Tag: Steve O’Dwyer

Mikita Badziakouski

The poker world is full of distant pinprick stars.

Mikita Badziakouski isn’t one of them.

With more than $28m in live tournament earnings to his name, a few million more playing online tournaments, and a seat in the type of cash games that burn silhouettes into your soul, the light inside ‘Badz’ is ablaze.

Poker record book writers etched another seven-figure score in Badziakouski’s impressive CV, after the partypoker sponsored pro made embers of the 199-entrant field in the $25,500 No-Limit Hold’em event at the World Poker Tour (WPT) World Online Championships on partypoker.

The three-day event ended after Badziakouski cleaned the clock of Jason Koon after the pair agreed upon a heads-up deal that satisfied both parties.

Badziakouski has never made money in a live WPT event.

Here are the final table results.

Final Table Results

  1. Mikita Badziakouski – $1,062,730*
  2. Jason Koon – $810,869*
  3. Alexandros Kolonia – $$548,794
  4. Mark Demirjian – $380,652
  5. Daniel Rezaei – $259,979
  6. Aleksei Barkov – $197,667
  7. Ali Imsirovic – $155,061

*Indicates a heads-up deal

Steve O’Dwyer Wins The Heads-Up

Well before Badziakouski was busy taking down the $25k, Steve O’Dwyer had already locked up the $3,200 WPT Online Championship Heads-Up tournament. The American was the top dog in a field of 166 barking duelists, beating Artem Akhmetvaleyev in the final bracket, earning $135,000.

It’s not the first time that O’Dwyer has won a WPT title.

In 2012, the American won a 289-entrant WPT National in Denmark for €159,227, a few months shy of finishing runner-up to Edoardo Alescio in the Main Event at WPT Venice.

Here are the top eight payouts

Top 8 Payouts

  1. Steve O’Dwyer – $135,000
  2. Artem Akhmetvaleyev – $$75,000
  3. Jorma Nuutinen – $40,000
  4. Allan Berger – $40,000
  5. Joao Vieira – $17,500
  6. Arnaud Enselme – $17,500
  7. Niko Koop – $17,500
  8. Eugenio Peralta – $17,500

When it comes to knitting together a series of streaks, Steve O’Dwyer is one of the best in the business. Still, when Fabiano Kovalski duelled with him, heads-up, in Event #59 {H}: $5,200 No Limit Hold’em 8-Max, Midweek Freeze, the Brazilian had a streak of his own to protect.

Kovalski entered the 2020 PokerStars World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) with wins in each of his two previous series and made it number three after putting O’Dwyer into his grave at the death knell.

Event #59 attracted 97-entrants. More of a robin birdsong than an eagles shriek, but that won’t spoil Kovalski’s enjoyment of seeing his PokerStars bankroll rise by $119,483. It’s not Kovalski’s largest score. That came in 2018 when he won his first WCOOP title, beating 2,077-entrants in a $1,050 No Limit Hold’em event for $310,739.04. His second title came last year when he conquered a field of 767-entrants in a $530 4-Max No Limit Hold’em event for $64,912. Now he has #3.

Kovalski has earned close to $5m playing online multi-table tournaments (MTTs) with the bulk of that dosh coming on PokerStars. He has also won the Sunday Supersonic, the Super Tuesday, and last year, he booked a win in partypoker POWERFEST for a piece of coal shy of $200k.

Kovalski’s win prevented O’Dwyer from winning his third major PokerStars title of the year after adding two Spring Championships of Online Poker (SCOOP) titles to his name earlier this year. In 2018, O’Dwyer bagged a WCOOP title, winning the $2,100 No Limit Hold’em, the same year he won the POWERFEST Main Event for $900,000.

Samuel Vousden and Sam Greenwood also made the final table.

Here are the final table results.

Final Table Results

  1. Fabiano Kovalski – $119,483
  2. Steve O’Dwyer – $92,338
  3. Filipe Oliviera – $71,360
  4. MaxHendrix – $55,148
  5. Samuel Vousden – $42,619
  6. Sintoras – $32,936
  7. Tomi Brouk – $25,453
  8. Sam Greenwood – $19,671

Another beguiling bonanza of a GGPoker report courtesy of having a few moments to spare as the Yerba Mate tea sits heavy in the strainer and Steve O’Dwyer had a better weekend than most.

O’Dwyer has distinguished gluttony when it comes to hogging live tournament wins, and he’s been transferred his jug of luck and skill to the online realm equally successfully in the past 12-months.

The American star picked up two impressive wins at GGPoker over the weekend. Both tournaments were $5k events, and both had field sizes that exceeded the usual intimate get together you typically see in the high stakes games online.

O’Dwyer conquered fields of 111 and 133 entrants to collect a combined haul of $259,226.12.

While the No-Limit Hold’em saw bumper fields, the Short-Deck didn’t. There were two on the weekend at the $10k price point, and Ihor Shkiliaruk won them both (although the fields were 4 and 6 respectively, and 50% of the buy-ins in the field of 6 were Skiliaruk’s)

Outside of the double winners, Wiktor Malinowski took down a $10k, and Joao Vieira and Mikita Badziakouski collected wins in $5k events.

Here are the results in full.

