Steve O'Dwyer Storms His Way to the €25,000 High Roller Title
Steve O’Dwyer wasn’t having a very enjoyable trip to Barcelona.
He had a few cashes, including a final table appearance in an earlier €25,000 High Roller at the 2022 PokerStars and Barcelona?Casino European Poker Tour. But he busted the €10,000 High Roller just short of the money yesterday before hopping into yet another €25,000 High Roller.
He capped off the trip by taking down the title today, topping a field of 52 entries to win €405,760.
“I was having a terrible trip,” O’Dwyer said following his victory. "I was very angry last night after busting the 10K like 20 spots from the money. Ran really well in this tournament and I won, so I don’t feel as angry anymore."
O’Dwyer is no stranger to these elite, high roller fields. He had more than $31,000,000 in live winnings before this event and was 14th on the all-time money list. He won EPT Monte Carlo in 2013, conquering what was at the time considered possibly the best final table in EPT history including Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Lodden, and Jason Mercier. He won the $100,000 Super High Roller at the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.
The challenge of going up against the game’s best, and beating them as he did today, is something he takes great pride in. “It’s a very pleasurable exercise of the mind to play against these guys nonstop. It’s really interesting. I’m really happy that I get to do it,” he said.
Final Table Action
O’Dwyer took the chip lead into Day 2 as 12 more players jumped in before registration closed, creating a total field of 52 and a prize pool of €1,248,520. Dan Smith, David Peters, and Nick Petrangelo were among a group of early casualties who busted before the final table of nine was set.
Only seven would make the money, and the unfortunate bubble finisher was Mikita Badziakouski, who had pocket tens cracked by the ace-four of Spain’s Juan Pardo.
| Rank | Player | Country | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | €405,760 |
| 2 | Juan Pardo | Spain | €268,430 |
| 3 | Bruno Volkmann | Brazil | €181,040 |
| 4 | Sergio Aido | Spain | €137,340 |
| 5 | Pablo Brito Silva | Brazil | €106,120 |
| 6 | Eelis Parssinen | Finland | €84,280 |
| 7 | Erik Seidel | United States | €65,550 |
Erik Seidel would be the first to fall in the money, running his ace-jack into the ace-king of Pablo Brito Silva to finish in seventh place for €65,550. Shortly after, O’Dwyer was knocked down to just 250,000 after losing a pot to Brito Silva, but would get those chips back when he was all in with queens against the Brazilian’s jacks and both players flopped a set, giving O’Dwyer a double up.
Sergio Aido would take a massive chip lead after hitting the nut straight and raising to 700,000 on the river against Brito Silva, sending the former chip leader to the bottom of the counts. Finnish pro and online grinder Eelis Parssinen was eliminated in sixth when he lost with ace-four of hearts against Bruno Volkmann’s ace-ten, missing the nut flush draw against Volkmann’s flopped pair of tens.
O’Dwyer picked up kings to bust Brito Silva in fifth place as he took the chip lead from Aido. Pardo would have his turn atop the counts when he doubled up for 1,025,000 off O’Dwyer with ace-queen against queen-ten, taking down a 2,350,000 chip pot. O’Dwyer then doubled back into the lead with ace-king against Pardo’s ace-six before eliminating Aido in fourth place, winning a coin flip with ace-jack of diamonds against pocket fours and hitting the nut flush on the river.
As a storm raged outside Casino Barcelona and the lights in the room began to flicker, Volkmann would hit the rail shortly after when O’Dwyer shoved with king-six and Volkmann called for his last 700,000 with the same ace-jack of diamonds. It wouldn't work out for him as it did for O’Dwyer, as O’Dwyer flopped top two pair to bust the Brazilian in third place for €181,040 and take a 4,075,000 to 1,125,000 chip lead into heads-up against Pardo.
After the two players returned from break, O’Dwyer and Pardo saw the river on a king-high board before Pardo bet nearly his entire stack, leaving one 25,000 chip behind. O’Dwyer called and the Spaniard mucked his cards, giving the pot to O’Dwyer without a showdown. Pardo would double up once, but he couldn’t survive long as he lost with jack-three to jack-ten, earning €268,430 for his runner-up finish.
As the blinds continued to go up every 30 minutes and the stacks got shallower, O’Dwyer was the most aggressive player at the table and involved in the most pots. It wasn’t part of his overall strategy, just things evening out in the end. “Just because I had good cards. If I didn’t have good cards I would’ve been the tightest player at the table,” he said.
“When we got four or five handed all of a sudden I started to get dealt really good cards, like yesterday. I felt just in this tournament, yesterday and today—this tournament lasted 12 or 14 hours, something like that—I feel like I got more premium pairs, jacks and above, in this tournament alone than I did in the previous 12 or 13 days. Finally evened out. Enough for me to break even on the trip.”
A little luck finally caught up to him just in time to end his Barcelona trip in style.
That concludes PokerNews’ coverage of the €25,000 High Roller. Stay tuned for more updates from EPT Barcelona and poker tournaments around the world.