Killarney Poker Festival – Final Day Wrap
The final day of The Killarney Poker Festival has arrived and with it the hopes and dreams of those vying for the top spot may come to fruition, or simmer until the next opportunity. With the matter of a €100,000 prize, focus will naturally be pulled towards the Main Event. Although the IPT know their punters well, and make sure to offer plenty of opportunities for those who didn’t manage to make it to the final stage. With one last day to try their luck at the tables.
Sunday began with the Killarney Main Event Final, 899 entries being cut down to 23, the players walked into the Gleneagles Arena with butterflies in their stomachs and game plans in their heads. Alas, as everyone knows, you can prepare yourself as much as you want, nothing truly prepares you for poker at this level. The 3 tables were given centre stage, with on-lookers spectating from the floor. With such high stakes, play progressed and after some time we were left with the final table.
The Killarney Poker Cup began, giving players another opportunity to battle it out for a trophy. With 196 entries it was clear to see that we were in store for another fantastic day of exhilarating poker. The prize pool for this event reached €67,740. With players gazing longingly at the Main Event pondering on what might have been, the pack thinned which left us with the final table. In the end it was Sam Zheng, who placed 3rd taking home €7,400. The heads up was a fierce battle with neither player giving up an inch. Deals were talked about, but it was clear both players wanted to leave with the top prize and trophy. In 2nd place was Rory Liffey, who banked €11,300, and the winner was Tadhg Ryan, who took home the trophy and €17,540. It was great to see Tadhg getting a reward for his hard work, he was the longest lasting WPT Global OnLive qualifiers, who missed out on the added incentive of an extra €100,000 for coming first in the Main Event.
Next to kick off was the Monsterstack, with a format that means more chips that adds a new dynamic to the state of play. This clearly appealed to players as 235 entries registered for the event. Bringing the prize pool to €38,352. As play progressed amongst the roars, from players watching both the Main Event final and Europe beating the USA in the Ryder Cup the atmosphere was electric. In the end it was Paudie Cusack, who finished 3rd taking home €4,150. In 2nd was Sharon Motherway who banked €6,200, and the winner was Donegal’s Charlie Porter, who took home the trophy and €9,500.
The Omaha 7 Max got underway with 38 players signing up bringing the prize pool to €9,850. With IPT leaderboard top spot contenders Michael Merrigan and Paul Carr failing to make it through to the final table. The scene was set for a possible first trophy of the festival for IPT leaderboard front runner Shane Keary. As the tournament progressed the play was tight as players, yet to lift a cash prize, were eager to leave the festival on a high note. In the end 3rd place was Zeik Tuit who cashed out with €1,850. After a 2-way deal Tomas Geleziunas, banked €3,000. The winner taking home the trophy and €3,500 was Maximilian Sanders, a London native whose local casino is the location of the London Poker Festival (Genting Casino, Stratford). He was looking forward to welcoming the IPT to his local spot, as he said when the Irish are in town it is always a fantastic experience.
The Last Chance Turbo, as the name suggests was the players final opportunity at a trophy in the festival. With 59 entries signing up this brought the prize pool to €7,080. With the festival beginning to wind down the pack thinned and with the 15-minute clock this created a sense of urgency at the table. When it came down to the final 3 a deal was struck resulting in 3rd place going to Karl O’Connell who banked €1,600, in 2nd was Jaunius Kavalciukas who pocketed €1,600. In first place was Swedish native Simeon Sundelius, who took home the trophy and €1,880.
The Killarney Main Event Final got down to the final table with everyone on the floor keeping one eye on its progression. Initially players began to fall by the wayside, with chipleader switching hands on multiple occasions. It got down to 4 competitors left in the competition and on a couple of occasions a deal was mentioned, although an agreement was not made and play continued. In 3rd place and taking home €45,000, was John Ward. Again, a deal was hinted at but players couldn’t come to an agreement so play continued. In the end it was Tommy O’Rourke, who was runner up and banked €63,500. Both John and Tommy also snapped up the Last Longer packages for the up-and-coming event at the London Poker Festival (November 4th – November 9th in the Genting Casino, Stratford, London).
The winner of the Killarney Main Event Final, was Finland’s Samuel Petteri Saariaho who was cheered on by his rail, taking home €100,000. Samuel, who is a professional poker player also has a WSOP Omaha ring, and pocketed $108,000 when winning it. We wish Samuel all the best of luck in his poker career, and we will be keeping a keen eye on his progress.
With a total of 3,100 entries and a cumulative festival prize pool of €1,122,010 it has been one hell of a week of poker. We would like to thank everyone that was involved for making Killarney Poker Festival yet again the jewel in the crown of the Irish Poker Tour.
Make sure to check livepokerupdates for up-and-coming events, and who knows it could be your name in lights, immortalised forever in poker glory…