Tony G is on the tour once again. After a 2-year break, we saw Tony compete last year at Merit Poker Super High RollerBowl Europe in Cyprus, where he reminded everyone of what he’s capable of.
After winning two events in Cyprus ($25,000 and $100,000 No Limit Short Deck Hold ‘em) that brought him over $1,500,000 in prizes, he was out for another 9 months, before returning to playing tournaments again.
The first stop was Madrid. Tony partook in two events at the Triton Poker Series from 13th to 25th of May, so let’s see how that went.
Event #7 – €75,000 No Limit Hold ‘em, 8-handed
The first of the two events was the 8-handed €75,000 No Limit Hold ‘em. The event had 63 entries and a prize pool of €4,725,000. Tony found himself at the final table to make money with 7 other guys. The competition was especially tricky, with names like Phil Ivey and Steve O’Dwyer not making it to the final.
The first one to go out of the final table was Ben Heath, and Tony G went next. In a heads-up against Michael Addamo, he had a A♥, 2♠, while Addamo had 5♣, 5♠. With 3♣, 7♣, 9♦, 5♥, 6♣ on the board, it was Addamo who drew a set and Tony had to settle for the 7th place.
Guoga went home (or rather, stayed in Madrid for another event) with €241,000. It was Addamo who won the event in the end, after brokering an ICM deal with Stephen Chidwick. Chidwick, however, walked out with more money – €1,291,414, while Michael Addamo earned €1,152,086. Seth Davies came in third, winning €661,500.
Event #12 – €100,000 No Limit Short Deck Hold ‘em Ante Only
The second event Tony was involved in was event number 12 – a €100,000 No Limit Short Deck Hold ‘em, which was the main event at the Triton Poker Series Madrid. It had 60 entries and a large prize pool of €6,000,000.
The winner was decided after a great battle between Chidwick and Tony G, with Chidwick taking the main prize in the end, along with a bunch of Player of the Year points. After the Madrid tournament, Chidwick leads this race with 1261 points, 344 more than second-placed Badziakouski.
In the early stages of the event, Tony G won a pot against Chidwick that gave him the luxury of a huge stack throughout the day. In the end, it was exactly these two guys who were the last men standing and these two very different personalities put on a great show.
At the beginning of the final, it was Tony who had the most chips with 201 antes (antes were 25k/50k), far ahead of Badziakouski with 128, while Chidwick was down in 5th at the time with 75.
After a series of risky hands and all-ins Chidwick gradually started growing his stack and somehow made it to the final two. Tony, on the other hand, had troubles for a while, spent some time as the short stack, but just a couple of well-played hands against Richard Yong and Chidwick had him back on track. He was the chip leader again after just 15 minutes. In the end, it was only Guoga and Chidwick left at the table. Tony had a chip lead at this point, with 112 antes vs. 69 antes held by Chidwick.
After roughly one hour of head-to-head play, we saw the hand that decided the winner. Both players had big aces – Chidwick had A♠, Q♦, while Tony held A♦, J♠. With both Q and J on the board, it was Chidwick who ended up victorious.
In the end, Chidwick won €1,800,000, Tony won €1,305,000, and Mikita Badziakouski was third, winning €840,000.
Stay tuned for more
To sum up, it could be said that Tony had a successful run at the Triton Poker Series in Madrid, going home with more than €1,500,000. He’s also holding 23rd place in the race for the player of the year at this series.
The next tournament that will give us the chance to watch Tony G play is the PokerGO Tour event in Venice, Italy, at the Casino di Venezia, the oldest casino in the world, from May 26th to May 28th.
