Steve O’Dwyer – who else!When it comes to high roller tournaments the message is clear, always bet on Steve O’Dwyer. Tonight at the PCA he added the $50,000 Single-Day High Roller title to his growing collection of accomplishments in big buy-in tournaments. In Prague in December he became the first player to win two EPT Super High Roller titles and he also has a Super High Roller win on the APPT to his name.

By defeating Connor Drinan heads-up the American-Irishman added another $945,495 to his lifetime tournament winnings and another big win at the PCA to his record (he won his first Super High Roller title here 12 months ago).

---

Want to show up here next year? Click here to get a PokerStars account so you can qualify.

---

There were a number of key hands in O’Dwyer’s victory but perhaps the most important came three-handed against Ivan Luca. From the button O’Dwyer shoved for 15 big blinds with K♦ 6♣ and Luca called with K♥ Q♦ . A six on the flop gave O’Dwyer the pot and all but eliminated Luca. When O’Dwyer finished him off on the very next hand, it meant he had the chip lead going to heads-up. A deal between Drinan and himself meant that they were left playing for $30,684 and the trophy.

Both ended up in O’Dwyer’s hands when a short heads-up battle ended with his A♦ 3♦ holding against Drinan’s Q♦ 10♥ .

Second place for DrinanFor a long time this tournament looked like Luca’s to lose. That potent combination of running good, picking up big hands, playing well and having the chip lead meant that he held the chip lead from 19 players until just four remained. He eliminated Mustapha Kanit (19th), Igor Kurganov (15th), Kenny Smaron (13th), Timothy Adams (11th) and Scott Seiver (10th). It all meant that by the time the final nine gather around the unofficial final table he had three times the average stack and that only one other player – Bryn Kenney – had an above average stack.

Luca ran the show before running out of steam in thirdHe eliminated Paul Newey in eighth and Bryn Kenney in seventh but then the wheels started to come off. He lost a big pot to O’Dywer in a hand that also saw Daniel Dvoress eliminated in sixth place and shortly afterwards another large pot to Ike Haxton in unlucky circumstances. Haxton got it in with J♠ 8♠ and was dominated by Luca’s A♠ 8♦ . Haxton though made a straight and for the first time Luca lost the lead.

A second high roller final table of the week for HaxtonBy this point the blinds were high and the stacks shallow, so much so that Haxton took the chip lead by virtue of that hand. He couldn’t hold onto it. He lost a race to Drinan with A♦ J♥ against pocket fives and went out to the same foe when Drinan’s K♣ Q♥ improved against his A♥ 9♦ on a 8♠ 3♦ 7♦ 3♥ K♦ board. It was Haxton’s second final table in two days and another good performance from the man who’s based in Malta.

Volpe – the unfortunate bubble boyWith 58 of the world’s finest poker players showing up for this one, there were plenty who missed out on a payday but Paul Volpe finished in the spot no one wants to, which in this case was 12th. It was a a tense bubble period that featured quite a few short-stacks doubling up but Volpe was the exception. Shortstacked he shoved with pocket threes and Drinan looked him up with A♣ J♣ and hit both hole cards to send Volpe to the rail. Timothy Adams (11th), Scott Seiver (10th) and Nick Petrangelo (9th) exited in the money, but before the official final table.

Event #38 $50,000 NL Hold’em High Roller 8-Handed Single Re-Entry
Players: 58
Re-entries: 22
Total entries: 80

1st – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland, *$945,495
2nd – Connor Drinan, USA, *$870,625
3rf – Ivan Luca, Argentina, $494,080
4th – Ike Haxton, USA, $380,200
5th – Erik Seidel, USA, $301,080
6th – Daniel Dvoress, Canada, $235,460
7th – Bryn Kenney, USA, $185,280
8th – Paul Newey, United Kingdom, $144,760
9th – Nick Petrangelo, USA, $110,020
10th – Scott Seiver, USA, $96,500
11th – Timothy Adams, Canada, $96,500

*reflects heads-up deal

Take a look at the official website of the PCA, with tournament schedule, videos, news, blogs and accommodation details for the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.

Also all the schedule information is on the EPT App, which is available on both Android or IOS.

Back to Top