Mikita Badziakouski Defeats Tom Dwan Heads Up to Win Super High Roller
Tom “durrrr” Dwan made a rare appearance at a live poker tournament this weekend when he entered a HK$500,000 Super High Roller event, part of the 2017 Macau Billionaire Poker (MBP) Spring Challenge at the Babylon Casino in Macau.
The huge buy-in, the equivalent of US$64,400, was paid by 12 players, including Dwan, the German high-stakes specialist Philipp “philbort” Gruissem and the eventual champion Mikita Badziakouski.
Badziakouski, of Belarus, found himself heads up against Dwan for the title and a first-place prize in the region of US$420,000. The final hand between the two cash game Goliaths saw Dwan’s K♥3♠ take on the dominating A♣K♣ of Badziakouski. The five community cards ran out Q♦10♠A♦4♦2♠, which left Dwan to bank the runner-up prize of US$275,000.
This marked the first cash for Dwan since February 2014 when he finished sixth in the A$250,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions, a result that secured an A$500,000 payout for Dwan and took his live tournament winnings to $2,661,781.
This latest cash for Badziakouski, who plays high-stakes cash games at PokerStars under the alias “fish2013,” was his second major live victory; Badziakouski won the $50,000 Shot Clock tournament at the 2017 Aussie Millions.
In October 2016, Badziakouski was the runner-up in the €100,000 Monte-Carlo One Drop Extravaganza for €501,800.
More recently, in February 2017, Badziakouski finished third in an HK$100,000 buy in event at the Macau Poker Cup 26 for $HK965,000 (US$124,372).
