Luc Greenwood Notches Up $779,268 Breakout Win

“Relieved,” was the word Luc Greenwood used when asked how he felt after just winning the $25,000 High Roller at the PokerStars Championship Bahamas. After beating some of the world’s finest players at the final table, the Canadian pro raked in $779,268, ten times more than his previous biggest result. 

“I guess I should be more excited, but it’s been a long week, and I haven’t been sleeping all that well,” Greenwood calmly said. 

“Today went as well as I could’ve possibly imagined, not only winning but normally this tournament would take 10-12 hours, so I’m pretty relieved that I can now just drink beer and watch football the rest of the day.”

Greenwood played his way through a field of 159 total entries, of which Nick Petrangelo was his last remaining opponent. On his way to victory Luc also knocked out his brother Sam in 10th place. 

Greenwood’s composed demeanor’s clearly a strong asset when battling the world’s best poker players with hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake, but he’s also quick to put the money aspect in perspective. 

“It’s obviously a huge score, but I did not have 100% of myself, which is normal in these events. I’m happy that I made a bunch of money for myself and my friends and family.” 

“I don’t have yacht money just yet,” Greenwood joked, “It’s a big score, but it’s hopefully just the stepping stone to more and more tournaments.”

Luc’s brothers Sam and Max have been very successful over the years, Max winning a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2008, followed by Sam in 2015. The latest champ in the family, however, doesn’t look much at the success of his brothers.

“I’ve been playing online for a long time, and people that play with me, my brothers, my extended circle of poker friends, respect my poker abilities. They’ve helped me a lot with my game, and it’s nice to get the win, so you have that outwards trophy to prove it. I just don’t feel like I’m any better than I was a week ago. This tournament was the perfect storm; there were several situations where I didn’t have 100% equity and got there.”

“I made a lot of big hands, and you only have so much control over the results, and the reality is that to win a tournament you need to get really lucky. I played well, but I also got lucky.”

We’ll be seeing much more from Greenwood this year, as he sounded fired up to play in more big buy-in events.

“I haven’t really played any of the Super High Rollers but I know enough people that play in them, and I would need to sell action to them, but I’m certainly going to pursue that a bit more now. I do think that I’m winning in them, and those are good opportunities to compete at the highest level. I still have the fire of wanting to prove that I’m the best by playing against the best. I might end up booking a last-minute flight to Australia now; I’m ready to keep grinding and get more trophies.”

While Sam ($4.6 million) and Max ($1.9 million) remain ahead on the family’s all-time money list, Luc ($1.2 million) feels optimistic about being able to catch up with them at some point.

“It will be pretty hard to catch Sam unless I start playing the $50k and $100k events. I’m confident in my ability that I can play against the best in all tournaments. I’m just going to keep working hard and not worrying about trying to catch anyone; I’m just going to keep accumulating by myself and then hopefully one day they’ll look up, and I’ll be ahead of them both.”

Final table payouts:

1. Luc Greenwood – $779,268
2. Nick Petrangelo – $740,032
3. Michael Rocco – $409,020
4. Byron Kaverman – $335,020
5. Daniel Negreanu – $268,780
6. Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero – $208,400
7. Stephen Chidwick – $154,260
8. Mark Radoja – $113,360
9. Bryn Kenney – $90,380