The Road Goes on Forever, but the Party Never Ends!

We’ve had a busy week at the Irish Poker Festival and it’s over, at least for now. We’ve had some great events, with great winners and as always on the Emerald Isle, a great craic was had by all. The chips were flowing even faster than the Guinness, with over 30 events on the tournament schedule. There were almost 2,000 entries in total and the combined prize pools exceeded €1.5m!

The festival began with the €400 Mystery Bounty, which was dominated by young Irish player Thomas Murphy, who not only took down the title, but by far the biggest haul of bounties, scooping both of the largest €4,000 ones in the process.

The Party Poker MILLIONS main event final contained a mix of youth and experience. Irish poker legend Andy Black made it to the business end of the event, exiting in 7th place, while 24-year old Michel Molenaar capped off an amazing few months on the circuit by claiming the title, trophy and €210,000.

The Dublin Cup and the Grand Prix both had large fields and the numerous Omaha tournaments on the schedule were a bonus for lovers of four card poker. Unlike many poker festivals, where it’s really just an afterthought, the Irish Poker Festival had Omaha at its core, including the €2,500 Irish Omaha Championship , which was won by Bulgarian Ivelin Pavlov for €43,000.

Although most of the tournaments were on the pricier side, there were a smattering of €250 buy-in events, enabling those with slightly smaller bankrolls to also be involved. And of course there were also plenty of satellites into the higher buy-in competitions.

Event organiser Fintan Gavin had a pretty good week. Despite not picking up a trophy, he managed two second place finishes, in one of the Omaha comps and in the €2,500 high roller. It’s always a sweat when you run a new event, with uncertainty about whether things will go smoothly or if the guarantees will be met. However Fintan will be delighted with the outcome of the whole festival, as it did indeed run like clockwork, thanks to his very dedicated team of professionals who ran a great show throughout and in the best of celtic spirits. And all guarantees were easily met and surpassed.

Photos by Brian Ó hÉideáin have been posted on our Flickr account and videography by Jerry Fitzgerald can be viewed on the Irish Poker Festival X account (Twitter).

For now, the festival is over, but the poker world never stops moving. There’s always another event looming not far over the horizon. The road goes on forever, but the Party never ends!

Until next time, be lucky!

Jonathan Raab

Irish Poker Festival Media Coordinator