency of Stephen Chidwick
While Addamo leads the way in wins and overall earnings, no player has cashed with a higher frequency than Stephen Chidwick. A former #1 on the Global Poker Index, Chidwick has found the cashier cage in 14 events. His best finish came on October 11 when he finished runner-up to ‘blakjak19′ and earned $263,791.65. Rui Ferreira is the only other player to have broken the double digit barrier in cashes with 10.
| Player | Cashes |
|---|---|
| Stephen Chidwick | 14 |
| Rui Ferreira | 10 |
| Niklas Astedt | 9 |
| Joao Vieira | 9 |
| Jon Van Fleet | 8 |
The Excellence of Niklas Astedt
Nobody who has been paying attention to the online poker rankings over the past three years is shocked to learn that Niklas Astedt has also found success in the Super MILLION$. Ranked #1 for 65 total weeks in the past three years, Astedt is widely considered amongst the best tournament players in the world and has proven to be a threat here as well. Astedt has made the final table five times, highlighted by a runner-up finish on October 25. Finishing one spot behind fellow Swede Joakim Andersson earned Astedt $251,336.47. Six other players have each cashed four times each.
| Players | Final Tables |
|---|---|
| Niklas Astedt | 5 |
| Michael Addamo | 4 |
| Jon Van Fleet | 4 |
| Stephen Chidwick | 4 |
| Shankar Pillai | 4 |
| M Eibinger | 4 |
| Michael Watson | 4 |
Livestreaming for the World to See
With final tables packed with some of the most recognizable faces in the game, GGPoker knew they had a hit on their hands. The Super MILLION$ plays down to a final table on Sunday with the remaining nine players retuning on Tuesday to give GGPoker.tv the opportunity to stream the final table action. With Randy Lew and Kevin van der Kooi calling the action, the weekly stream has become one of the week’s top options for those looking to rail some online poker heavyweight action.
By the Numbers
During the 2020 WSOP Online, the Super MILLION$ was one of the 54 bracelet events on the schedule. That day, Connor Drinan beat the largest Super MILLION$ field ever to win $1,435,048.71 and his first career WSOP bracelet. The tournament had 899 entries and a $8,720,300 prize pool. The Super MILLION$ was also a part of the recently completed High Roller Week on GGPoker with prize pools of $3,000,000 and $5,810,000.
Despite the star-studded fields, there has been overlays in nearly 40% of the weekly events. The first five events, which ran June 14 through July 12, all had overlays, the largest coming on July 12 when 192 players created a $137,600 overlay.
