A PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Winter Festival dominated by the host nation ultimately went the way of local student Michael O’Sullivan.
Here at WPT Poker, we’re not usually ones for national stereotyping, but if there’s one gross generalisation that has always rung true throughout our countless years of tournament coverage, it’s that the Irish love to gamble.
Certainly, this year’s paddypowerpoker.com Irish Winter Festival did little to dispel such sweeping sentiment as Blanchardstown-based student Michael O’Sullivan pipped his fellow countryman Michael Murphy to the Irish Masters title on a final table that included no fewer than seven of the home nation’s finest.
PLENTY O’ACTION
Naturally, the presence of so many unpredictable fellow Irishmen meant that O’Sullivan was forced to endure a turbulent ride throughout the final table, with his chip stack fluctuating wildly in the run-up to heads-up play. However, once there, he was able to wrest control from Murphy after winning a huge coin-flip with A-K against his opponent’s pocket jacks to capture over 80% of the chips in play.
With such a huge disparity between the players, Murphy had little choice but to make a move at the earliest opportunity, and he was brutally unlucky when his shove with Q-7 ran head-first into O’Sullivan’s pocket queens. A seven on the flop gave Murphy the faintest glimmer of hope, but it was rapidly extinguished as blanks fell on the turn and river to hand his opponent the Irish Masters title and €143,000 1st prize.
When interviewed about his victory shortly after the remaining chips had been stacked and pushed his way, a clearly dazzled O’Sullivan commented that the win was yet to sink in properly. He told reporters that in spite of the bumper payout, his first thought was to concentrate on completing his studies before devoting some serious time towards his athletics training.
CRAIC’D UP
Murphy, meanwhile, had to content himself with the €88,500 he earned for his runner-up finish as well as the knowledge that that he’d successfully outlasted all but one of the 397 runners who’d ponied up €1,650 to play in the 3-day No Limit Hold’em tournament. Before his exit, Gary Mealy had ensured it was an all-Irish podium after he was cruelly rivered by Murphy’s two pair and busted in third place.
Prior to that, the Irish monopoly on the final table was broken briefly by the departures of Slovenia’s Matej Kokalj and German Igor Kurgan in 4th and 5th respectively. Both players fell at the hands of Murphy, with Kurgan first losing out when his pocket tens were out-flopped by the Irishman’s A-Q on an A-7-7-8-9 board and Kokalj following just a few hands latter when another coin flip was decided in favour of the overcards, this time Murphy’s A-J improving to crack pocket sevens.
Clearly Murphy had been drinking more than his fair share of run-good juice in the hours leading up to the final table, so it should come as no surprise that his ruthless run of eliminations stretched back even further with the exit of Stephen Devlin in 6th. Incredibly, it was a case of different cards, same outcome, as Murphy’s Q-J spiked a jack to out-race Devlin’s pocket fives and set his final table charge in motion.
Before that, paddypowerpoker.com online qualifier Paul Dooley fell at the hands of Mealy, with the €22,400 he earned for 7th place considerably boosted by the extra €20,000 tossed his way by the Irish site for winning their Sole Survivor promotion (see sidebar). Unfortunately for Dooley, his tournament ended in tame fashion after his pocket sixes ran into the jacks of Mealy and failed to improve on a blank board.
The full line-up of eliminations was completed by Graham Masters and the only other online qualifier at the table, John Cassidy, who busted within a few minutes of each other in eighth and ninth respectively. In total, €597,000 in prize money was handed out at the event, meaning that when the dust had settled on all the final day drama, the celebrations in Dublin could last long into the winter night. |
