Poker’s high stakes tournament regulars made their way to Star Gold Coast in Broadbeach for the first-ever running of the Australian Poker Open from January 25 through February 1, 2020. Over the course of a week, seven high roller tournaments were held with buy-ins ranging from $10,000 AUD all the way up to $100,000 AUD.
The festival featured a player of the series race, which saw the player who accumulated the most rankings points during the course of the week awarded a $50,000 AUD prize and the title of Australian Poker Open champion. The honor was ultimately bestowed on 2019 Card Player Player of the Year award winner Stephen Chidwick. The British poker pro made three final tables, accumulating $949,000 AUD ($654,810 USD) along the way. This was his second ‘Open’ player of the series award, having also secured the title in the 2018 U.S. Poker Open.
Chidwick finished as the runner-up in a $25,000 AUD no-limit hold’em event for $185,955 USD, and then two days later won the second $25,000 AUD no-limit hold’em high roller on the schedule for another $275,655 USD. He closed out the series with a fourth-place showing in the $100,000 AUD no-limit hold’em main event, adding another $193,200 USD.
“Hopefully these style of events continue because I think it’s a bit more of an achievable accolade to win a multiple of or, over time, determine who the best player is rather than looking at a single tournament," said Chidwick after securing the award. "Obviously there’s a lot of luck involved in this too, but over the course of seven, eight, or ten events you’re going to see the better players win more often and it would be fun to see who can collect the most titles like this.”
Chidwick has now made four final tables in 2020, earning enough Card Player Player of the Year points along the way to climb into 16th place in the 2020 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.
Here is a look at the results from the 2020 Australian Poker Open:
| Event | Field Size | Prize Pool (USD) | Champion | Top Prize (USD) |
| $10,000 AUD NLH | 59 | $407,100 | Mike Watson | $122,130 |
| $10,000 AUD PLO | 43 | $296,010 | Andras Nemeth | $100,878 |
| $25,000 AUD NLH | 49 | $845,251 | Tim Adams | $287,385 |
| $25,000 AUD PLO | 29 | $500,250 | Farid Jattin | $200,100 |
| $25,000 AUD NLH | 47 | $810,751 | Stephen Chidwick | $275,655 |
| $50,000 NLH | 35 | $1,207,500 | Lucas Greenwood | $483,000 |
| $100,000 NLH | 28 | $1,932,000 | Michael Addamo | $19,320,000 |
The day after the Australian Poker Open wrapped up, the inaugural Super High Roller Bowl Australia got underway at the same venue. The $250,000 AUD buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament attracted a total of 16 entrants, creating a prize pool equivalent to $2,760,000 USD.
Tim Adams emerged victorious, capturing the top prize of $1,490,000 USD and his 13th career live tournament title. The Canadian poker pro was less than a week removed from a win in a $25,000 AUD no-limit hold’em event in the Australian Poker Open. He has already made four final tables in 2020. As a result, he has climbed into 17th place in the overall POY standings.
The win saw Adams surpass the $20,000,000 mark in career live tournament earnings. With more than $20.7 million, he now occupies the 26th-place spot on poker’s all-time money list.
The Burlington, Ontario native currently sits in third place on Canada’s all-time earnings leaderboard, behind only Daniel Negreanu ($40.9 million) and Sam Greenwood ($21.5 million).
Only the top three finishers made the money in this event, with Cary Katz earning $441,600 USD as the third-place finisher and Kahle Burns taking home $828,000 USD as the runner up. This was Burn’s fourth final-table finish of the year. He now sits in seventh place on the POY leaderboard.
Super High Roller Bowl Australia Result:
| Place | Player | Payout (USD) | POY Points |
| 1 | Tim Adams | $1,490,400 | 240 |
| 2 | Kahle Burns | $828,000 | 200 |
| 3 | Cary Katz | $441,600 | 160 |
