By Shari Geller
The second largest chip stack belongs to Irish pro Eoghan O’Dea (pronounced Owen O’Dee). It’s customary to mention his pedigree, as O’Dea is the son of famed Irish pro Donnacha O’Dea who made two WSOP main event final tables and won a bracelet by defeating Johnny Chan in a $1,500 PLO event late in the last century. But the 26-year-old Dubliner has shown he is a force to be reckoned with in his own right.
O’Dea finished Day 1 with 35,975 chips then had a great Day 2, bagging 186,600. He kept a relatively steady upwards momentum over the next three days, finishing with 319,000 on Day 3, 449,000 on Day 4 and 929,000 on Day 5.
On Day 6 with blinds and antes at 30,000/60,000, Ben Logan open-shoved his last 400,000 chips from middle position and O’Dea called him. Logan was behind, KcJc to AdKd and the board ran out 7h10c6s8sQh and O’Dea picked up a nice sized pot. He finished the day with 2,535,000 chips, good for 34th out of the remaining 57 players.
On day 7, O’Dea was seated at the same table as future fellow November Niner Ben Lamb, and they clashed a few times. In one hand, Lamb had opened to 260,000 from the cutoff, O'Dea reraised to 720,000 from the small blind, and Lamb four-bet to 1.5 million only to see O'Dea shove for his remaining 6.135 million. Lamb called, turning over JhJd, but O’Dea was in control KsKd. The board ran out 5s4c5h10hQh and he chipped up to 12.5 million.
But not much later the two were at it again. Lamb opened for 350,000 from middle position with pocket sixes, and O'Dea reraised to 800,000 from the button with AdJc. Lamb called and the two saw a flop of Jd6sAh. Lamb checked his set and O'Dea bet 800,000 on his top two. Lamb smooth-called then check-called, this time for 1.7 million, after a 10s fell on the turn. After a dangerous-looking Qs hit the river, Lamb took control, betting 2.7 million. O’Dea checked his hole cards, twice, then eventually made the right move and tossed them into the muck. But this hand brought his stack down to 9.6 million.
Near the end of the day, he scored a huge knockout, send Andrew Hinrichsen to the rail in 23rd place. Ryan Lenaghan had open-raised from under the gun for 350,000, O'Dea called from the hijack seat, it folded to Hinrichsen who reraised to 900,000 from the small blind, and both the BB and Lenaghan got out of the way. But O'Dea then made it 2 million to go only to see Hinrichsen end the betting with an all-in move for about 8 million total. O'Dea insta-called and showed KhKs which was well ahead of AdKc. The dealer spread out a flush on the board, Jh7h6h2h9h but O’Dea’s King-high took down the 14,650,000 pot moving into second place with 18 million. He ended the day with 19,500,000.
O’Dea picked a good time to go on a run, the last day of play before the final table. At the beginning of Day 8, he used continued pre-flop aggression to chip up quickly, finding himself in second place behind Anton Makiievskyi by the middle of the day. He sent severely short-stacked Scott Schwalich home in 14th place and moved his stack upwards of 28 million when he isolated and then crushed Schwalich, Ac10h versus Jd10c on the Qs2s6s5d10d board.
He also took out the 13th place finisher, Konstantinos Mamaliadis. In that hand, O'Dea opened to 625,000 from the hijack and Mamaliadis made a decided misstep, coming over the top for around 4 million from the button with just 8h2c. O'Dea called and turned over 7h7c. The flop came 5hJc9d, keeping O’Dea ahead, but the 6c gave Mamaliadis a gut-shot straight draw with on e of the remaining two sevens. Instead, the river was the 8c, giving O’Dea the winning straight and pushing his chip stack up to about 33 million.
After moving to over 43 million in chips, O’Dea stumbled a bit as the day went on. He sent 3 million to Phil Collins in three separate hands, unwilling to push back when Collins put pressure on him preflop. He sent almost 2 million to Sam Holden who squeezed preflop, then another to Ben Lamb after Lamb check-raised following a Kc9s6s flop. He tried to bully Anton Makiievskyi who was down to around 13 million with a preflop raise from the hijack, but Makiievskyi went over the top all in and O’Dea sent his cards into the muck.
O’Dea, undeterred, tried to use his big chip stack to take down a raised pot, three-betting Staszko’s preflop raise and Giannetti’s call, only to have to fold when Giannetti four-bet all in. O’Dea was now down to around 29 million. But he had enough chips to do what no one else at the unofficial final table of ten could do. He delivered the final KO of the day, eliminating John Hewitt in 10th place.
After opening to 1.1 million from middle position, the action folded to John Hewitt who moved all in for his last 3.875 million in the big blind, with pocket threes. O'Dea called with KsJd and they saw the flop come Qc10d7s, giving him an open-ended straight draw as well as his over cards. The end came quickly for Hewitt as the turn was the Ah giving O’Dea the nuts, setting the final nine and building O’Dea’s stack to 33,925,000 good for second place.
O’Dea claims that winning would not change his life dramatically, though conceding that he would play poker at higher stakes. But he claims not to be about poker 24/7. Still, having grown up with a poker pro as a father, it’s hard to ignore the exposure and experience he has. O’Dea admits that he was more focused this year than last. He cashed in four of the four hold’em events he played in. If he wins, he and his father would be the first father-son combination to make it to a WSOP main event final table. But, he can also guarantee himself bragging rights if he does what his father failed to do in two previous attempts – win it all.
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