$10k Bryns High Roller

27-entrants

Results

  1. Wiktor Malinowski – $117,735.04
  2. Jonathan Van Fleet – $72,359.90
  3. Oasis – $44,472.37
  4. Elio Fox – $27,332.69

$10k Bryns Short Deck High RToller

4-entrants

Results

  1. Ihor Shkiliaruk – $38,800

$10k Bryns Short Deck High RToller

6-entrants

Results

  1. Ihor Shkiliaruk – $58,200

$5k High Rollers Blade PLO

36-entrants

Results

  1. Joao Vieira – $85,316.76
  2. Onetimeplease22 – $50,409.56
  3. Isaac Baron – $31,730
  4. Sean Winter – $19,972.26
  5. Gr4vyB04t – $12,571.42

$5k High Rollers Blade Mulligan

111-entrants

Results

  1. Steve O’Dwyer – $120,755.41
  2. Kristen Bicknell – $90,925.15
  3. Joao Vieira – $68,463.93
  4. Stephen Chidwick – $51,551.28
  5. Pascal Hartmann – $38,816.56
  6. Timothy Adams – $29,227.68
  7. FuTimReilly – $22,007.57
  8. Mikita Badziakouski – $16,571.04

$5k High Rollers Blade Closer

55-entrants

Results

  1. Mikita Badziakouski – $86,269.92*
  2. Daniel Dvoress – $59,549.32*
  3. David Peters – $39,930.05
  4. Sam Greenwood – $28,825.41
  5. Mustapha Kanit – $20,809
  6. Isaac Baron – $15,021.97
  7. RIVERRAT89 – $10,844.33
    *Indicates a heads-up deal

$5k High Rollers Blade Prime

133-entrants

Results

  1. Steve O’Dwyer – $138,470.71
  2. DanBiz – $105,332.75
  3. KeiijoKonvehti – $80,125.23
  4. Viktor Kudinov – $60,950.16
  5. Michael Addamo – $46,364
  6. Xingyun888 – $35,268.45
  7. Sean Winter – $26,828.21
  8. Laurynas Levinskas – $20,407.86

The PokerStars Spring Championships of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event triad is at an end, and ‘Alexgirs’ claimed the most substantial amount found anywhere in the world this week and the coveted moniker of a SCOOP Main Event winner.

‘Alexgirs’ earned $870,595.81 after a three-way deal saw him take the lion share of the $2.4m remaining prizepool before going on to win the heads-up duel for a further $50,000.

Pablo’ pabritz’ Brito collected the runner-up purse of $764,941.51, and Brito is a man who is running so hot he’s going to end up in the burns unit if he’s not careful.

In February, Brito won the 465-entrant field in the $10,300 No Limit Hold ’em MILLIONS South America Main Event for $1m, before following that up by winning the 2,945-entrant Irish Open Online for $504,777.

Alex’ dynoalot’ Difelice collected $722,074.96 for finishing third.

The final table contained plenty of heavyweights with Daniel Dvoress, Michael Addamo, Max Silver and Benjamin Rolle all featuring.

Event #74: $10,300 Main Event

609-entrants

Results

  1. Alexgirs – $920,595.81*
  2. Pablo’ pabritz’ Brito – $764,941.51*
  3. Alex ‘dynoalot’ Difelice – $722,074.96*
  4. Pieter ‘XMorphineX’ Aerts – $414,959.81
  5. Daniel’ Oxota’ Dvoress – $303,273.47
  6. Michael ‘imluckbox’ Addamo – $221,647.98
  7. Max ‘goodeh99’ Silver – $161,991.56
  8. Benjamin’ bencb789′ Rolle – $118,392.03
  9. EEE27 – $95,745.15

*Agreed upon a heads-up deal

In Other SCOOP News

Here are the results of the Low and Medium Main Events.

Event #74: (L) $109 Main Event

46,238-entrants

Results

  1. uercan – $371,750.73*
  2. UruRey – $323,656.17*
  3. penguy2 – $270,143.96*
  4. LOL_U_91 – $157,464.89
  5. young_diam18 – $112,245.98
  6. LukeN73 – $80,012.54
  7. GeleiaTrsk – $57,035.49
  8. HellRaiserSB – $40,656.61
  9. marmo07 – $28,981.05

Event #74: (M) $1,050 Main Event

6,475-entrants

Results

  1. Joao ‘ayashiJoão’ Hayashi – $920,066.91
  2. Michael ‘merla888’ Gathy – $655,853.39
  3. luelue399 – $467,515.07
  4. gkamei09 – $333,261.12
  5. WNDRWMN23 – $2237,560.62
  6. Oledjan – $169,340.67
  7. Tydarax – $120,712.13
  8. luckyfish89 – $86,048.21
  9. MpZancan – $61,338.32

Event #79: $1,050 Super Tuesday

The former Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1, Adrian’ Amadi_017′ Mateos took down the Super Tuesday SCOOP title. Mateos overcome a field of 937-entrants to claim the title.

Results

  1. Adrian ‘Amadi_017’ Mateos – $164,397.70
  2. Machadada RS – $118,812.40
  3. BBRS999 – $85,867.20
  4. MCalai – $62,057.40
  5. samuraiUA – $44,849.70
  6. IgorKarkarof – $32,413.50
  7. AnFiieLD. – $23,425.60
  8. DaanOss – $16,930.00
  9. vladxxxro – $13,598.30

Event #80: $10,300 NLHE High Roller

It’s been a great few weeks for Steve’ Mr. Time Caum’ O’Dwyer. The American collected his second SCOOP title in quick succession, after adding the 105-entrant $10,300 High Roller to the $521,598 he earned for winning the $25,000 Super High Roller.

