It’s interesting how most people dream about invading Amsterdam to smoke copious amounts of pot, before slipping and sliding through the folds of prostitute stained sheets.
It’s different for those who call the place home.
There were no drugs or prostitutes anywhere near Kevin Paqué’s REM cycle, and no stained sheets in his rinse cycle. After winning the €4,300 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event at the Master Classics of Poker (MCOP) at the Holland Casino, Amsterdam, the 23-year-old told the press that it was every Dutch poker player’s dream.
The reason that we’re creaking this particular floorboard is Paqué defeated high roller reg, Steve O’Dwyer, heads-up to win the title. O’Dwyer is a boss, but with this being his 17th heads-up defeat it seems if there is a way to get at him, it’s in the end zone.
The MCOP Main Event attracted 346-entrants, and Paqué became the eighth Dutchman to win the title, and second in successive years after Alberto Stegeman defeated Kilian Kramer. O’Dwyer was trying to become the first American to win the title since Robert Mizrachi proved there was more than one Mizrachi brother, by taking down the 2004 event.
It’s an old one, dating to 1992, and the roll of honour includes such luminaries as Surinder Sundar, Ram Vaswani, and Noah Boeken.
O’Dwyer wasn’t the only high roller hammer that pounded a pile of nails on his way to a final table appearance. Ole Schemion is as comfortable at the Master Classics as the words ‘sting like a bee’ are coming out of the mouth of Mohammed Ali.
Schemion topped a field of 212-entrants to win the 2012 Main Event for €286,200. Two years later, he finished second to Rachid Cherif in the €10,250 High Roller. In 2016, he won the €25k Super High Roller, and then in 2017, finished runner-up to Joris Ruijis in another €10,300 High Roller.
No stretch marks for Schemion in this one though. The German who typically delivers a top-quality poker sermon was the first ousted from battle when Pascal Vos flopped a two-outer when all-in with pocket queens versus Schemion’s kings.
The person responsible for live tournament reporting was a happy bunny after Shyngis Satubayev fell through a trapdoor with the number 8 written in dead maggots. Satuyabev got it in with pocket nines versus the AhTc of Paqué, and an ace on the flop did the damage.
O’Dwyer needed a little luck to get started when his As2s outdrew the AcTd of Johan Rensink, and the American star finished the job when his pocket aces poured hot tea over the head of As5s to send Rensink to the rail in 7th place.
Then we lost Jan Bednar, and it was another live reporter’s nightmare who waltzed him into the Grand Ballroom for a spot of dancing before dropping him unceremoniously on his head. Bednar moved in with Ac4h from the small blind, and Paraskevas Tsokaridis knocked him out with pocket kings.
It’s not been a bad year for Frederico Silva, after winning a juicy side-event at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Barcelona – and he followed it up with a fifth in this one after his QhJd came up short against the AsTs of the runaway chip leader, Paqué.
Pascal Vos was the next to receive a kick in the groin. Vos moved all-in with Qd9s from the button, and after O’Dwyer folded in the teeny-weeny blind, Paqué called with 83cc in the big. He flopped a trey and rivered an eight to create a three-handed dynamic.
Paqué – 5,600,000
Tsokaridis – 2,700,000
O’Dwyer – 2,200,000
After holding the chip lead for the majority of the final table, Paqué lost it to the one man he didn’t want to lose it to.
With blinds at 40k/80k/80k, Paqué opened with a min-raise from the button, and O’Dwyer defended the big blind. The flop fell AsJh6s, and O’Dwyer check-called a 140k Paqué c-bet. The turn card was the 8d, and the same action ensued, this time for 800k. The final card was the 6c, both players checked, and O’Dwyer picked up the pot and the chip lead with Jc7h. Tsokaridis’s threw his hand into the muck like a leper.
Paqué retook the lead in the same level. The Dutchman min-raised from the button and O’Dwyer defended from the big blind. The dealer gave 9h7s3s a starring role, and O’Dwyer check-called a 300k Paqué bet. The Qc turned up on the fourth street, and O’Dwyer check-called a 675k Paqué bet. The 8h completed the board, and Paqué bet approx. 1.1m once checked too. O’Dwyer went into the tank before calling and mucking when Paqué showed QhTs for the pair of queens.
Paqué had killing in his veins, but O’Dwyer made sure the heads-up action would be more of a battle than a massacre after eliminating Tsokaridis in the third spot. With blinds at 50k/100k/100k, Tsokaridis moved all-in from the button for 11 bigs, and O’Dwyer also moved all-in from the small blind. Paqué took a bow and left the pair go at it, and O’Dwyer’s KdTd proved too hot to handle for the pocket sixes of the Grecian after a second ten appeared on the flop.
Heads-Up Tale of the Tape
Kevin Paqué – 6,280,000
Steve O’Dwyer – 4,130,000
Paqué had the chips.
O’Dwyer had the experience.
Paqué had only reached the heads-up phase of a tournament once, and he lost that to Luuk Gieles at the end of the €3,500 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller at the 2018 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) in Rotterdam.
O’Dwyer had made the end zone of 40 live tournaments, winning 24 and losing 16.
But when did poker ever care about stats?
The first hand that Paqué lost saw O’Dwyer double up to a 3.2m v 7.2m deficit after flopping two pairs in a hand that saw Paqué bluff-shove the river. Paqué ground down O’Dwyer some more, before a second double up, saw Kh5d beat Jd9d when all-in pre-flop, but he could never catch the Dutchman.
The final hand saw O’Dwyer raise to 280k on the button, and Paqué make the call from the big blind. The dealer thrust QhJc5d onto the flop, and Paqué check-called a 160k O’Dwyer bet. The turn card was the 4c, and all the money went in. O’Dwyer bet 1.15m, Paqué put O’Dwyer all-in, and the call came. O’Dwyer tabled KsQs for top pair, and Paqué showed Kc3c for the flush draw. Yes, you’ve guessed it, the 2c arrived on the river to flush Paqué up, and the Main Event ended with Rocky beating Apollo Creed.
Paqué has had limited tournament success, cashing only nine times in his career. It was O’Dwyer’s third heads-up loss since winning the HKD 250,000 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo at the Triton Poker Series in Montenegro earlier in the year. Although, Amsterdam is a happy stomping ground for O’Dwyer, who won the €2,200 WPTDeepStacks High Roller for €72,905 in March. Last year he won the €25,500 Super High Roller at the Master Classics (albeit topping a field of 3-players).
Here are the final table results.
Final Table Results
- Kevin Paqué – €260,878
- Steve O’Dwyer – €174,421
- Paraskevas Tsokaridis – €124,548
- Pascal Vos – €95,911
- Frederico Silva – €73,441
- Jan Bednar – €56,177
- Johan Rensink – €43,023
- Shyngis Satubayev – €33,021
- Ole Schemion – €25,485
Jorryt van Hoof Wins The High Roller.
It’s been a cracking year for Jorryt van Hoof on the tournament tables. The former WSOP Main Event final tablist has now earned $555,705 in 2019 after banking €164,508 for winning the €10,000 High Roller. It’s his best annual haul since that 2014 WSOP Main Event year.
Ruijs, who won this event in 2017, won the Patrick Antonius Poker Challenge Main Event earlier in the year for €57,200. Ryan Riess also made the final table, his first cash in this event. Riess finished in the fifth position.
Here are the ITM results.
ITM Results
- Jorryt van Hoof – €164,508
- Joris Ruijs – €109,658
- Kees Alblas – €65,050
- Mustafa Biz – €38,302
- Ryan Riess – €24,928
- Tommie Janssen – €20,780