�4,300 Main Event
Day 4 Completed
�4,300 Main Event
Day 4 Completed
After almost 11 hours, the �4,300 Main Event of the Master Classics of Poker came to an end with Kevin Paqu�� the winner at Holland Casino Amsterdam for �260,878 ($287,146) and the plate trophy, also known as a "bordje. In heads-up play, Paqu�� defeated Steve O'Dwyer, who claimed �174,421 ($191,983) for finishing second in the 346-strong field.
"It's delightful," was the first thing Paqu�� said in his post-victory interview. "This is what every Dutch poker player dreams of. I don't have the words for it yet, I am so happy. I didn't realize it at first, the river was dealt, it was quiet for a second and then the rail went crazy. I then grasped that I had won."
The 23-year old poker player collected his biggest cash ever in a live tournament according to The Hendon Mob as his previous record was �35,386 when he finished as the runner-up in the 2018 WSOP International Circuit High Roller at Holland Casino Rotterdam.
"He is a good player, he seems to play a lot of heads-up poker, he played really well," O'Dwyer complimented Paqu��.
The final table was a stacked one, well-known players from the Netherlands and all over the world attracted to the marquee event of the MCOP, which has been around since 1992. Paqu�� is the eighth player who managed to keep the title in Dutch hands.
Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kevin Paqu�� | Netherlands | �260,878 | $287,146 |
2 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | �174,421 | $191,983 |
3 | Paraskevas Tsokaridis | Greece | �124,548 | $137,089 |
4 | Pascal Vos | Netherlands | �95,911 | $105,568 |
5 | Frederico Silva | Portugal | �73,441 | $80,836 |
6 | Jan Bednar | Czech Republic | �56,177 | $61,833 |
7 | Johan Rensink | Netherlands | �43,023 | $47,355 |
8 | Shyngis Satubayev | Kazakhstan | �33,021 | $36,346 |
9 | Ole Schemion | Germany | �25,485 | $28,051 |
Paqu�� started the day second in chips but took over the chip lead in the first hand when he and Pascal Vos clashed. Vos missed his flush draw while Paqu�� held two pair. "I started well, I wanted to become the table captain, I had the ideal position to put pressure on the shorter stacks," Paqu�� explained.
And that's exactly what he did, he kept the pressure on his opponents, but it would take almost two and a half hours before Ole Schemion was sent to the rail in ninth place. Schemion had three-bet after Vos raised and then called the four-bet of the latter to see he was slightly ahead with the pocket kings against queens. A queen in the window meant the end of Schemion's run in trying to become the first two-time champion.
Only one hand later, Shyngis Satubayev fell when he shoved his short-stack into the ace-ten of Paqu�� with pocket nines. The four-ace-four flop gave Paqu�� the higher two pair and those held to send the Kazakhstanian player to the rail. Satubayev has now cashed for more than $1.4 million in his live poker career.
Paqu�� continued his rampage on the final table while everyone was getting shorter. O'Dwyer shoved for twelve big blinds with ace-deuce and was called by Johan Rensink. Rensink held ace-ten and O'Dwyer started behind but flopped a pair of deuces to double up. Less than ten minutes later, Rensink left the feature table stage when he was looked up by O'Dwyer. This time O'Dwyer held the rockets against Rensink's ace-five. No help came on the board for one of the old-school Dutch poker players and he was sent to the payout desk to collect his cash for finishing in seventh place, a personal best for him.
It would only take one level for Jan Bednar to first double for five big blinds and then to lose them all again in a blind-versus-blind situation. Bednar shoved and was called by Paraskevas Tsokaridis with kings. Bednar's ace-four didn't hit anything on the board for the tall Czech player to finish in sixth place.
Frederico Silva was happy to pick up a few pay jumps as he was getting shorter and shorter too. Soon after Bednar's elimination, Silva shoved his queen-jack into the ace-ten of Paqu�� to collect his first Dutch and biggest cash ever.
Tsokaridis wasn't involved in too many hands, preferring to let the other players at the table battle but he picked up a very important double-up through Vos. On a six-jack-deuce-eight-four board he had rivered a straight while Vos had slowplayed his aces. When Vos shoved, Tsokaridis easily called with the nuts. Vos then lost the remainder of his stack to Paqu�� to take the Day 3 chip leader's lifetime earnings in live poker tournaments to the $800,000-mark.
Tsokaridis and O'Dwyer had similar stacks with Paqu�� with the big chip lead. O'Dwyer and Paqu�� played a lot of hands while the Greek stayed out of most confrontations. At one point the chip lead switched to O'Dwyer after first rivering a flush and then hitting two pair, but Paqu�� took it back when he O'Dwyer called the big river-bet of Paqu�� who had turned a pair of queens.
In the end, Tsokaridis' run was cut short when he shoved his sixes into the king-ten of O'Dwyer. The ten on the flop sent the Greek home with his biggest cash ever worth �124,548.
Heads-up play went on for thirty minutes with O'Dywer getting shorter but he doubled up to 32 big blinds when he snap-called Paqu��'s bluff-shove on a jack-queen-jack-deuce-seven board with queen-four. He was ground down to twelve big blinds when he doubled again with king-high. He then made the right call with king-high when Paqu�� tried to bluff him again.
