Steve O'Dwyer Wins the PCA $50,000 High Roller ($769,500)
Steve O'Dwyer has won the $50,000 High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 2018. The first-place prize in the 46-entry field netted him $769,500 after beating start-of-day chipleader Byron Kaverman heads up. This ninth biggest score of his career brings O'Dwyer to a massive $21,121,735 in lifetime earnings, which catapults him from 13th to 10th place on the all-time money list surpassing Bryn Kenney, Brian Rast, and Sam Trickett, and just under a million away from Phil Hellmuth.
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | $769,500 |
| 2 | Byron Kaverman | United States | $531,860 |
| 3 | Jean-Noel Thorel | France | $339,480 |
| 4 | Erik Seidel | United States | $260,260 |
| 5 | Benjamin Pollak | France | $203,680 |
| 6 | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | $158,420 |
The $50,000 Super High Roller started off with one extreme short stack, which dictated play a bit. Orpen Kisacikoglu was looking for a spot to get it in with his mere 7 big blinds, but until he did, the middle stacks couldn't do much. It was all chipleader Kaverman in the first level as he could easily lean on everyone at the table without too many repercussions.
Eventually, Kisacikoglu did get it in and the six-three suited he choose to make his move with, had a remarkable lot of equity against the jack-deuce Byron Kaverman showed up with. Still, the roughly 45 percent chance of winning didn't materialize for him this time as the jack-high of Kaverman held strong throughout the flop, turn, and river.
With Kisacikoglu out of the way, play was a bit more freely for the remaining players. Benjamin Pollak eventually was the next to go getting it in as a massive favorite with ace-queen against Kaverman's ace-six. A six on the river, however, ruined it all for Pollak who had to settle for 5th place, good for $203,680. After an amazing 2017 where he collected $4,979,065 in tournament cashes, not too bad a start to 2018 either.
It didn't take long for the next player to hit the rail. Erik Seidel, who bubbled the $100,000 earlier this week, got it in with ace-four against the ace-five of O'Dwyer and he saw his opponent hit a five on the flop to make things worse. Seidel didn't recover on the turn or river and exited in 4th place for $260,260.
While Kaverman had started with the chip lead and knocked out two of the three players that were first to go, it was anything but a run course at that point. O'Dwyer, never to be underestimated, was a force at the table and soon took over the chip lead from Kaverman in a hand he flopped a set in while Kaverman flopped a flush draw.
Jean-Noel Thorel had played his patented unconventional style which had really worked well for him till he had to bow out in third place losing jack-seven to king-ten.
Kaverman and O'Dwyer, two longtime high roller regulars both with millions in winnings, didn't discuss a deal. The fight heads-up was pure and would soon enough be decided in O'Dwyer's favor.
O'Dwyer started with a chip disadvantage to Kaverman but quickly turned things around as a string of good cards and boards helped him take a 3-to-1 lead. O'Dwyer won a big hand where he bluffed Kaverman off top pair. Kaverman had no time bank cards left in that hand, and saw his time run out when he was facing the all-in decision. O'Dwyer mentioned he might have checked behind his six-high in other situations but knew Kaverman had no time bank cards left and banked on the possibility of Kaverman's time running out.
It was over soon after. O'Dwyer got it in with jack-ten against the queen-nine of Kaverman and hit a jack on the flop to end it all.
O'Dwyer won this very event in 2016 and the $100,000 Super High Roller in 2015; one might say he runs well on Paradise Island. This marks the 18th win for O'Dwyer in his 11-year live tournament career. Another trophy on his mantle, and a lot more opportunities to add even more this week with the Main Event on to Day 2 tomorrow, two $25,000 buy-in events and a $10,000 single-day high roller still on the schedule.