Results

  1. Steve ‘Mr. Tim Caum’ O’Dwyer – $241,956.69
  2. Malaka$tyle – $185,765.68
  3. botteonpoker – $142,624.33
  4. Pass_72 – $109,501.87
  5. PaDiLhA SP – $84,071.61
  6. Jorryt ‘TheCleaner11’ Van Hoof – $64,547.17
  7. Connor ‘blanconegro’ Drinan – $49,557.06
  8. LLinusLLove – $38,048.11
Steve O'Dwyer

If Steve O’Dwyer were a camel, he would need more than two humps to hold his poker trophies. The American born pro has earned more than $30m playing live tournaments, including 25 victories, and generationally ranks as one of the most successful players in that artform.

Still, live tournament poker isn’t the only arrow in his quiver. O’Dwyer has also earned $6.4m playing online multi-table tournaments (MTTs), and this week he added a Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) title to his modest haul.

O’Dwyer conquered an 89-entrant $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller on PokerStars, smothering a final table of stars with the ease of a knife smearing butter on warm toast.

Fedor ‘CrownUpGuy’ Holz, Ole ‘wizowizo’ Schemion, Talal ‘raidalot’ Shakerchi, and Joao ‘Naza114’ Vieira all parked their bikes in the $25,000 cycle shed. Still, it was Andras ‘probirs’ Nemeth, whose wheels remained steadfast the longest.

O’Dwyer defeated Nemeth in heads-up action, preventing the high-rolling Hungarian for capturing two titles in a day after winning Event #52: $2,100 No-Limit Hold’em for $157,734.78.

The win netted O’Dwyer $521,597.77 for his troubles. While that’s more than enough to buy a new pair of shoes, it doesn’t rank as O’Dwyer’s best score. That remains the $896,610 he won last year in a similar event during partypoker’s POWERFEST.

Result

  1. Steve ‘Mr. Tim Caum’ O’Dwyer – $521,597.77
  2. Andras ‘probirs’ Nemeth – $403,096.26
  3. Chun Lei ‘SamRostan’ Zhou – $311,516.98
  4. Joao ‘Naza114’ Vieira – $240,743.65
  5. Talal ‘raidalot’ Shakerchi – $186,049.14
  6. VbV1990 – $143,780.89
  7. Ole ‘wizowizo’ Schemion – $111,115.32
  8. Fedor ‘CrownUpGuy’ Holz – $85,871.02

Patrick ‘pads1161’ Leonard Wins Event #53: $2,100 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-or-Better Six-Max

Despite O’Dwyer’s online success, the Coloradan has only ever reached #7 in the PocketFives Rankings. Two people who have taken the tram to the summit of that particular set of rails are Patrick ‘pads1161’ Leonard and Yuri ‘theNERDguy’ Dzivielevski.

The two former World #1’s clashed in the heads-up phase of the 117-entrant Event #53: $2,100 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-or-Better Six-Max. The partypoker ambassador found the luck, skill, or a bit of both to snatch the $52,605.66 first prize, and claim his second SCOOP title.

Joao “Naza114” Vieira once again showed up at the final table, finishing sixth.

Results

  1. Patrick ‘pads1161’ Leonard – $52,605.66
  2. Yuri ‘theNERDguy’ Dzivielevski – $40,345.85
  3. Murilo ‘Muka82’ Figueiredo – $30,943.24
  4. Little Kraut – $23,731.90
  5. guilherme12 – $18,201.17
  6. Joao ‘Naza114’ Vieira – $13,959.38

It’s the event that changed poker’s landscape.

It intimidates.

It seduces.

It turns mild-mannered men and women into war machines. 

The Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) has taken a vacation. Destination, London, and by the time you would have read this, the action in the £250,000 buy-in event would have already begun. 

With 17-hours to go before kick-off, Poker Central is keeping their powder dry on who will be in the field. We know there is a 49-player cap, with 30 seats subject to a random draw, and 19 reserved for Poker Central and Aspers figurines to handpick the final bamboozlers and manipulators. 

But not a single name.

Nada.

So without a cast, I’m going to take a punt at the likely winners, should they be (a) in London, and (b) lucky enough to get a seat.

Bryn Kenney

Bryn Kenney
Bryn Kenney

Bryn Kenney is in London, so I am reasonably confident we will see the man who makes bathrobes look cool competing in the game. Kenney’s goal is world domination, and events like this are in the war plan. Last month, Kenney finished runner-up to Aaron Zhang in the £1m buy-in Triton Million, but he banked the lion share of the money after agreeing upon a deal that saw him net £16.9m. 

Kenney deposed Justin Bonomo at the top of the All-Time Money List after that win ($55.5m). It’s worth noting that ahead of the event, Kenney was the 2019 Money Leader with more than $9m taking from felts across the globe. Wins include the Aussie Millions Main Event, and two Triton titles in Montenegro. 

Justin Bonomo

Justin Bonomo wins short deck main event in Triton SHR Series London 2019
Justin Bonomo

Justin Bonomo held the high stakes poker scene to ransom in 2018, winning more than $25.4m (a record until Kenney’s 2019 exploits). Included in that haul were victories in the SHRB Las Vegas for $5m and the SHRB China for $4,8m. Add his win in the $1m Big One for One Drop, and we may not have a cast for this one, but we do have a man more than equipped to play the role of End Boss. 

