With nine players left, Steve O’Dwyer sat fifth in chips, the middle pin at a final table populated by poker legends. As the clock ticked around to five in the morning in the Catalan former city of culture in Spain, O’Dwyer had his latest major title in a poker career that defies description. Over decades, O’Dwyer has proven his poker skills in any arena. Almost flying high under the radar, is the American-Irish player’s stealthy rise to the top finally getting the recognition it deserves?

Ladva the Leader as Final Table Begins

With 62 entries, each putting down the equivalent of $13,660 to play, a prizepool of over $780,000 was divided between just eight players who made the money. That meant the nine-handed final table of the event was on the direct bubble and a short period of tension proceeded the great and good gathering to play down to a winner.

Heading into the final nine, the shortest stacked player was Byron Kaverman, but while he made a stirring comeback, Ian Bradley went in the opposite direction. All-in for just four big blinds, Bradley lost a flip with as Ladva’s call with the proved successful, a king on the river sending the crestfallen British player to the rail for nothing.

Out in eighth place was the American Martin Zamani. Moving all-in for the second hand in a row, Zamani got a call at the second time of asking as his was put at risk by the Indian player Santosh Suvarna with . No help for Zamani saw him bust for $23,878 in eighth place and without a single bounty to show for his play, that was where his total winnings ended.

From Hero to Zero (Chips)

With seven players left, it was the turn of the longest-lasting Brazilian player to bust. Fabiano Kovalksi was busted after collecting one bounty and therefore took home $43,202 when he too busted to Suvarna. On a flop of , Kovalski held , and was drawing to two overcards, a backdoor flush or a gutshot straight. Suvarna, however, had flopped bottom pair and had blockers to the flush with and he held through the turn and river to slay another’s hopes of glory.

Swedish Joakim Andersson had the misfortune of running into two opponents rather than one when he got his last chips in with . Up against Byron Kaverman’s and Suvarna’s , Andersson didn’t expect to win and his hopes were dashed on the board as Kaverman scooped a crucial pot on the road to recovery and Andersson went home with $52,087 in total.

The chip leader when nine sat down busted in fifth place for a disappointing total prize of $77,410 as Ladva was left on the outside looking in. Short after a confrontation with O’Dwyer, he got his last big blind into the middle with and lost to Suvarna’s when a jack landed on the river to usurp Ladva’s flopped pair of threes.

O’Dwyer Deals Late Pain

With four players left, the chips were very close, with everyone having over a million chips and no-one having more than Suvarna’s stack of 1.8m. PokerStake player David Coleman was unlucky not to get going, and when he moved in with ran into the dominating of O’Dwyer. A cruel board of sent Coleman home, albeit with an excellent score of $78,964.

Three-handed play saw players who had nine bounty scalps between them battle it out for the title as the late night gave way to the early hours of morning in Barcelona. As the sun began to paint the sky, Suvarna went outside to welcome it, busted in third for a total prize fund of $139,827. All-in with , the Indian player – who won his first WSOP bracelet in the summer – lost to O’Dwyer’s to depart when a ten landed on the flop.

Heads-up, that meant O’Dwyer had over 80% of the chips in play and that proved pivotal. Soon, Kaverman found an ace and got it all in the middle with . O’Dwyer made the call with the superior and after a flop of , was almost certain to win the hand. The confirmed O’Dwyer’s victory and as the meaningless completed the final board of the event, the two men shook hands.

Banking $132,608 in second place, Byron Kaverman’s result was enough to nudge him past the $20 million mark in terms of tournament earnings via The Hendon Mob. For O’Dwyer, the $235,411 he took home from the event was a massive return on his investment and with four bounties, he vaulted to $43.67 million in lifetime earnings, good enough to put himself almost $2m clear of Fedor Holz in 13^th place on the All-Time Money List.

Photograph by PokerStars, the home of the European Poker Tour. Watch EPT Barcelona play out on the PokerStars Twitch channel here.