Sunday Briefing: Steve O’Dwyer Bags Two GGPoker Titles

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Jul 13, 2020 4 min read

Online poker’s elite players were out in force on July 12 as they warm up for the upcoming WSOP at GGPoker and the $100 million guaranteed WPT World Online Championships at partypoker. It was at the former where Steve O’Dwyer, a familiar face in tournament poker’s biggest buy-in events, excelled and took down two massive events.

O’Dwyer’s first impressive victory came in the High Rollers Blade Prime, a $5,000 buy-in tournament that saw 133 players buy in and create a $631,750 prize pool. A whole host of stellar names navigated their way to the nine-handed final table, including Isaac Haxton (9th - $15,523), Sean Winter (7th - $26,828) and Michael Addamo (5th - $46,364).

Both heads-up players, O’Dwyer and “DanBiz”, were each guaranteed a six-figure prize. O’Dwyer secured the largest of the two scores, namely $138,470, leaving the runner-up to scoop $105,332.

Victory number two came in the High Rollers Blade Mulligan, another $5,000 buy-in affair. This one attracted 111 entrants who created a $527,250 prize pool shared among the top 15 finishers.

This event was even more shark-infested than the previous $5,000 event with the final table reading like a who’s who of poker. Again, it was O’Dwyer who shone the brightest and locked up the lion’s share of the prize money. He defeated Kristen Bicknell heads-up to pad his bankroll with another $120,755.

Several other stars triumphed in GGPoker tournaments on July 12, these included:

• “GT0EXPERT” – first-place in the High Roller MILLION$ for $248,887
• Simon Higgins – first-place in the Global MILLION$ for $132,092
• Mikita Badziakouski – first-place in the High Rollers Blade Closer $5K for $86,269
• Joao Vieira – first-place in the High Rollers Blade PLO $5K for $85,316
• Yuri Dzivielevski – first-place in the High Rollers Big Game Hunter $1,050 for $82,129*
• “NoodleMuncha” – first-place in the GGMasters $150, $500K Gtd for $71,974
• “Gr4vyB04t” – first-place in the High Rollers Main Event $1K for $64,669
• “TheProdigalSen” – first-place in the Bounty Hunters Main Event $210 for $56,526*

Want to win a WSOP bracelet at GGPoker? Start here.

Michael Addamo enjoyed a super Sunday a couple of weeks ago, excelling in the partypoker High Roller Club. It was these high stakes tournaments where Addamo once again showed his class, taking down the $25,500 buy-in Main Event.

This latest victory netted Addamo a cool $376,937 after he topped a field of 37-entrants. Only the top five finishers won a slice of the $925,000 pie, Sergi Reixach banking the first slice, one worth $57,812, after falling in fifth.

Christoph Vogelsang (4th - $92,500) and Vyacheslav Buldygin (3rd - $152,625) busted before Addamo sent Rok Gostisa to the rail in second-place, which banked the Slovenia-based grinder $241,125.

The Big Game ended in a heads-up deal between two Goliath’s of tournament poker. After such luminaries as Sam Greenwood, Jake Schindler, Samuel Vousden, Pavel Plesuv, and Ramiro Petrone busted, only Fedor Holz and Laszlo Bujtas remained.

This pair struck a deal that meant Holz collected $146,115 when he fell in second-place and Bujtas scooped $165,894.

Some of the other partypoker highlights included:

• Pascal Lefrancois – first-place in the High Roller Club: Mix-Max 2nd Chance for $148,500
• “Vanessa23” – first-place in the Big Gladiator: $150K Gtd for $27,455*
• “S1ckB4stard” – first-place in the Sunday Grind: $75K for $15,760
• “Hit-and-run” – first-place in the Big Bounty Hunter $215: $75K Gtd for $13,740*
• Teun Mulder – first-place in the High Roller Club: 6-Max Turbo Knockout for $13,595*

Play in $300K worth of freerolls at partypoker

There was a massive six-figure prize awarded to Christian “WATnlos” Rudolph thanks to the Austrian taking down the $5,200 NLHE High Roller Single Event at PokerStars. Rudolph came out on top of a 92-strong field to get his hands on $119,483.

Victory in this event is never an easy task, but this week’s was extremely difficult because of the superstars that reached the final table. Just look at them:

Rudolph also took down the $2,100 Sunday High Roller for $28,630 after a heads-up deal with Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson.

While the Stadium Tour Weekly Finals reached Day 2, some of the heats paid out big bucks. The Stadium Series Heat 09-H: $1,050 NLHE ended in a four-handed chop that saw the final quartet of players share almost $250,000.

Players such as Marty “TheLipoFund” Mathis and Team PokerStars Pro Lex “L. Veldhuis” Veldhuis missed out on the deal but still won $12,233 and $21,712 respectively. Those four deal makers, and their finishing positions, were:

Check out some of these other big PokerStars results:

• “AkulaGame” – first-place in the Stadium Series Heat 09-M: $109 NLHE for $64,803
• “Leqenden” – first-place in the $109 Bounty Builder for $37,483*
• “duffman_742” – first-place in the $109 Sunday Cooldown for $27,515*
• “Hodart” – first-place in the $215 Bounty Builder for $27,222*
• “Ti0373” – first-place in the $215 Sunday Warm-Up for $22,105
• “t8ofDiamonds” – first-place in the $215 Sunday Supersonic for $19,565
• Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson – first-place in the $1,050 Sunday Warm-Up for $19,433
• “DavyJones922” – first-place in the Bigger $109 for $12,950

*includes bounty payments

Follow the Stadium Series events here at PokerNews

Finally, a trio of big events from 888poker, including the $100,000 Sunday Sale Mega Deep. A field of 2,126 created a $106,300 prize pool, smashing through the guarantee despite having its buy-in halved to $55.

“Bofix18” fired four bullets at this event and that fourth attempt resulted in them taking down the tournament for a $17,954 prize.

The $20,000 Sunday Sale Whale attracted a crowd of 261 players and “catpg” outlasted them all to turn their $160 into $8,417.

Shout-out also to Brazil’s Vitor “WHATaDREAM” Dzivielevski who won the $25,000 Sunday Challenge for a $5,375 addition to their bankroll.

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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