I interviewed Bonomo in London at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, and the man glowed. I got the impression that he could make sitting cross-legged look easy, and it showed on the felt winning the £100,000 Short-Deck Main Event for £2.67m. He was never going to improve upon his 2018 haul. However, it’s worth noting that the $5m he’s already secured this year, is his second-best annual performance of his life. 

Stephen Chidwick

Stephen Chidwick is the Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1, and the man his peers believe to be the best in the world. They stitched that label into his hoodie many years ago, the only difference of late, is he’s turning 2nd and 3rd place finishes into wins. 

The UK-born pro is one of the most consistent performers in the world. This year alone he has won titles at the US Poker Open, the British Poker Open (BPO) and captured his first gold bracelet at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Include his epic performance at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in London (where he finished fourth in the big one for more than £4.4m), and who would bet against him.

Rainer Kempe

Rainer Kempe

Rainer Kempe has the t-shirt.

The German star conquered a field of 49-players in the 2016 SHRB, collecting a career-high $5m after beating his buddy Fedor Holz, heads-up. Until last week, Kempe had led the GPI Player of the Year (POY) for eight-weeks, until Sean Winter took his crown. 

Kempe has won five tournaments this year and sharpened his toolkit by finishing runner-up to Sam Soverel, in a £25,100 No-Limit Hold’em event at the BPO. 

Charlie Carrel

Charlie Carrel Wins Triton London Event 3
Charlie Carrel

It was interesting to watch a recent VLOG from Charlie Carrel explaining his omission from the Triton Million London event. Carrel explained how his backer, Orpen Kisacikoglu, bypassed him, because he hadn’t played poker for six-months, and he felt the game had passed him by. 

Carrel responded by winning the £50,000 No-Limit Hold’em at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in London for £1.3m. He then travelled to Rozvadov and finished 7/510 in the MILLIONS Europe Main Event for €130,000 (he went into the final table with the chip lead). Then he turned up at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona, making the final table of two €25,000 No-Limit Hold’em events. 

Steve O’Dwyer

Steve O'Dwyer
Steve O’Dwyer

Despite financial metrics being an unreliable indicator of form, Steve O’Dwyer’s 2019 is annus horribilis. The American star has pulled $1.5m (gross) from the live tables, but that’s his lowest haul since 2012. 

Financial results aside, O’Dwyer, re-entered the GPI Top #10 after making the final table of the €50,000 and €100,000 No-Limit Hold’em events at EPT Barcelona. He also picked up two runner-up finishes in the BPO. 

The Dark Horses

Luc Greenwood

Luc Greenwood competed in 12 Triton events without cashing before making money, finishing runner-up to Linus Lloeliger, in the £25,000 No-Limit Hold-em Six-Handed Turbo at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in London. He then went to EPT Barcelona and finished fourth in the €50,000 No-Limit Hold’em before winning the opening £10,500 No-Limit Hold’em at the BPO. 

Danny Tang

Danny Tang has been a revelation since turning up at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro and leaving with more than $2m in prize money. Tang proceeded to win his first WSOP bracelet, winning the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $1.6m, and made two high roller final tables at EPT Barcelona, including a third in the €100,000. 

Sam Grafton

Like Tang, Grafton is another player who has entered the high stakes stratum in sparkling form. The Squid made money in the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em during the WSOP, finishing 11th, and then finished 13th in the $100,000. Grafton then finished 5/510 in the MILLIONS Europe Main Event in Rozvadov for €220,000, and later earned the most significant score of his career, finishing runner-up to Sergi Reixach in the €100,000 at EPT Barcelona for €1.3m.

The SHRB London starts on Friday 13 September and ends two days later. 

As of July 2018, there were 6,339 comets playing tag in our solar system. Today, that number has increased and will continue rising as there is a trillion scooting around our outer solar system. 

Despite this whopping great number of icy trailblazers, only one, a year is visible to the naked eye. 

This year, Stephen Chidwick is that comet.

Poker players have been saying for years that Chidwick is a little bit special. These days, he’s proving it, racking up titles for fun, and as I type this, he sits on top of the Global Poker Index (GPI) World Rankings. 

Chidwick has been the king for four-weeks after deposing Alex Foxen, and the pair have exchanged the title of ‘World’s Best Live Tournament Player’ for the better part of 17-months. 

Rainer Kempe and Bryn Kenney are doing their best to close the gap, but you suspect Foxen and Chidwick will go toe-to-toe for some while yet. And Chidwick manages this while changing nappies, cleaning up puke, and pushing a stroller around the neighbourhood at ungodly hours. 

Foxen hasn’t picked up any points since securing 320.18 for finishing 40th in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. He did cash three times at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona, including a fourth in a €25,000 event, but none of the scores qualified. 

Chidwick was able to eke ahead after earning 430 points during the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in London for making the final table of both £100,000 Main Events (No-Limit Hold’em & Short Deck). Chidwick also finished fourth in the Triton Million £1m buy-in event, but the score didn’t qualify. The man from Deal put in another solid performance during the British Poker Open (BPO), cashing in four events, winning one, but he picked up zero GPI points because field sizes were too small.

