Top 10 Aussie Poker Players In 2020 So Far

The world of poker kicked off the new year with a plethora of tournament opportunities.

As happens every January, players from around the world traveled to Melbourne to play in the prestigious Aussie Millions tournament series at Crown Casino. Australian poker pros like Kahle Burns and Michael Addamo claimed impressive victories in that series.

From there, the high-stakes players traveled to The Star Gold Coast in Queensland for the first-ever Australian Poker Open and Super High Roller Bowl. Addamo went so far there as to capture the APO Main Event title.

With all of the poker action in just the first two months of 2020, it’s not too soon to take a look at the Global Poker Index’s GPI rankings. Aussie players already hold the top two spots in the competition for the 2020 Player of the Year, and several of them are in the top 100.

1. Kahle Burns

As a pro player for years, Kahle Burns worked his way to the top and shone brightly in 2019. He was the top player in all of Australia and finished fourth in the entire world last year. This year, he’s already at the top of the leaderboard again, not only in the number one spot for Australia but also for the entire world.

Burns started strong at the PartyPoker MILLIONS UK events, taking down the Super High Roller for $350K and finishing second in the High Roller for $165K. He then had a strong showing at the Aussie Millions, winning the $100K Challenge for more than $1.7 million. And he then finished second in the Super High Roller Bowl for $1.2 million.

2. Najeem Ajez

Hailing from Brisbane, Ajez had a great run at the Aussie Millions, finishing third in the PLO High Roller and fourth in the NLHE Six Max. HE also had a second place showing in one of the Australian Poker Open events in Queensland and then finished second at the Australian Poker Tour (APT) in Brisbane.

While he has been playing poker for quite a few years, his earnings in 2020 of more than $287K have already eclipsed earnings from any previous year. Ajez is already second on the Australian list and 11^th in the global rankings.

3. Michael Addamo

After an impressive year in 2019, Addamo got off to a solid start already in 2020. He won the $50K Challenge at the Aussie Millions in mid-January for more than $1 million, then took fourth and fifth place finishes in the Australian Poker Open. He topped that off by winning the Main Event of that series for $1,288,000.

For now, he is third on the Australian rankings and 28^th worldwide, surprising in that he has more than $1.7 million in earnings thus far in 2020.

4. Hun Wei (Andy) Lee

Another player who did well at the Aussie Millions, Lee took seventh place in one tournament and then second in the $25K PLO tournament. He then tagged along to the Australian Poker Open and took third place in the third event there.

Lee’s past performances have varied greatly from year to year. In 2019, he earned less than $15K but already has nearly $341K to his credit in 2020.

5. Vincent Wan

This young player already made more money in 2020 than in all of his years playing poker put together. He took home more than $1.3 million for winning the Aussie Millions Main Event last month. Seeing as Wan tends to play poker only in Australia, it is unclear how much he will play and how he will keep up with his fellow Aussies on the GPI leaderboard.

6. Michael O’Grady

With more than $214K in earnings thus far in 2020, O’Grady is already having the best year of poker in his life. He won the ninth event at the Aussie Millions, cashed in another one, and finished second in an event at the Australian Poker Open.

7. Gautam Dhingra

Dhingra was a busy player at the Aussie Millions. He cashed in five events in that series, including ninth and tenth place finishes. Last year, he made more than $183K, though, and he won nearly $279K the year before that.

8. Jinsoo Kang

It seems that Kang doesn’t play much poker at all, but he did at last month’s Aussie Millions. He cashed in three tournaments, one of which was a sixth-place finish in Event 7. He also finished 13^th in the Main Event for $82K, his biggest cash of the series.

9. Ashish Gupta

This Melbourne player cashed in four events at last month’s Aussie Millions, including one final table. He won more than $37K in that series.

10. Jo Snell

Hailing from Brisbane, Snell won the opening event of the Aussie Millions for more than $341K, cashed in another, and then made two final tables at the Australian Poker Tour (APT) in Brisbane. Snell’s third year as a player is already the best yet.