Dublin Winter Festival – Final Day Wrap
O the weather outside is frightful, but inside the Green Isle it has been delightful. The action at the tables has been electrifying, framed by the seasonal décor of the hotel; it truly has been one for the history books. With record breaking attendance in a side event, a Main Event guarantee that was reached and exceeded by more than €100,000, thrilling action on the IPT leaderboard, not to mention the festive cheer at this time of year that added that little bit extra to an already fantastic festival.
At 1.30pm €150K for €200 Main Event Final kicked off which had 1,536 entries in total throughout the festival, rocketing the prize pool up to €250,675. From the initial field there were 165 players whose tactics were on point, meaning they secured a bag for the final. There was still a bit of work to be done to secure a cash payout. Darren Harbinson, although done well to secure a stack in the last flight on Saturday was unable to make it into the money. When it came down to bubble time it was over in a flash as 2 players were knocked out at the same time. Both Jim Delaney and Mick Graydon were eliminated and split the min cash meaning they both took away €275.
Although focus on the floor was on the Main Event, there were still a multitude of chances for the players to capitalise on. Next up was the Winter 400, with 107 entries this saw the prize pool climbing to €36,980. Players who were no longer challenging in the Main Event flocked to the 400, in the hope of securing a trophy at this festival, Dara O’Kearney, Junior Costa, Steven Lee, and Paul Carr were all in the mix. Eventually we were left with 3 players and an ICM deal was agreed, meaning 3rd place and €6,785 went to James O’Brien, in 2nd was Frederico Hitner, who banked €7,080. Taking home the trophy and €8,515 was Rafael Tully.
The Monsterstack got underway and had 148 entries in the field bringing the prize pool to €17,760. With more chips in play the dynamic of the game changes as players have more to negotiate with. After some time, it got down to the final table and then the final 3. A deal was discussed, play continued. Then again, a deal was on the table which all players agreed with. The rest of the prize pool was divided evenly with the chip leader taking the trophy. Valentina Gerber, Bogdan-Marian Bucur and Eamonn O’Reilly all banked €3,300 with Eamonn O’Reilly taking home the trophy.
Getting underway next was the Omaha 4/5 Cards which saw a total of 32 entries joining in. This meant there was a prize pool of €3,840 to play for. Suffering from the sniffles Shane Keary braved the elements to battle one last time in the festival, attempting to make ground on Paul Carr in the leaderboard. At the end of play it was Albert Crooks, who finished in 3rd banking €700. In 2nd was Sam Zheng, who had €940 and the winner was Liam Byrne who took home the trophy and €1,450.
The last tournament of the festival to kick off was the Farewell Freezeout, with one final opportunity to get their hands on a trophy 33 entries were in the mix. The prize pool for this event was €3,960. Throughout the night players began to fall by the wayside, leaving Jerry Liem to snap up 3rd position and €710. In 2nd was Stuart Zheng, who banked €1,050. Taking home the trophy and €1,550 was Jiri Novak.
Over at the €150K for €200 Main Event Final the pack had thinned and we were left with a final table. After 2 days of hard-fought poker, a champion needed to be crowned. With the massive prize pool whoever snapped up the top prize was sure to have a Christmas to remember. In the end we were left with 3 players who agreed on a 3-way ICM deal, leaving €1500 in the pot and play continued for the trophy. In 3rd place was Fernando Queiros, who banked €28,100, in 2nd was Rinty (Paul Monaghan) who pocketed €27,400, and the winner of the Main Event was Thomas Gallagher, who took home the trophy and €41,500.
Another fantastic event in the bag and memories that will echo through the ages. As always make sure to keep an eye on livepokerupdates for all the action in the upcoming events…Next stop for the IPT is the Galway Winter Festival which runs from Thursday, December 11th – Sunday, December 14th