The first of ten winners at The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro 2019 has signed the camera lens, and it’s the familiar squiggle of a man who has won more than $27m playing the toughest live multi-table tournaments (MTTs) in the world.
Steve O’Dwyer collected HK$3,708,784 after a heads-up deal that saw his good friend and mentor, Isaac Haxton, pick up HK$2,901,216 for his runner-up finish. O’Dwyer typically keeps his emotions in check but allowed a little love to flow, holding a birthday placard for his mother as the camera lens’ cracked into life at the end.
Day 2 of Event #1: HK$250,000 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo 8-Handed began with seven players prepared for an eyebrow-raising four buy-in bubble that would greet the final six players.
Here is the state of play at the beginning of the day.
Final Table Chip Counts
1. Sam Greenwood – 2,100,000 2. Linus Loeliger – 1,755,000 3. Beh Kok Weng – 1,475,000 4. Dietrich Fast – 1,160,000 5. Isaac Haxton – 890,000 6. Steve O’Dwyer – 820,000 7. Wei Lim Chin – 805,000
And the treasure.
Payouts
1 – HK$ 4,020,000
2 – HK$ 2,590,000
3 – HK$ 1,720,000
4 – HK$ 1,240,000
5 – HK$ 1,005,000
O’Dwyer came into the event as the second lowest stack after what he described as a nightmare ending to Day 1. The only player with fewer chips than O’Dwyer was Wei Lim Chin, and as so happens in these situations, he was the first to hit the rail.
With blinds at 25k/50k/50k, Beh Kok Weng min-raised to 100,000 holding pocket eights, and called after Lim moved all-in holding pocket sevens. The flop handed Weng a set, and the turn improved his hand to quads. Lim was out in seventh place.
O’Dwyer and Haxton Rise During Crazy Bubble Period
The elimination of Lim led to the official money bubble, and as previously stated, it was a monster. The stakes were HK$1,020,000 (USD 130,000) or nothing, and it turned out to be the most exciting period of action over the past two days.
With blinds at 25k/50k/50k, the action folded to Dietrich Fast in the small blind, and he looked down to see 
. Haxton sat in the big blind. Fast, who had him covered, moved all-in, and Haxton woke up with pocket kings. The board held no salvation for Fast, and just like that, the German had less than a single big blind; Haxton became one of the chip leaders.
With everyone expecting Fast to wither away at the speed his name implies, O’Dwyer woke up with pocket jacks, under the gun, and opened to 700,000. The action folded to Weng, seated in the cutoff, and the Malaysian star made the call holding 
. Fast, folded the button and crossed his fingers.
The flop fell 
, O’Dwyer checked, Weng moved all-in, and O’Dwyer, who was at risk of elimination, made the call, much to the delight of Fast. The board ran out 
, and suddenly O’Dwyer was a significant threat.
As the camera panned to Fast, you could tell by the demoralised look on his face that his chance had gone.
And then he got another one.
Steve O’Dwyer looked down to see pocket queens, in late position and opened with a raise. Sam Greenwood, who had the chip lead, looked down to see 
and moved all-in. O’Dwyer, with Fast still on less than a big blind, made the call and vaulted into the chip lead after flopping a set.
There wouldn’t be a third opportunity for Fast.
With blinds at 30k/60k/60k, and Fast forced to play his big blind, Haxton created a family pot that involved O’Dwyer and Weng, and Haxton took the eventual hand holding 
on 
, and Fast, and his slippers, exited in the worst position possible after his low hanging trash hand connected with nothing.
“Some people just want to lose their money,” Fast told the Triton Series Reporter after his loss, referring to the moves that saw O’Dwyer take the chip lead at such a crucial time.
With Fast gone, everyone was guaranteed HK$1,020,000, and that’s the exact amount that Greenwood banked after leaving the contest in the fifth position. With blinds at 30k/60k/60k, Haxton opened the betting from the cutoff holding 
, O’Dwyer called in the small blind with two scarlet sixes, Greenwood moved all-in for 870,000 in the big blind holding 
, and only O’Dwyer called. The sixes held, and Greenwood was out.
Four quickly became three when we lost Beh Kok Weng.
With blinds at 30k/60k/60k, O’Dwyer opened to 120,000 from under the gun holding 
, Weng moved all-in for 865,000 on the button with 
, and Linus Loeliger also moved all-in for 1,390,000 holding pocket queens to shift O’Dwyer out of the equation. The flop of 
handed Loeliger a set, and Weng was drawing dead after the 
smacked the river.
The two old friends would tussle in heads-up action after Loeliger departed in the third spot. O’Dwyer opened to 160,000 on the button holding 
, and Loeliger defended his big blind with . The flop of 
gave each of them a pair and a gutshot, and Loeliger called a 125,000 O’Dwyer bet. The turn was the , handing Loeliger two-pairs, but giving O’Dwyer the straight. Loeliger checked, O’Dwyer moved all-in for 1,700,000, and Loeliger made the call. The was a brick for young ‘LLinusLlove’, and he hopped straight into the Six-Max.
O’Dwyer Beats Haxton Heads-Up For the Title
O’Dwyer began heads-up with more than a 2:1 chip lead, and the pair agreed to a chop that looked like this:
O’Dwyer – HK$ 3,458,784
Haxton – HK$ 2,901,216
It left HK$250,000 to play for, and all the early action went the way of Haxton including a nifty river raise that moved a confused O’Dwyer off the best hand. Then as the gap began to close, there was no gap. With blinds at 50k/100k/100k, Haxton limped-shoved with , and O’Dwyer called holding the dominating 
.
O’Dwyer flopped a second queen, and Haxton’s hand never found the assistance it needed to keep up the partypoker Ambassador’s momentum. Haxton was out, leaving O’Dwyer to take all the plaudits.
“It worked out exactly how I hoped it would,” O’Dwyer told the Triton Poker Reporter after his win, before waltzing over to the cash desk to compete in the Event #2: HK$500,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Max.
And the Triton wheels keep on turning.
ITM Results
1 – Steve O’Dwyer HK$3,708,784*
2 – Isaac Haxton – HK$2,901,216*
3 – Linus Loeliger – HK$ 1,720,000
4 – Beh Kok Weng – HK$ 1,240,000
5 – Sam Greenwood – HK$ 1,005,000
* Indicates a heads-up deal
Photography by Joe Giron/Poker Photo Archive.