Steve O’Dwyer’s $50,000 PCA Win Nets Him Another Tournament Title

January 10th, 2018 | by Jason Reynolds

2018’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) is underway and, already, Steve O’Dwyer has become one of the top winners after scooping the $50,000 High Roller title.

American pro Steve O’Dwyer gets his year off to a winning start by taking down the PCA $50,000 High Roller. (Image: Flickr/WPT Europe)

The single re-entry tournament was one of the PCA’s three events with buy-ins in excess of the $10,300 Main Event entry fee. By the time the registration and re-entry period were over, 46 buy-ins had been collected, which pushed this year’s prizepool to $2,263,200.

Quiet Start for O’Dwyer

Following an opening day of action, a final table of six emerged with American Byron Kaverman leading the way on Day 2. The WPT, WSOP and PCA title holder looked to be a strong contender for the winner’s trophy this time around, but fellow American O’Dwyer had different ideas.

After sitting on his stack for the first few rounds, O’Dwyer pulled himself into contention with a pair of nines. After taking a healthy chunk of chips from Frenchman Jean-Noel Thorel, O’Dwyer was able to parlay his stack into a title-winning run.

By the time Turkey’s Orpen Kisacikoglu had fallen in sixth place, O’Dwyer had chipped away at the chip leaders. Despite a setback against veteran pro Erik Seidel, O’Dwyer was able to rally before returning the favour and busting Seidel in fourth place.

Kaverman Caves to O’Dwyer’s Pressure

With the blinds increasing and the chip lead on his side, the Colorado Springs native capitalized and went into the final heads-up battle against Kaverman with the momentum on his side.

Although it was his opponent with the largest stack, O’Dwyer’s confidence allowed him to pull of some timely bluffs and, eventually, take down another tournament title.

In the final hand, a short-stacked Kaverman moved all-in from the button with Q♣ 9♣. After tanking for a moment, O’Dwyer made a reluctant but likely mathematically correct call with J♥ T♠.

As the board ran out 2♠ J♠ 4♥ 5♥ K♦, a relieved O’Dwyer gave a wry smile as he scooped the remainder of his opponent’s chips and the $769,500 first place prize. The win was the 18^th of the American pro’s career and took his live tournament earnings to $21,121,735; a figure that puts him 13^th on the all-time money list.