High Rollers Rule

Sifting through the GPI Top 20, only three people don’t compete in the high stakes live tournament scene regularly: Jeremy Ausmus (#10), Joseph Cheong (#12), and Shaun Deeb (#18). 

Steve O’Dwyer re-enters the Top 10 after cashing three times at EPT Barcelona, including the final table of the €50,000 and €100,000 High Rollers, both of which earned him GPI points. O’Dwyer maintained that form in the British Poker Open (BPO) finishing runner-up in a £10,000 and a £25,000 event but didn’t pick up any points for his efforts. 

Current World Rankings

1. Stephen Chidwick 

2. Alex Foxen

3. Rainer Kempe

4. Bryn Kenney

5. Sean Winter

6. Sam Greenwood

7. Manig Loeser

8. Steve O’Dwyer

9. Ali Imsirovic

10. Jeremy Ausmus

2019 GPI Player of the Year

Sean Winter

Sean Winter overtook Rainer Kempe at the head of the 2019 GPI Player of the Year rankings. Winter’s shove ends an eight-week run with Kempe at the top. In a recent interview with yours truly over at CalvinAyre.com, Kempe confirmed that winning the GPI POY would be an honour, but only believes his equity of winning the title is at 10-15%.

“It doesn’t make much sense to chase it,” Kempe told me. “There are 20 people in competition for it. Being in the first place right now doesn’t necessarily mean you have the best chance to win it because of the scoring system. If I had to guess my equity of winning this year, it would be 10-15% or less, and that’s not the kind of equity that’s going to push me to chase it. 

“If the situation changes at the end of the year, and it’s only me, Manig Loeser and Bryn Kenney who can win it, and I am one big score away from taking it down – I will do whatever it takes to win it because winning it would be a great achievement.”

Winter won the $5,250 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) Championship in August, beating 809-entrants to rack up a $698,175 score. Winter may have the lead, but he has to be another outside bet. Winter’s partner is expecting a baby, and that means Winter is more likely to be found in Mothercare than a poker room. 

Current Player of the Year Rankings

1. Sean Winter 

2. Rainer Kempe

3. Stephen Chidwick

4. Sam Greenwood

5. Bryn Kenney

6. Shannon Shorr

7. Manig Loeser

8. Ali Imsirovic

9. Danny Tang

10. James Romero

Top Female Performers

World Rankings

1. Kristen Bicknell

2. Maria Ho

3. Loni Harwood

4. Jessica Dawley

5. Li Yan

6. Marua Lampropulos

7. Lauren Roberts

8. Natalie Teh

9. Wendy Freedman

10 Ana Marquez

Movers and Shakers

Chris Hunichen

Chris Hunichen is the biggest mover in the high stakes scene, shifting 162 places to #61, after picking up close to 700 points for finishing 9/94 in a $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo at the SHRPO, and winning the 540-entrant €10,300 High Roller at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona for €841,345.

Chin Wei Lim climbed 110 places to reach #184 in the rankings. Lim currently sits second behind Michael Soyza in highly competitive Malaysian rankings. Ivan Leow (#230), and Paul Phua (#284) are the two other Malaysian players occupying oxygen in the GPI 300. Lim has made four final tables in 2019, including two high rolling finishes at Triton London, and two at EPT Barcelona. Lim also played in and cashed in the £1m buy-in Triton Million, finishing tenth for £1.1m.

Another big mover is Juan Pardo. The Spaniard rose 101 places to rest in the #192 position after an incredibly consistent display in EPT Barcelona. Pardo won the €25,000 and €50,000 Single-Day High Rollers, back-to-back, and came fourth in a second €25,000 High Roller, accumulating €1.8m in gross prize money. Pardo currently sits #5 in the Spanish GPI rankings behind high rollers Sergio Aido (1), Sergi Reixach (2), and Adrian Mateos (3). 

Finnish high stakes stalwart, Juha Helppi, broke back into the GPI 300 sitting in #236 place. Helppi cashed in two high rollers at EPT Barcelona, finishing runner-up to Timothy Adams in a €10,200 Six-Handed event. 

James Chen had a stunning WSOP, making the final tables of the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, and the $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em for a combined haul of more than $1m in gross winnings. The man from Taiwan followed that up with two ITM finishes at EPT Barcelona, making the final table of €25,000 event. Chen breaks into the GPI 300, nestling in #269.

Finally, Triton regular, Peter Jetten, also made it into the GPI 300. The Canadian star currently sits in #272 place after making seven final tables in 2019 with his seventh-place finish in a £25,000 Short Deck event in London his most recent. 

“Put a towel underneath your door?”
It was an odd request.
“Why?”
“The snake.”
“What snake?”
Then he showed me the longest-arsed python I had ever seen in my life. It lived in a plastic tube and could kill me in my sleep hence the towel.
He was a strange cookie: a firefighter.
He took great delight in showing me his bedroom, and it was deathly cold. The window was wide open — the cold night air sneaking in, hiding underneath his covers.
“Why do you have the window open?”
“I am a firefighter. I need the cold.”
“But what if someone climbs through your window?”
“Oh, they won’t do that,” he said, producing a big gun.
I only stayed one night, and I haven’t thought about him until Matthias Eibinger won another high roller and a vision interrupted my thoughts of high stakes poker players placing towels beneath casino doors in an attempt to keep him out.

