After three long days of poker at Dublin´s Burlington Hotel, Tom Brady – winner of the International Poker Open in November – leads the Paddy Power Irish Open.
After three long days of poker at Dublin´s Burlington Hotel, Tom Brady – winner of the International Poker Open in November – leads the Paddy Power Irish Open.
After three long days of poker at Dublin´s Burlington Hotel, Tom Brady – winner of the International Poker Open in November – leads the Paddy Power Irish Open
The Paddy Power Irish Open is Europe´s longest running NL Hold´em poker championship and one of Dublin´s most eagerly anticipated live poker events of the year. Played over the Easter weekend, this year´s Main Event attracted 505 players for the €2,000 buy-in – creating a prize pool in excess of €1 million.
Previous winners Kevin Vandersmissen, Marty Smyth, Neil Channing and Noel Furlong all attended the event once more; hoping to become the first player since Liam Flood (1990 & 1996) to achieve a dual success in the Main Event (Liam Flood and Noel Furlong are trying to win it for a third time), and they were joined by players such as Roberto Romanello, Andy Black, Dara O’Kearney and Kevin MacPhee.
As with his victory at the IPO, Brady once again takes a significant chip advantage into the climax of the event. Resuming Day 3 sixth in chips (449,500) behind overnight leader Calvin Anderson (890,500), Brady moved quickly up the leaderboard with the elimination of Kevin MacPhee A♠ 10♣ > A♥ Q♣ after both players had paired their lower cards on the flop of Q♠ 10♠ 5♠ and made two pairs when the A♦ was dealt on the turn. A spade on the river gave Brady the Flush and bust MacPhee out of the tournament.
Brady also took the biggest pot of the day when crippling long-time leader Adam Fallon. With blinds of 10,000/20,000 (ante 2,000) Fallon had opened the betting for 52.000 chips and was called by Tom Brady and Ian Simpson. Following the flop of J♦ 10♣ 4♣, Fallon was again the aggressor – putting out a bet of 116,000 which Brady called, but which was too steep for Simpson. Following the turn of 2♥, Fallon´s 217,000 bet was raised to 500,000 by Brady, who then put out a further 400,000 bet after the K♦ river. Fallon made the call, but mucked his cards in disgust when Tom Brady rolled over pocket Jacks for a set.
Tom Brady confirmed his position at the top of the final table chip counts when eliminating Francis McDonald in tenth position (pocket Tens holding against McDonald´s A10o) but, on the final table of eight players, he will be up against three players with their sights set on more than just the €265,000 first prize.
Calvin Anderson, Adam Fallon and Declan Connolly all have a chance of picking up an additional €60,000 bonus for being the “Sole Survivor” – the last player who qualified online at Paddy Power Poker to remain in the Irish Open Main Event – as well as a seat in the WSOP Main Event and an invitation to next year´s Irish Open.
Also on the final table is last year´s fourth place finisher (and 2012 “Sole Survivor”) Ian Simpson and Iraqi poker player, Namir Mohammed, who has been a regular at the Irish Open for more than a decade – this being his third, and biggest, cash in the event. The final table is completed by Mark Davis and Michael Farrelly.
# | Irish Open Final Table | Chips |
1 | Tom Brady | 3,674,000 |
2 | Calvin Anderson | 3,168,000 |
3 | Namir Mohammed | 2,898,000 |
4 | Ian Simpson | 1,451,000 |
5 | Adam Fallon | 1,370,000 |
6 | Declan Connolly | 1,193,000 |
7 | Mark Davis | 684,000 |
8 | Michael Farrelly | 683,000 |