Steve O'Dwyer Wins 2020 PokerStars Spring Championship Of Online Poker $25,000 High Roller

The 2020 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) features 240 total events and $85 million in guaranteed prize money. The series kicked off in late April, and will reach its conclusion on May 19, with a number of massive events are set to take place over the final week of action. The first major result of the series-ending push came in the $25,000 buy-in eight-max no-limit hold’em super high roller. The tournament attracted 89 total entries to create a final prize pool of $2,182,725.. In the end, the lion’s share of that money was awarded to Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer, who emerged victorious with the title and the top prize of $521,598.

The final day began with Andras “probirs” Nemeth in the chip lead with 10 players remaining. O’Dwyer and Samuel “€urop€an” Vousden were the two shortest stacks when play resumed, but it was ultimately Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky who was knocked out on the final table bubble. Vousden was the next to hit the rail in ninth place, and he was followed by World Series of Poker bracelet winner Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz (8th – $85,871).

During seven-handed action a massive hand took place that dramatically altered the landscape of the final table. Ole “wizowizo” Schemion picked up KK under the gun and min-raised to 140,000. Nemeth looked down at AA on his left and three-bet to 420,000. O’Dwyer shoved all-in for 1,905,443 from the small blind with AQ. Schemion, who had started the hand as the second largest stack behind only Nemeth, moved all-in over the top for 3,712,176 and Nemeth snap-called with his pocket aces. The board ran out QQJ37 and O’Dwyer flopped trips to win the massive main pot and surge into second place at the table. Schemion hit the rail in seventh place, earning $111,115, while Nemeth won the sizable side pot to maintain his hold on the chip lead.

With that the field was narrowed to six. Vyacheslav “VbV1990” Buldygin (6th – $143,781) was the next to fall. Five-handed play continued for a while before a short-stacked Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi ultimately got his last 1,104,058 chips in from the cutoff. The 2016 SCOOP main event champion took home $186,049 for fifth place after his K9 failed to outrun the pocket aces of Chun Lei “SamRostan” Zhou.

Four-handed action didn’t last long, as the very next hand saw Portuguese pro and WSOP bracelet winner Joao “Naza114” Vieira knocked out in fourth place ($240,744). Conversely, three-handed action continued for more than two hours. The stalemate was finally ended when chip leader Nemeth shoved from the small blind with Q2 for Zhou’s effective stack of just over 13 big blinds. Zhou called with AJ but was unable to hold and was eliminated in third place ($311,517), with Nemeth making deuces full of queens by the river.

Heads-up play began with Nemeth holding roughly a 2-to-1 chip lead over O’Dwyer. O’Dwyer was able to fight his way back to nearly even by the time the decisive hand of the match was dealt. With blinds of 100,000-200,000 and a 25,000 ante, O’Dwyer raised to 472,000 on the button with K6. Nemeth three-bet to 2,000,000 from the big blind holding 99 and O’Dwyer called. The flop came down 754 and Nemeth continuation bet 1,600,000. O’Dwyer shoved all-in for 7,823,244 with his open-ended straight draw and an overcard. Nemeth quickly called to put O’Dwyer at risk. The turn was the J to keep Nemeth ahead, but the Kon the river gave O’Dwyer the winning pair to earn the massive pot.

After that hand, O’Dwyer held more than a 7.5:1 chip lead over Nemeth. Just minutes later it was all over. In the final hand O’Dwyer limped from the button with K10 and Nemeth raised his big blind to 600,000 with the AK. O’Dwyer called and the flop came down 742. Nemeth bet 412,500 and O’Dwyer called. The turn paired the board with the 7. Nemeth fired another bet, this time for 518,750. O’Dwyer called again with his K-10 high. The river brought the 10 to give O’Dwyer the best hand. Nemeth checked and O’Dwer moved all-in. Nemeth called off his last 2,322,262 with his A-K high, but got the bad news that O’Dwyer had rivered him. Nemeth earned $403,096 as the runner-up finisher. This was the latest in a spree of big online results for Nemeth, who finished runner-up in the Irish Poker Open Online main event for €325,423 just a month ago and then cashed for $974,987 across eight scores in the Poker Masters Online series.

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

Winner photo courtesy of Rational Intellectual Holding Ltd.

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