Steve O'Dwyer Defeats Fedor Holz in Macau SHR

The inaugural PokerStars Championship Macau HK$400,000 Super High Roller generated one of the largest SHR fields in recent memory with 88 entrants and it came down to of the youngest and most feared high-stakes players in the world – Steve O’Dwyer and Fedor Holz.

O’Dwyer and Holz agreed to a heads-up chop where O’Dwyer took HK$8,460,830 and Holz HK$6,749,170. O’Dwyer kept a mango for luck throughout the event and told the PokerStars blog, “I think I’ve used up all the luck the mango winning this tournament. It’s been rolling around on the table all tournament; I’ve got to give it a good wash. We were the two shortest guys with eight left, I guess we’re just lucky guys.”

The day began with 14 returning players and only 13 made the money. Behzad Ahadpour fell to O’Dwyer to burst the bubble. Isaac Haxton busted in 13th place and fellow American Dan Smith was eliminated in ninth place. 

There were discussions of a three-handed deal when Manig Loeser was the leader but negotiations failed and they played on. After his elimination Holz and O’Dwyer struck a deal after about 20 minutes of negotiation and left $300,000 on the table and the trophy to play for.

On the third hand O’Dwyer moved all in holding Jd Td, Holz called with pocket sixes and O’Dwyer paired his ten on the flop to end the tournament and win his ninth high roller title.

Final Table Payouts

1. Steve O’Dwyer – HK$8,460,830 ($1,088,783)
2. Fedor Holz – HK$6,749,170 ($868,518)
3. Manig Loeser – HK$4,124,000 ($530,697)
4. Kahle Burns – HK$3,228,000 ($415,395)
5. Zuo Wang – HK$2,603,000 ($334,967)
6. Qiang Lin – HK$2,028,000 ($260,973)
7. James Chen – HK$1,605,560 ($206,611)
8. Zhao Hongjun – HK$1,251,000 ($160,985