Matthias Eibinger Wins The €50k Super High Roller.

Matthias Eibinger
The €50k Super High Roller attracted 40-entrants (30 unique, and ten with a little extra cash to splash the dash), six more than 2017 when Timothy Adams took the title, €555,000 first prize and a bouquet.
It was a spiffing final table with quality players jutting out all over like decades-old gravestones in a long-forgotten cemetery — players of the ilk of the 2017 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event winner, Charlie Carrel, one half of the mighty Greenwood twins in Luc, and a man experiencing the heater of his life, Andras Nemeth.
But before I wax lyrical about the awesome Austrian, it’s worth mentioning the mighty Moldovan. Pavel Plesuv flew into Prague after winning the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roller Open Main Event, and then proceeded to make the final table of every high roller that EPT Prague ushered in his direction.
Nemeth, Plesuv, Greenwood and Carrel are top players, but it was Eibinger who continued his incredible 2018 with the win. The Austrian beat Nemeth in a hard-fought and fortunate heads-up match, which in truth, the Hungarian would have closed out had it not been for the Poker Gods repeatedly kicking him in the balls with Eibinger out for the count.
The victory is Eibinger’s third of the year, including taking down the $52,000 event during ARIA Fall Madness for $575,000, and a $25k at the same venue in the summer for $300,000. Eibinger also tore through the PokerStars’ EPT in Barcelona earlier this year cashing in five big buy-in events collecting $1.5m.
Here are the final table results:
Final Table Results
1. Matthias Eibinger – €653,000
2. Andras Nemeth – €451,350
3. Liang Xu – €288,090
4. Pavel Plesuv – €220,870
5. Luc Greenwood – €172,850
6. Charlie Carrel – €134,440

Thomas Boivin and Corentin Ropert Win €25k Events via Live Satellites

Sitting on the EPT Prague undercard was two €25,000 High Rollers and players who qualified for the events via live satellites won them both turning a speculative effort into a mammoth amount of money.
The first event saw 46-entrants (36 unique, ten re-entries) create the first prize of €375,520, and that money now sits in a bank account belonging to Thomas Boivin.
The Belgian defeated a final table that included the WPT Champion Pavel Plesuv, the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) €25k High Roller winner, Michael Addamo, and the high stakes regular, Orpen Kisacikoglu.
But it was the presence of Steve O’Dwyer that caught most people’s attention. O’Dwyer is one of four players (David Peters, Adrian Mateos and Justin Bonomo) capable of stopping Alex Foxen from taking down the 2018 Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) award, but the American only bagged 248.25 GPI points with 319.21 points going to the Belgian. That said it was another remarkable run for a man who has now won more than $6.4m in 2018.
It’s the third tournament win of Boivin’s career after conquering a field of 2,887-entrants in a $1,100 Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) DeepStack event at The Venetian for $352,153 in 2016, and battering 516-entrants in an AUD 1,200 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Max event at the 2017 Aussie Millions for $88,195. Boivin’s win sees his all-time live tournament earnings shift to $2,127,693 putting him sixth in his the Belgium rankings behind Davidi Kitai, Pierre Neuville, Kenny Hallaert, Michael Gathy and Bart Lybaert.
Here are the final table results:
Final Table Results
1. Thomas Boivin – €375,520
2. Steve O’Dwyer – €259,550
3. Orpen Kisacikoglu – €165,670
4. Michael Addamo – €127,010
5. Pavel Plesuv – €99,400
6. Stefan Huber – €77,310
Corentin Ropert told reporters that his EPT Prague experience was so awful he considered spending the night in his room watching movies on Netflix. Instead, inspired by Boivin’s victory, the Frenchman dragged his sorry arse to the poker room to compete in a live satellite for the €25k and ended up winning the lot.
The field size was slightly smaller than the first €25k with 34-entrants (29 unique, five re-entries) carving out a €277,560 first prize, and Ropert beat the Japanese player Tsugunari Toma, heads-up, to take the title.
It’s the second victory of Ropert’s career, and they have come in the last two events the Frenchman has finished in the money (in October he beat 149-entrants in a €1k event in Divonne Les Bains to take the €30,336 first prize). This win was more than double his combined efforts of the previous five years.
Michael Addamo made his second EPT Prague final table, Plesuv made his third, and there was also an appearance from the high rolling Russian born Dietrich Fast.
Final Table Results
1. Corentin Ropert – €277,560
2. Tsugunary Toma – €191,840
3. Michael Addamo – €122,450
4. Dietrich Fast – €93,880
5. Norbert Szecsi – €73,470
6. Pavel Plesuv – €57,140

Marcel Luske
 
In poker terms, Marcel Luske is old.
We refer to him as a Dutch legend, and whenever we apply that wart onto the skin of the stars of this world, we are saying, “you are old.”
Luske is a dapper, handsome man, but in poker parlance, he’s been around longer than most young wizards have been alive, and his first-ever live tournament cash was in the 1999 Master Classics of Poker, showing how old the Netherlands premier poker tournament is.
In fact, It’s been around longer than Luske.
27-years.
So, it was a surprise to see the organisers forget the culture that created such a powerful brand.
Culture doesn’t merely exist, you create it, and that’s what the Master Classics of Poker has done to great effect over the past 27-years. In doing so, they have created a tightly knit group that turn up year after year to play in the event, and sample the delights that the city of Amsterdam has to offer.
As Seth Godin says in his brilliant book This is Marketing – culture beats strategy – so much that culture is strategy.
It was not a solid strategy to hold a €25k buy-in event as part of the festival, because the Master Classics isn’t a tightly knit group of people that play €25k events.
 
