The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is well underway with Bryn Kenney and Steve O’Dwyer reaching new heights for the Bahamas behemoth that forms part of the European Poker Tour.
Bryn Kenney and Steve O’Dwyer are setting records at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).
We’ll start with Kenney.
The 29-year old American once told me that ‘everyone was a degen at heart,’ and that, ‘we all need to feed the beast.’ I reckon the beast is at bursting point as Kenny won the $100,000 PCA Super High Roller (SHR) in the Bahamas for $1,687,800.
Kenney’s victory means he now stands alone as the most successful PCA SHR player ever with over $3.2m in total. It also erases the disappointment of finishing third in 2011 and 2015. He has now earned $8,574,979 in live tournament earnings.
There were some interesting faces at the final table. None more so than the reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, Joe McKeehen. It was the first time McKeehen had featured in an SHR belonging to the European Poker Tour (EPT). Does he possess the desire and determination to extend that beyond the Bahamas? If he does, I see no reason why he can’t emulate the success of the former WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel.
There were two more Americans at the final table worthy of note. Isaac Haxton showed there is life after PokerStars by finishing sixth, and David Peters continued his sterling start to the year with a fifth-place finish. Peters had already finished runner-up to Mike Leah in the $10,100 Hyper Turbo event for $100,000, and would go on to finish runner-up to Aaron Sacks in the $5,300 version. Peters came into the PCA on the back of a $2.3m score as runner-up to Fedor Holz in the $200,000 Triton SHR at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Philippines.
The only non-American at the final table was Mustapha Kanit. In 2014, Kanit moved his game into a new realm finishing the year with $1.5m in live tournament earnings. He topped that last year with $2.3m, and if he is going to maintain that upwards momentum for a third year, he is going about it the right way with a fourth place finish.
Final Table Results
1st. Bryn Kenney – $1,687,800
2nd. Joseph McKeehen – $1,220,840
3rd. Ankush Mandavia – $787,640
4th. Mustapha Kanit – $596,360
5th. David Paters – $461,340
6th. Isaac Haxton – $360,060
7th. Daniel Dvoress – $286,920
8th. Kathy Lehne – $225,040
Steve O’Dwyer Becomes the Most Successful EPT High Roller Player
Whatever Bryn Kenney can do, Steve O’Dwyer can do better.
O’Dwyer cemented himself as the number one EPT High Roller money winner, with over €5m in earnings, after becoming the first player to win two EPT $50k One-Day High Rollers. The PCA event attracted 80 players, and O’Dwyer beat Connor Drinan in heads-up action after the pair cut a deal. O’Dwyer also won the $50k HR at EPT Prague. He is also the only player to have ever won two EPT SHR titles.
So many years the bridesmaid, when it came to major tour titles, O’Dwyer has now picked up seven in the past two years.
Daniel Dvoress finished sixth at the final table at Prague. The Canadian is on a bit of a roll with a seventh-place finish in the $100k PCA SHR, and now a sixth position in this one. Bryn Kenney was at it again with a seventh-place finish, and Haxton made it two final tables on the bounce with a fourth place finish.
Final Table Results
1st. Steve O’Dwyer – $945,495*
2nd. Connor Drinan – $870,625*
3rd. Ivan Luca – $494,080
4th. Isaac Haxton – $380,200
5th. Erik Seidel – $301,080
6th. Daniel DVoress – $235,460
7th. Bryn Kenney – $185,280
8th. Paul Newey – $144,760
*Indicates a heads-up deal
