Steve O'Dwyer is a familiar face on the European Poker Tour, thanks to
making four EPT Main Event final tables, including this one, which is
his second in two months following EPT London. He finished fifth there
for £146,000 bringing his live tournament winnings to more than $3.2
million.
O’Dwyer’s first big score was back in 2009 when he came sixth in the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic for more than $213,796, but it was 2011 when the communications graduate had his breakthrough year. O’Dwyer won nearly $1.5 million that year and snagged a further $880,000 in 2012, tearing through EPT Season 8 with a fifth place in the EPT Barcelona €10,000 High Roller, a runner-up finish at EPT London for £465,000, and seventh at EPT Copenhagen for DKr 290,000. O’Dwyer originally hails from the States but now holds an Irish passport and now lives in Dublin where he play poker online.
Daniel Negreanu is arguably the biggest name in poker. He originally had aspirations to become a professional snooker player but after moving from his native Canada to Las Vegas, he instead became a professional poker player. Negreanu has one of the greatest live results records and is currently ranked sixth in the all-time money list with tournament winnings totaling more than $17.4 million.
In 1998, aged just 23, Negreanu became the youngest ever player (at the time) to win a World Series of Poker bracelet, after taking down the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em event. That was the start of an incredible run that shows little sign of stopping. The Team PokerStars Pro started 2013 with a bang, wining the inaugural WSOP Asia Pacific Main Event for $1,087,160. This is his second EPT final table appearance, his first was fourth place at EPT Vienna in Season 8.
With five WSOP bracelets and two WPT wins under his belt, a win here in Monaco would complete his triple crown.
Noah Schwartz has racked up $2,996,562 in live tournament winnings since 2006, highlights of which include a sixth place €166,000 finish in the EPT Grand Final High Roller last season. Schwartz had the best year of his career in 2012 with two World Poker Tour final tables, one of which he converted to a $402,972 win. The American also made the final table of the 40th anniversary $40,000 event at the 2009 World Series of Poker, finishing in 8th and earning $246,834.
A top four finish for Schwartz will give the 29-year-old American his largest ever cash.
Johnny Lodden took up cards playing Uno with his family before progressing to playing poker for money at school with his friends. By the time he was 20, Johnny had started crushing the cash games on PokerStars, moving up the levels to the highest stakes available. He won his first live tournament at the 2004 St Maarten Open, cashing for $26,430 in the $500 NL event. His first EPT cash was in 2006, the first in a run of EPT successes that would help him become one of the best rated players on tour. Since then, he’s cashed 13 times in EPT Main Events including eighth at EPT5 Budapest and 13th at EPT Prague in December.
Lodden’s biggest cashes have come in World Series events; 11th in the 2008 WSOP-E Main Event in London for £54,300 and 27th in the 2010 WSOP Main Event in Vegas for $317,161. Away from poker Johnny is an avid sports fan, especially soccer. He and fellow finalist Jake Cody have both headed down to Monte Carlo’s Irish bar this evening to watch the FA Cup Final.
Bonjour, and welcome to the sixth and final day of the Season 9 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino European Poker Tour Grand Final Main Event. Today, we will crown a champion, and for once on the EPT, we can guarantee the winner will already be a household name.
The eight remaining players in this prestigious €10,000 event have a combined $39 million in career live tournament earnings. Steve O'Dwyer enters the final table as the chip leader with 4,452,000 chips, and looks to do what he couldn't at the EPT8 London Main Event final table — close. O'Dwyer finished runner-up, earning $726,790, and then finished fifth in the EPT9 London Main Event.
Joining O'Dwyer at the final table are Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Jake Cody, and Johnny Lodden. All four of these players can make history with a win — Negreanu would achieve the Triple Crown, Mercier or Cody could become the first ever two-time EPT champion, and Lodden would record his first million-dollar score.
Also at the final table are Andrew Pantling, Grant Levy, and Noah Schwartz. Levy already has Asia Pacific Poker Tour and Australia New Zealand Poker Tour titles, Schwartz is a member of the World Poker Tour Champion's Club, and Pantling is a revered online cash game player, who grinds under the handle "ClockWyze."
The cards will be in the air around 13:00 CET, but our coverage won't begin until 14:00 CET when the stream goes live. Be sure to check back then for all of the updates right here on PokerNews.com.
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