Two and a half hours of heads-up play was needed before the Main Event came to an end. O'Dwyer snap-called the check-shove of Paqu�� on a jack-queen-five-four board with two clubs. O'Dwyer held top pair but Paqu��'s flush draw got there on the river to send the Dutch rail in a frenzy while O'Dwyer calmly congratulated Paqu�� with the win.
"The rail was there all day, the boys always support me," said Paqu��. "It was amazing, it gave me the motivation to try hard. They're always there."
This concludes the PokerNews live reporting coverage here in the Netherlands. Thank you for following all the updates and see you at the next event!
Steve O'Dwyer raised to 280,000 from the button and Kevin Paqu�� called.
The flop came , Paqu�� checked and O'Dwyer bet 160,000. Paqu�� tanked for a bit before making the call.
The turn was the , Paqu�� checked again. O'Dwyer glanced at his own stack before opting to bet 1,150,000. Paqu�� tanked again, looked over to O'Dwyer's stack while he was being stared down. He dived deeper into the tank before opting to shove. O'Dwyer snap-called for his last 3,100,000.
Steve O'Dwyer:
Kevin Paqu��:
O'Dwyer had flopped top pair while Paqu�� was sitting on the flush draw. Paqu��'s rail ran to the table.
The completed the board for Paqu�� to river the flush to win the Main Event for �260,878, His rail went nuts and the two players shook hands.
O'Dwyer finished as the runner-up for �174,421.
A recap of today's action is to follow.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kevin Paqu�� |
10,400,000
3,500,000
|
3,500,000 |
Steve O'Dwyer | Busted | |
|
Kevin Paqu�� raised to 275,000 from the button and Steve O'Dwyer called.
The flop came , O'Dwyer checked and Paqu�� contemplated for a bit before leading out for 225,000. O'Dwyer called quickly.
The turn was the , O'Dwyer checked and Paqu�� bet 700,000. O'Dwyer folded.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kevin Paqu�� |
6,900,000
600,000
|
600,000 |
Steve O'Dwyer |
3,500,000
-600,000
|
-600,000 |
|
Steve O'Dwyer raised to 280,000 from the button and Kevin Paqu�� called.
The flop came , Paqu�� check-called the 160,000 continuation-bet of O'Dwyer.
The turn was the , Paqu�� checked again. O'Dwyer fired another bet over the line. This time for 330,000, Paqu�� tanked for a while before counting his stack and then tanked for a bit longer. In the end, Paqu�� raised to 1,500,000. O'Dwyer folded immediately.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kevin Paqu�� |
6,300,000
800,000
|
800,000 |
Steve O'Dwyer |
4,100,000
-800,000
|
-800,000 |
|
Kevin Paqu�� limped in on the button and Steve O'Dwyer opted to check.
The flop came , they both checked to the on the turn. O'Dwyer bet 240,000 and Paqu�� called.
The river completed the board with the to pair up with the five on the flop. O'Dwyer checked, Paqu�� tanked for a while before opting to bet 600,000. O'Dwyer called. Paqu�� tabled for the bluff, O'Dwyer showed for the king-kicker to scoop the pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kevin Paqu�� |
5,500,000
-1,000,000
|
-1,000,000 |
Steve O'Dwyer |
4,900,000
1,000,000
|
1,000,000 |
|
Steve O'Dwyer limped in on the button and Kevin Paqu�� opted to check.
The flop came , Paqu�� checked, O'Dwyer bet 120,000 which was called.
The turn was the for the second pair to appear on the board with a double flush draw. Paqu�� checked again. O'Dwyer grabbed chips and bet 200,000. Paqu�� called.
The river completed the board with the to complete the flush draw. Paque checked for the last time. O'Dwyer stared at the board before betting 2,500,000. Paqu�� snap-folded.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kevin Paqu�� |
6,500,000
-500,000
|
-500,000 |
Steve O'Dwyer |
3,900,000
500,000
|
500,000 |
|
Kevin Paqu�� limped in on the button and Steve O'Dwyer opted to raise to 660,000 for Paqu�� to fold.
O'Dwyer raised to 280,000 from the button and Paqu�� shoved with the bigger stack for O'Dwyer to fold immediately.
Paqu�� tanked before raising to 275,000 on the button. O'Dwyer shoved and now Paqu�� folded.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kevin Paqu�� |
7,000,000
-100,000
|
-100,000 |
Steve O'Dwyer |
3,400,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
Steve O'Dwyer called on the button and Kevin Paqu�� contemplated his options before deciding to check.
The flop came , Paqu�� check-called the 120,000 bet of O'Dwyer.
The turn was the , Paqu�� checked again and O'Dwyer continued with a bet of 690,000. Paqu�� folded immediately.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kevin Paqu�� |
7,100,000
-400,000
|
-400,000 |
Steve O'Dwyer |
3,300,000
400,000
|
400,000 |
|
Kevin Paqu�� shoved from the button and Steve O'Dwyer called for his last 1,500,000.
Steve O'Dwyer:
Kevin Paqu��:
The board ran out for O'Dwyer to hold with the higher hole cards to double up with.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Kevin Paqu�� |
7,500,000
-1,400,000
|
-1,400,000 |
Steve O'Dwyer |
2,900,000
1,400,000
|
1,400,000 |
|