Seat 1: Owen Dodd, 31, United Kingdom (2,950,000)
What are friends for? In Owen Dodd’s case, they’re for persuading you to play
tournaments on the European Poker Tour (EPT). The 31-year-old from Telford only
started playing tournament poker six months ago at the behest of a couple of close
mates. “They both kept telling me I would crush these tournaments,” he says.
It turns out his mates were right, as he’s now made an EPT final table on his very first
attempt. But just because Dodd is new to tournaments doesn’t mean he’s new to poker.
Formerly a groundworker, Dodd started playing around eight years ago (“More
seriously for the past four”) and is now a high-stakes cash pro and a regular on the
Dusk Till Dawn live streams where he battles in games as big as ￡50/￡100.
He hates online poker but loves live cash for its social element, regularly travelling the
tournament circuit with friends despite not playing. “I’d just go, play cash, and rail them
boys,” he says.
“Them boys” he’s referring to – the same friends who convinced him to play – are EPT
London champion Ian Hamilton and Barcelona finalist Carl Shaw. Between them, they know a good player when they see one. Now it’s their turn on Dodd's rail.