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Steve O’Dwyer Wins First Event of Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro

The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro is officially underway and the first event is already in the books. The final table of Event #1, the HK$250,000 NL Hold’em 8-Handed Turbo, concluded on Monday and it was well-known high stakes pro Steve O’Dwyer that walked away with the win.

Steve O’Dwyer Makes Big Comeback to Win Event #1 Title

The beginning of the final day of play started with just seven players remaining and Sam Greenwood starting out as chip leader. Other players at the final table included Linus Loeliger, Beh Kok Weng, Dietrich Fast, Isaac Haxton, Wie Lim Chin, and Steve O’Dwyer.

Wei Lin Chin started the day as the short stack and quickly fell to Beh Kok Weng. Steve O’Dwyer was the second shortest stack at the table and expected to be the bubble boy of the event. However, Dietrich Fast lost most of his stack to Isaac Haxton and then O’Dwyer doubled twice in a two to vault into the chip lead.

First, he doubled through Weng with pocket jacks. Shortly after, Sam Greenwood shoved with Q-9 only to run into the pocket queens of O’Dwyer. O’Dwyer took the chip lead and shortly thereafter, Fast fell in sixth place and was the bubble boy for the event.

Sam Greenwood came into the day as chip leader but finished with a “min cash” of HK$1.02 million. Greenwood shoved with Kc-Qc and O’Dwyer woke up with pocket sixes, and they were good enough to send the final table to four players.

Beh Kok Weng finished fourth when his Kc-7c failed to hold against the pocket queens of Linus Loeliger. Loeliger finished in third place in a cooler of a hand that saw him turn two pair at the same time that O’Dwyer picked up a straight.

It was Isaac Haxton and Steve O’Dwyer heads-up for the title and the pair agreed to a chop of the prize pool. O’Dwyer had a 2:1 chip lead and received HK$3.4 million while Haxton received HK$2.9 million. The pair agreed to play for HK$250,000 and the trophy.

It was a relatively quick heads-up match with the final hand seeing Haxton shoving with Kc-7s and O’Dwyer calling with Kh-Qh. A queen on the flop was enough to seal the win for O’Dwyer.

Steve O'Dwyer (@steveodwyer) 🇺🇸 is the first winner at #TritonMontenegro2019, claiming the HKD 250k NLH 6-Handed Turbo title 🏆 and collecting HKD 4m ($US 522,600)!

Don't go anywhere, we continue with the HKD 500k NLH 6-Max!

▶ Live stream: https://t.co/XMJtfiPPBs pic.twitter.com/EXcMvukca5

— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) May 6, 2019

Including the extra prize money, O’Dwyer walked away with HK$3.7 million and the trophy. In the winner’s photo, O’Dwyer held up a note wishing his mother Happy Birthday.

O’Dwyer Closing in On Top 10 of Money List

Poker’s All-Time Money List is constantly changing in recent years thanks to high roller tournaments and Steve O’Dwyer is once again approaching the top 10. In the past, he has ranked as high as eighth on the list, but performances from players such as David Peters, Fedor Holz, Jason Koon, and Justin Bonomo have dropped him out the top 10.

This recent win gives O’Dwyer $27.49 million in career live tournament earnings and inches him closer to the top 10. He’s currently 11th on the list and trails Dan Smith by just over $210k. At the rate at which O’Dwyer tends to cash in high roller events, it’s just a matter of when, and not if, he will return to the top 10.

Looking at his stats, O’Dwyer has averaged $4.8 million a year in earnings in the last four years. He already has $785k in earnings this year and at the rate he’s going, he will easily vault back into the top 10, perhaps even during this series.

There are eleven total events at Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro, so there’s plenty of opportunities for O’Dwyer to pad his career earnings prior to the 2019 World Series of Poker.

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