The long-time poker pro continues to find success and huge pots
Steve O’Dwyer recently added another seven-figure score to his already impressive tournament record after winning the 2023 WPT Alpha8 for One Drop at Jeju Shinhwa World KRW170 million No-Limit Hold ’em High Roller, taking the top prize of KRW1.29 million (US$1 million). The buy-in for the event was roughly $132,000 and drew 18 entries, making the final prize pool equal to over $2.2 million.
“I’m just really happy. I haven’t played much poker this summer, and I’ve got to win the ones that I do play. So it’s nice to win,” O’Dwyer said in his interview with the World Poker Tour after his historic victory. “I’ve always loved WPTs. The first big tournament I ever played was the WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2007. Anytime it’s convenient, I try to because they’re always great events,” he said.
O’Dwyer has now cashed for more than a million dollars eight times. Thanks to this victory, his career tournament earnings have now increased to $38,705,943. The win also moved him past Cary Katz into the 12th spot on the all-time money list. The Ireland-based American-born pro is now the world’s highest-earning tournament player not to win a World Series of Poker bracelet.
The victory earned O’Dywer 240 Card Player Player of the Year points and was his ninth final table in 2023, where he has one title and over $4.3 million in POY earnings. O’Dwyer is now 31st in the 2023 Player of the Year standings presented by Global Poker.
Only the top four finishers earned prizes in the tournament, and the first player who busted inside the money chose to remain anonymous. Quan Zhou won $559,809 as the runner-up, and Chenxu Zhang finished third to win $390,079.
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