Steve O’Dwyer Wins Again
Steve O'Dwyer
 
The €25k High Roller at the Holland Casino in Amsterdam attracted a measly three entrants. It’s a cataclysmic miscalculation in expectation by the organisers, and one that leaves an albatross sized poop stain on the festival when it comes to the recognition it receives annually.
O’Dwyer beat a field containing Stefan Wolzak and Patrik Antonius, and the form that the American is in, you have to take your hat off to the both of them for even getting into the ring with the man. With more than $6m in live tournament poker alone on his resume in 2018, you have to be a sadist to want to exchange chips with him.
Wolzak controlled the early action before O’Dwyer found pocket aces at the same time Antonius went for gold holding KQss. The rockets held up, Antonius went searching for the person who suggested he show up, and O’Dwyer went into the heads-up encounter with Wolzak even in chips.
O’Dwyer won the first couple of pots, took the chip lead, and like a bellboy holding a bag, patiently waiting for his tip, he never relinquished it. A simpleton would have figured this one out. Heat begets heat, and you don’t find them much hotter than O’Dwyer these days.
Here is the final hand.
Wolzak opened to 600 from the button, and O’Dwyer called. The flop was Tc6h2s, and O’Dwyer check-called a 700 Wolzak bet. The kc hit the turn, and O’Dwyer check-called a 2,800 Wolzak bet. The final card was the Jc, O’Dwyer checked for the third time, Wolzak bet 4,500, O’Dwyer moved all-in, and the Dutchman called. Wolzak showed two black aces, but O’Dwyer had him beat with 52cc for the flush.
The win was O’Dwyer’s fifth of 2018 and comes a week after the American finished second to Roger Teska in the $25,500 MILLIONS World in the Bahamas where he earned $1.3m.
O’Dwyer tripled his money, pocketing €74,250 for the win, and I expect him to have a successful trip to Prague for the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) if he does, as expected, choose the winter wonderland instead of the dry heat of Las Vegas and the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond Poker Classic.
When it comes to culture, O’Dwyer is a man who prefers a European one over an American.

There are no animals here.
If there were, there would be anarchy.
A man, comb protruding from his top pocket, walks toward the counter swinging his cane like Charlie Chaplin. A kid, eating baked beans, steps from side to side, preventing the piss from finding a home in his pants. Two teenagers play rock, paper, scissors to see who will pay for the vegan breakfasts.
But there are no animals.
When I think of the word ‘WORLD’, I don’t think of cathedrals, crowns and the smell of cloves. I think of the animals that our greed has driven off the face of this earth since 1970.
People like us, do things like this.
Since Paul, Ringo and John went their separate ways, humanity has wiped out 60% of the world’s species.
60%.
For what?
For land.
For meat.
For clothes.
For fun.
That leaves 40% ducking, diving and trying to evade death. At least 394 of them are sharks, and this week, they have been swimming in a cove at the Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas.
Welcome to the partypoker Caribbean Poker Party (CPP), and MILLIONS World.
partypoker announced the $25,500 buy-in event in April; promising to invest $10m before going all Snow White and the Seven Dwarves with online satellite promotions.
Let’s call it a stretch goal.
By the end of Day 1A, I imagine there were a few shredded nerves within the corridor of power at partypoker when only 77-players turned up to play. 49 escaped with ribs, femurs and breastplates intact, and Chance Kornuth had more blood on his clothes than most, ending the night with the chip lead. A certain Steve O’Dwyer also emerged in one piece, sticking 830,000 chips into a plastic bag, good enough for 41 big blinds.
Then came the big one.
Day 1B.
The $10m cliffhanger.
Had the partypoker marketing machine made the MILLIONS sound mint?
205 players entered, taking the toll to 282, and with four levels left of registration time reserved for Day 2, the team was going to need a whole lot of crazy sharks with money to burn. 59 players made it through the day, and the Brazilian, Geraldo Cesar had the chip lead. A certain, Roger Teska ended the day with 1,170,000.
Roger Teska
Remarkably, a further 112 players entered in the first four levels of Day 2, bringing the final number to 394-players, $150,000 shy of the $10m Guarantee, and I would say that’s close enough that we don’t have to mention any of those smelly smoky things from Havana.
39 players would receive a $35,000 profit, and three would bank seven-figure scores with the winner securing $2m. Day 2 ended with 59 in the hunt for that incredible sum of money, and it was on this day that O’Dwyer took the tournament by the scruff of the neck.
O’Dwyer flew into the Bahamas on the back of a reasonably quiet World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE), only cashing once (13/95 in the €100k), but he did win both the £10k & £25k High Rollers at MILLIONS UK in Dusk till Dawn (DTD) for close to £800,000. And outside of the live realm, O’Dwyer had also pocketed $1.1m winning partypoker POWERFEST and PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) events. There were few in this competition with a bite as fierce as O’Dwyer.
The former European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final Champion, began Day 3 with the chip lead, and still had it going into the final table at the end of ten levels of play.
Unofficial Final Table Chip Counts
1. Steve O’Dwyer – 81,275,000
2. Ben Tollerene – 74,750,000
3. Joao Vieria – 42,675,000
4. Andras Nemeth – 42,675,000
5. Niall Farrell – 35,525,000
6. Rainer Kempe – 34,325,000
7. Roger Teska – 34,200,000
8. Charles La Boissoniere – 26,225,000
9. Paul Tedeschi – 22,475,000
Let’s get to it.

