Roger Teska Wins partypoker Caribbean Poker Party $25,500 Event for $2 Million

Roger Teska Celebrating partypoker MILLIONS World Win

Roger Teska was one of 394 players to enter the $25,500 No Limit Hold’em MILLIONS World event which took place at the Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas. That fateful decision has provided him with the score of a lifetime after he managed to best the field, including perennial winner Steve O’Dwyer heads-up, to claim a top prize worth an incredible $2 million.

Some Partying to Come

Roger Teska is a high-stakes cash game regular who is also no stranger to the tournament circuit. Prior to the $25,500 MILLIONS World event, he had $818,135 in tournament winnings, $371,665 of which was accounted for by a 4th place finish in 2011 at the $25,500 WPT Championship in Las Vegas.

However, the US pro is more familiar to some for his drunken antics at the 2014 PCA. According to poker journalist Howard Swains, Teska snarled and hiccuped his way through four days of tournament play, “flipping the bird to television cameras, refusing to play ball with tournament reporters and providing a one-man chorus of “Cocktails!”

This time around, Teska may have been on his best behavior, but he has also admitted that there is likely to be “some partying” over the next couple days.

$25,500 MILLIONS World

The $25,500 MILLIONS World event featured a $10-million guarantee. Given the limited size of the field, this led to the organizers shelling out an extra $150,000 to cover the overlay. Needless to say, the two day event was a veritable who’s who of some the world’s best poker talent. Amongst those seeing a return on their huge buy-ins was Davidi Kitai in 28th ($75,000), Nick Petrangelo in 23rd ($90,000), Isaac Haxton in 17th ($90,000), Leon Tsoukernik in 14th ($120,000), Manig Loeser in 12th ($150,000) and Koray Aldemir in 11th ($200,000).

Following Patrick Eskandar’s exit in 10th ($200,000), the nine remaining players then took an overnight break before returning to take their place at the event’s official final table.

Final Table

After Paul Tedeschi (A-A) eliminated Joao Vieira (J-J) in 9th, Roger Teska also won a pocket pair over pocket pair situation to take care of a short stacked Niall Farrell in 8th. Next, Steve O’Dwyer saw off Rainer Kempe in 7th, after which two hours would elapse before Tedeschi (K-Q) sent Ben Tollerene (7-7) to the rail in 6th.

O’Dwyer (A-K) subsequently eliminated Andras Nemeth (9-9) in 5th, before doing likewise to Paul Tedeschi in 4th. Soon after, Teska (Q-7) made top pair on a Q-10-10-8-6 board to send Charles La Boissonniere (9-9) to the exit in 3rd, after which the final battle was set.

Heads-Up Recap

Steve O’Dwyer held 80% of all the chips in play at the start of heads-up. He then almost won the contest a few minutes later after being dealt pocket kings and calling Teska’s all in move with pocket queens. A queen on the flop, however, saw the two players draw fairly even in chips, after which Teska managed to carry his momentum forward. Less than an hour later, O’Dwyer button-raised with pocket fives and received an all in shove from Teska holding 10-8.

Having made the call, the board rolled out 8-4-2-Q-3 to relegate O’Dwyer to a runner-up finish worth $1.3 million, while Teska was crowned the champion. As Teska commented after his victory:

“These guys know when to shove, what hands to shove with, and I don’t. Steve is a better player than I am so I wanted to play bigger pots.”

Final Table Results

1: Roger Teska $2,000,000
2: Steve O’Dwyer $1,300,000
3: C.La Boissoniere $1,000,000
4: Paul Tedeschi $700,000
5: Andras Nemeth $550,000
6: Ben Tollerene $450,000
7: Rainer Kempe $350,000
8: Niall Farrell $300,000
9: Joao Vieira $250,000

Overlay Issues at Caribbean Poker Party

The $25,500 MILLIONS event is not the only tournament to suffer overlay issues at the partypoker Caribbean Poker Party MILLIONS World.  The $5,300 Main Event has so far has attracted just 1,208 players, falling well short of expectations, and saddling partypoker with a potentially hefty bill. As a result, the operator is probably now questioning whether offering five eight-figure guarantees in a single tournament series is the right way to go.