Steve O’Dwyer fires out a timely reminder that he is still a force to be reckoned with, after taking the $1.8m first prize in the 2014 Asia Championship of Poker in Macau.
Steve O’Dwyer has defeated a field of 52 entrants, and 50 rebuys, to capture the first prize of $1.8m, after defeating Ryan Fee, in the heads-up phase of the 2014 Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) in Macau.
It’s been a quiet year for O’Dwyer. Actually that’s an understatement. It’s been an insignificant year, for a man who earned over $4.7m in live tournament earnings, in a two-year period starting in 2011.
2014 was set to be the lowest annual haul since he started racking up live tournament results, back in 2007, but that’s all changed with his second seven-figure score of his career.
The event, held at The City of Dreams, saw a host of the world’s top players vying for the title, and for once Daniel Colman did not win. Yes, the man of the year did make the final table, but had to settle for a seventh place finish.
O’Dwyer reached the heads-up phase with a 2:1 chip lead over Ryan Fee. O’Dwyer may have been having a quiet year, but the same could not be said of Fee. The man who is more known for his online poker exploits, has set the live tournament scene alight in 2014 with over $2m in earnings.
The wrap sheet looks a little like this: he won the World Poker Tour (WPT) Bay 101 Shooting Stars High Roller for $125,000, finished seventh in the $25,000 NLHE Mixed-Max event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) for $112,752, took 11th at the €50,000 Super High Roller at European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona for $123,780, and was runner-up to Jake Schindler in the $100,000 Super High Roller at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Hollywood for $307,125.
Fee was red hot, but he was up against a man who knows how to get across that finishing line, and despite a good comeback from Fee, O’Dwyer wrapped up his ninth career title after the following hand.
Fee opened the action with a 1.3m open from the button, and O’Dwyer made the call. The flop was the [Qs] [9h] [7h], and O’Dwyer check-called a 1.6m c-bet by Fee. The turn card was the [3h], and the same action ensued – this time for 4m. The final card was the [5h], and O’Dwyer checked for the third consecutive time. Fee moved all-in for 10m, and O’Dwyer tank-called, holding [Qc] [8h] for the flush – Fee showed down [6s] [5d] for the bag of spanners.
O’Dwyer’s victory takes his all-time career earnings to $7.2m.
APPT ACOP SHR Results
1st. Steve O’Dwyer – $1,811,638
2nd. Ryan Fee – $1,282,975
3rd. Pratyush Buddiga – $844,571
4th. Connor Drinan – $657,605
5th. Joseph Cheong – $528,663
6th. Kitson Kho – $438,403
7th. Daniel Colman – $373,932
8th. Davidi Kitai – $312,091