Flesh & Bones: The Final Table Feast

David Vamplew’s doppelganger, Paul Tedeschi, came into the final day as the shortest stack in the room, but that changed soon after the cards went into the air. The Frenchman doubled through O’Dwyer KK>JJ. The final nine players blinked, and Tedeschi had gone from short-stack to the biggest stack in the room.
Then we lost our first player.
Tedeschi opened to 2.5m holding pocket kings, and the card dead Joao Vieira moved all-in for 16-bigs holding pocket jacks. A crocodile snap later, and the dealer was swiftly moving through a jackless flop, turn and river, and Vieira walked over to the cash desk to collect his $250,000.
Then we lost the Triple Crown winner, Niall Farrell.
O’Dwyer opened to 2.6m on the button with A6hh hiding underneath his fingerprints. Farrell, shoved for eight big blinds in the next seat, holding pocket deuces, and Roger Teska reshoved holding pocket eights in the big blind. O’Dwyer folded, and five community cards later, the table was minus the beast from the North.
A scarf followed Farrell to the rail.
O’Dwyer pumped the pot up to 2.5m from midfield holding AJo and then called when Rainer Kempe moved all-in from the button for 12 big blinds holding KJo. An ace on the flop sorted that mess out, and Kempe was finally able to show the vampires a little Aorta.
Six became five when we lost Ben Tollerene.
Tollerene opened to 3.5m with pocket sevens from the hijack position. Charles La Boissonniere called with the other two sevens, as did Paul Tedeschi with A9hh, and then Teska put the cougar amongst the pigeons by moving all-in for 29.3m, and only Tollerene made the call. The flop rained down 9d8d5c, giving Teska the lead, but handing Tollerene a gutshot. The 6d gave Tollerene that straight, but a cruel 4d on the river handed Teska a flush, leaving Tollerene with chip dust, and Andras Nemeth sucked it up in the very next hand.
Then O’Dwyer took command once more.
The American opened to 3.7m holding AK and then called after Andras Nemeth moved all-in for 71.5m holding pocket nines. It was a chip leading pot, and it went the way of O’Dwyer when an ace landed on the flop.
Chip Standings Four-Handed
1. Steve O’Dwyer – 220,700,000
2. Paul Tedeschi – 77,300,000
3. Charles La Boissonniere – 52,000,000
4. Roger Teska – 44,100,000
Teska emerged to become O’Dwyer’s primary pain in the arse when he took most of Tedeschi’s chips in a pocket pair versus bigger pocket pair set up, and then O’Dwyer took his head when K7o beat A2o thanks to a seven on the river.
Then O’Dwyer took the chips and momentum into a heads-up clash against Teska when he took chunks from the regally named La Boissoniere. La Boissoniere opened to 6.2m on the button holding J6hh, and O’Dwyer defended the big blind with QTo. The players checked through to the turn on QdJd7s7c, O’Dwyer led for 10m, and La Boissoniere made the call. The river was the 2c. O’Dwyer bet 26m, and La Boissoniere made the call with the weaker two pair hand. That hand left La Boissoniere as the short-stack, and he passed them to Teska when his pocket nines failed to escape a bear trap laid by Q7o.
Heads-Up
Steve O’Dwyer – 312,000,000
Roger Tesak – 82,000,000
O’Dwyer had led the field since the end of Day 2. He was the man to beat. A live tournament specialist with a near 4:1 chip lead over a man who rarely plays these things.
But this is poker.
In one of the first hands of heads-up action, O’Dwyer was five cards away from the win when he found a cooler spot KK v QQ only for Teska to flop a queen to give him the chip lead.
Then, in the final hand of what turned out to be a brilliant tournament for the organisers, O’Dwyer moved in with pocket fives, Teska looked him up holding T8cc, and an eight on the flop brought O’Dwyer’s reign of terror to an end.
The win was only Teska’s second of his career, after winning a 2009 event in the Bellagio for $26,095. His previous best performance came in 2011 when he finished fourth in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship for $371,665.
O’Dwyer will be disappointed to have come so close, but he’s played in enough of these things to accept when a $1.3m defeat is a win. O’Dwyer has now won close to $6m in live tournament earnings in 2018, a million more than he has ever won before. His combined all-time live tournament haul of $26,280,416 takes him above Phil Ivey in the All-Time Live Tournament Rankings where he is now ranked #8.
We may be in the midst of humanity’s sixth great extinction, but one species that doesn’t seem ready to perish quite yet are poker’s high rollers, and who would have thought that when the likes of O’Dwyer began playing $25k events with the frequency of $1k events just a few short years ago.
Here are the final table results.
Final Table Results
1. Roger Teska – $2,000,000
2. Steve O’Dwyer – $1,300,000
3. Charles La Boissoniere – $1,000,000
4. Paul Tedeschi – $700,000
5. Andras Nemeth – $550,000
6. Ben Tollerene – $450,000
7. Rainer Kempe – $350,000
8. Niall Farrell – $300,000
9. Joao Vieira – $250,000