US professional player Steve O’Dwyer has added his thirteenth career live tournament title – and the Euro 327,030 main prize – to an already stellar c.v. by besting 99 entrants and 35 re-entrants in the Euro 10,200 turbo-driven NLHE High Roller event at European Poker Tour Malta.
Although originally scheduled to run for just a day, the tough competition, number of entrants and a 13-hour final table necessitated a two-day duration as top players competed for the lion’s share of a Euro 1,299,800 prize pool.
Ace-spotters reported seeing a slew of high profile professionals taking their seats in the event, including: Theo Jorgensen, Johnny Lodden and Liv Boeree; Ivan Luca, Davidi Kitai, Bryn Kenney, Mustapha Kanit, Martin Finger, Antonio Buonanno, Ole Schemion, Marvin Rettenmaier, Dominik Panka, Adrian Mateos, and – fresh off his 25,000 buy-in High Roller triumph, Mike “Timex” McDonald.
Entrants also included Dzmitry Urbanovich, Dan Smith, Juha Helppi, Mukul Pahuja, Ricardo Alvarado and Dario Sammartino.
In his seventh major final table this year, O’Dwyer headed a star-studded final roster that included Ilari Sahamies, Ike Haxton and Jason Wheeler.
O’Dwyer reprised his EPT 9 Grand Final victory in the event, but it took him 13 hours of stressful final table action to do so, ending only when he eliminated Finnish online high stakes ace Ilari Sahamies of Finland for Euro 220,970 in the heads up after just four hands.
Final table cashes included:
3 Jason Wheeler Euro 143,630
4 Isaac Haxton Euro 118,930
5 Niko Soininen Euro 95,925
6 Jean-Noel Thorel Euro 75,650
7 Vlado Banicevic Euro 57,840
8 Julian Stuer Euro 43,540