Viewpoints: Five Years Since Steve O'Dwyer's Grand Final Triumph
Five years ago Steve O’Dwyer took down what was arguably the most-stacked final table in European Poker Tour history, as he beat off competition from Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Lodden, Jake Cody and Jason Mercier (among others) to win the EPT Grand Final and €1,224,000 in prize money.
Made the final 8!! 1.6m and the sickest EPT final table in history, plays out tomorrow
— Jake Cody (@JakeCody)
For those of you who don't remember, here's the final table results:
| Position | Name | Country | Payout (€) | Payout ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve O'Dwyer | United States | €1,224,000 | $1,604,972 |
| 2 | Andrew Pantling | Canada | €842,000 | $1,104,074 |
| 3 | Johnny Lodden | Norway | €467,000 | $612,355 |
| 4 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | €321,000 | $420,912 |
| 5 | Jake Cody | England | €251,000 | $329,124 |
| 6 | Noah Schwartz | United States | €189,000 | $247,827 |
| 7 | Jason Mercier | United States | €137,000 | $179,642 |
| 8 | Grant Levy | Australia | €103,000 | $135,059 |
O'Dwyer had already had some close shaves before he finally got over the line in 2013. In 2011 he finished runner-up to Benny Spindler in the EPT London Main Event, taking home £465,000 ($726,790). He then finished seventh in EPT Copenhagen a year later for a further DKr 290,000 ($51,265).
Then, just two months before the Grand Final, O'Dwyer made his third EPT final table at EPT London, finishing fifth for £146,000 $219,704.
Since his Grand Final win, O'Dwyer has taken down three additional tournaments for seven-figure scores, with all three coming in Macau! He has already had a good start to the PokerStars and Monte-Carlo©Casino EPT, with a runner-up finish in the €25,000 Single Day High Roller to go with the €50,000 Single Day High Roller title he won two days earlier. Those two cashes saw him take home over $1m in prize money overall.
Here we get some thoughts from players and media about that infamous 2013 final table, including from John Juanda who finished 11th that year.
Dominik Nitsche
“Obviously I remember that final table! From what I remember that was the season Steve O’Dwyer had his real break-through. He also final-tabled EPT London. I suppose that was the beginning of the run of Steve O’Dwyer. And to this day it hasn’t stopped – he still does not lose!”
John Juanda
“I remember that there was an amazing last two tables. Oh and Daniel [Negreanu] was there, I remember now. There were some very talented players who went deep, especially for the Main Event. Usually you get a bunch of random players! I lost two big pots to Steve O’Dwyer. He won a coin flip against me; I think it was ace-king against tens. The fact that he won that coin flip probably helped him!”
Jack Sinclair
“I wasn’t around for that event at the time, but I was watching some highlights from O’Dwyer on the livestream this week and I was like ‘What event was this from?’ I mean I couldn’t believe it was the Main Event.”
Kenny Hallaert
“Nowadays Monte Carlo is just another tournament on the schedule, another 5k tournament, but back then it was still a 10,000 tournament and it was the most prestigious tournament in Europe. I remember it ran out with a pretty stacked field!”
Stephen Bartley - PokerStars Blog
“So many final tables slip your mind. But this one was something else. There were no weak spots. Had any of the other finalists won the title it would have made for a great story. But O’Dwyer seemed to fit the moment. When he won, he looked exhausted. As if he’d just achieved something even he doubted he could do. Which when you think of it, is exactly how you want champions to look.”