“Years of hard work” have finally paid off for Roger Teska. The Indiana native took down the Partypoker Caribbean Poker Party $25,500 event in the Bahamas to win $2 million, the first massive score of his career.
Teska outlasted 394 of the best players in the world including, most noteworthy, runner-up Steve O’Dwyer.
It’s been a long time coming for the journeyman poker pro. After years of chasing, Teska finally got his big score on Tuesday.
His good friend, 2011 WSOP Main Event champ Ben Lamb, was quite impressed:
Congrats to a great mate, Roger Teska. He put in years of work on his tournament game and was rewarded with a 2,000,000 win tonight.
— Ben Lamb (@BenbaLamb) November 14, 2018
Lamb is one of the top high-stakes cash game pros in Las Vegas. He is a regular inside Bobby’s Room at Bellagio, the small card room that hosts Sin City’s biggest games. Pros like him don’t just throw around praise to anyone, so you know Teska has been working hard.
Finally Did It
That hard work paid off like never before in his career. Prior to Tuesday’s $2 million score, he had just $800,000 in career cashes. Only one other time – way back in 2011 – did he cash for over six figures ($371,665 for fourth place in a $25,500 event at the Five Star World Poker Classic in Las Vegas).
Teska’s first recorded cash was in 2006 also in the Bahamas ($16,900 for 29th place in the $7,800 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event).
Now that he’s finally won a big one, the Indiana native might be convinced to play more tournaments. But, for now, he’s more focused on non-poker related activities.
“There might be some partying the next couple days,” he said in his winner’s interview.
Grinding Ain’t Easy
Grinding the tournament circuit is a tough gig as Roger Teska has learned. In the $25,500 Partypoker Caribbean Poker Party event, he had to defeat 394 players, many of whom are considered among the best in the world. Pros such as Rainer Kempe, Steve O’Dwyer, and Isaac Haxton competed.
$25,500 Partypoker Caribbean Poker Party Final Table Results
- Roger Teska (USA) $2,000,000
- Steve O’Dwyer (USA) $1,300,000
- Charles La Boissoniere (Canada) $1 million
- Paul Tedeschi (France) $700,000
- Andras Nemeth (Hungary) $550,000
- Ben Tollerene (USA) $450,000
- Rainer Kempe (Germany) $350,000
- Niall Farrell (United Kingdom) $300,000
- Joao Vieira (Portugal) $250,000
Teska was thrilled to have beaten O’Dwyer heads-up to win the tournament. Steve is the 11th all-time winningest player ever and has more than $26 million in lifetime cashes.
“I definitely wasn’t expecting to win coming into this,” he said after finishing off O’Dwyer. “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.”
