€4,300 Main Event
Day 4 Completed
2019 Master Classics of Poker
€4,300 Main Event
Day: 4
Kevin Paqué Wins the 2019 Master Classics of Poker Main Event for €260,878
Level 30
: 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
After almost 11 hours, the €4,300 Main Event of the Master Classics of Poker came to an end with Kevin Paqué the winner at Holland Casino Amsterdam for €260,878 ($287,146) and the plate trophy, also known as a "bordje. In heads-up play, Paqué 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 Paqué 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 Paqué.
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. Paqué is the eighth player who managed to keep the title in Dutch hands.
2019 MCOP Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (EUR) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Paqué | 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 |
Final Table Action
Paqué 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 Paqué 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," Paqué 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 Paqué with pocket nines. The four-ace-four flop gave Paqué 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.
Paqué 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 Paqué to collect his first Dutch and biggest cash ever.
Three-Handed Play
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 Paqué 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 Paqué with the big chip lead. O'Dwyer and Paqué 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 Paqué took it back when he O'Dwyer called the big river-bet of Paqué 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 Paqué'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 Paqué 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 Paqué on a jack-queen-five-four board with two clubs. O'Dwyer held top pair but Paqué's flush draw got there on the river to send the Dutch rail in a frenzy while O'Dwyer calmly congratulated Paqué with the win.
"The rail was there all day, the boys always support me," said Paqué. "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 Eliminated in 2nd Place (€174,421)
Level 30
: 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Steve O'Dwyer raised to 280,000 from the button and Kevin Paqué called.
The flop came 
, Paqué checked and O'Dwyer bet 160,000. Paqué tanked for a bit before making the call.
The turn was the 
, Paqué checked again. O'Dwyer glanced at his own stack before opting to bet 1,150,000. Paqué 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 Paqué: 
O'Dwyer had flopped top pair while Paqué was sitting on the flush draw. Paqué's rail ran to the table.
The 
completed the board for Paqué 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 |
|---|---|---|
|
10,400,000 | 3,500,000 |
|
Busted |
O'Dwyer Folds on the Turn
Level 30
: 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Kevin Paqué raised to 275,000 from the button and Steve O'Dwyer called.
The flop came 
, O'Dwyer checked and Paqué contemplated for a bit before leading out for 225,000. O'Dwyer called quickly.
The turn was the 
, O'Dwyer checked and Paqué bet 700,000. O'Dwyer folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
6,900,000 | 600,000 |
|
|
3,500,000 | -600,000 |
Paqué Tank-Raises
Level 30
: 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Steve O'Dwyer raised to 280,000 from the button and Kevin Paqué called.
The flop came 
, Paqué check-called the 160,000 continuation-bet of O'Dwyer.
The turn was the 
, Paqué checked again. O'Dwyer fired another bet over the line. This time for 330,000, Paqué tanked for a while before counting his stack and then tanked for a bit longer. In the end, Paqué raised to 1,500,000. O'Dwyer folded immediately.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
6,300,000 | 800,000 |
|
|
4,100,000 | -800,000 |
Paque's Bluff Gets Caught
Level 30
: 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Kevin Paqué 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 Paqué called.
The river completed the board with the 
to pair up with the five on the flop. O'Dwyer checked, Paqué tanked for a while before opting to bet 600,000. O'Dwyer called. Paqué tabled 
for the bluff, O'Dwyer showed 
for the king-kicker to scoop the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
5,500,000 | -1,000,000 |
|
|
4,900,000 | 1,000,000 |
O'Dwyer Bets Big on the River
Level 30
: 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Steve O'Dwyer limped in on the button and Kevin Paqué opted to check.
The flop came 
, Paqué 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. Paqué checked again. O'Dwyer grabbed chips and bet 200,000. Paqué 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. Paqué snap-folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
6,500,000 | -500,000 |
|
|
3,900,000 | 500,000 |
Two Shoves, No Action
Level 30
: 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Kevin Paqué limped in on the button and Steve O'Dwyer opted to raise to 660,000 for Paqué to fold.
O'Dwyer raised to 280,000 from the button and Paqué shoved with the bigger stack for O'Dwyer to fold immediately.
Paqué tanked before raising to 275,000 on the button. O'Dwyer shoved and now Paqué folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
7,000,000 | -100,000 |
|
|
3,400,000 | 100,000 |
One for O'Dwyer
Level 30
: 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Steve O'Dwyer called on the button and Kevin Paqué contemplated his options before deciding to check.
The flop came 
, Paqué check-called the 120,000 bet of O'Dwyer.
The turn was the 
, Paqué checked again and O'Dwyer continued with a bet of 690,000. Paqué folded immediately.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
7,100,000 | -400,000 |
|
|
3,300,000 | 400,000 |
O'Dwyer Doubles Up
Level 30
: 60,000/120,000, 120,000 ante
Kevin Paqué shoved from the button and Steve O'Dwyer called for his last 1,500,000.
Steve O'Dwyer:
Kevin Paqué: 
The board ran out 
for O'Dwyer to hold with the higher hole cards to double up with.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
7,500,000 | -1,400,000 |
|
|
2,900,000 | 1,400,000 |