Steve O’Dwyer beat Sam Greenwood heads-up to win the PokerStars Championship Panama K High Roller (PokerStars photo)

Steve O’Dwyer has proven himself to be one of the best poker players in the world over the last 10 years, but he’s shown a real propensity to shine brightest in High Roller events. That was on display again Monday in Panama as O’Dwyer outlasted a talented group of players to win the PokerStars Championship Panama $10K High Roller and $240,451.

Just five players remained at the start of the day and the short stack when action re-started was Brazil’s Felipe Ramos. It didn’t take him long to find a spot to get his chips but he ended running into the ultimate cooler. Ramos moved all in from the cutoff and Francois Billard called from the big blind. Ramos turned over KcKs but got the bad news when Billard showed him AdAh. The board ran out Qs9h6s2h2c to eliminate Ramos in fifth.

It took almost 4.5 hours before the next player was sent packing. Former #1-ranked player Chris Hunichen raised to 125,000 from the button before Billard move all in from the big blind. Hunichen called and was ahead with 8d8s against Billard’s AhQh. The Ks9h2c flop kept Hunichen in control as did the Js turn, but the Qs river gave Billard a bigger pair and eliminated Hunichen.

Just 20 minutes later, Billard followed Hunichen to the cashier. O’Dwyer raised from the button to 115,000 before Billard re-raised to 285,000 from the big blind. O’Dwyer moved all in and Billard called off his remaining stack. O’Dwyer showed TcTs and Billard was racing once again with AcQs. The board ran out 8c7s3sKs7d to eliminate Billard.

Heads-up play began with O’Dwyer holding a 4-1 chip lead over Sam Greenwood. After just a few hands of action Greenwood had nearly evened the counts when the two players began talking about a chop. The pair eventually agreed to a deal that gave O’Dwyer $213,862 and Greenwood $223,149, leaving $8,589 to play for.

Post-deal play lasted just over 20 minutes before O’Dwyer elminated Greenwood. O’Dwyer raised to 130,000 and Greenwood called. After the 7d3d2h flop, Greenwood checked, O’Dwyer bet 140,000 and Greenwood made it 400,000 to go. O’Dwyer eventually announced he was all in and Greenwood called. O’Dwyer showed 5s4s and Greenwood was ahead with Qc3s. The turn was the 4h putting O’Dwyer ahead and when the Th fell on the river, Greenwood was out and O’Dwyer picked up another high roller win.

Final Table Payouts

  1. Steve O’Dwyer – $240,451*
  2. Sam Greenwood – $223,149*
  3. Francois Billard – $123,780
  4. Chris Hunichen – $100,300
  5. Felipe Ramos – $80,560
  6. Anthony Zinno – $62,690
  7. Damian Salas – $49,620
  8. Sam Chartier – $37,880

*reflects deal made heads up.