It was a very busy news weekend for the online poker community. Russ Hamilton was allegedly recording Ultimate Bet meetings, Phil Hellmuth was reacting to the tapes, and Ultimate Poker dumped Iovation, a company associated with UB. Not to be overlooked, longtime PocketFives member Steve MrTimCaumO’Dwyer (pictured) defeated one of the most talented EPT final tables we’ve ever seen to win the EPT Grand Final Main Event in Monte Carlo for €1.2 million.

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O’Dwyer joyfully Tweeted after the final cards had been dealt, “If you want to get in my winner’s photo, get over here now.” The final eight featured a veritable “who’s who” of talent-rich tournament players, including PokerStarsfront man and reigning WSOP APAC Main Event winner Daniel Negreanu, former #1 ranked ESPN player Jason treysfull21Mercier, and live poker Triple Crown winner Jake neverbluff67Cody. Oh yeah, Andrew Pantling, Johnny Lodden,Noah Schwartz, and Australia’s Grant Levy were also there, just to spice things up.

Pantling (pictured) and O’Dwyer briefly discussed a deal when the chip stacks were about even entering heads-up play, but no accord was met and the two played on for €400,000 in real money. Then, O’Dwyer moved into the lead by a 2:1 margin after hitting trip aces.

On the final hand, the money went in on a board of 8-8-J-4 with three spades. Pantling held K-5 of the suit for the second nut flush, while O’Dwyer had trip eights. The river was the 8c, giving O’Dwyer quads in dramatic fashion and he booked the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event title.

The poker community congratulated O’Dwyer via Twitter. Among the group was Peter Jetten, who Tweeted, “Super happy for friends @steveodwyer and @Zugwat for their big wins today. Both really great guys and great players.” EPT champ Kevin ImaLuckSac MacPhee added, “Big congrats to @steveodwyer for winning the EPT Grand Final!!! Couldn’t think of anyone that has worked harder in the last year.”

O’Dwyer finished second in the EPT London Main Event in September 2011 for nearly three-quarters of a million bucks and then was the runner-up in WPT Venice three months later. He won the WPT National Series in Denmark in February 2012 for $213,000 and then proceeded to make the final table of the WPT Championship in Las Vegas for another $192,000 in May 2012. In March of this year, he final tabled the EPT London Main Event once again and walked away with $219,000.

Here were the final table results in Monte Carlo:

1. Steve O’Dwyer – €1,224,000
2. Andrew Pantling – €842,000
3. Johnny Lodden – €467,000
4. Daniel Negreanu – €321,000
5. Jake Cody – €251,000
6. Noah Schwartz – €189,000
7. Jason Mercier – €137,000
8. Grant Levy – €103,000

Congrats to all PocketFivers who made the money.

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