Laurence O’Kane secured the largest live poker tournament cash of his career when he topped a massive field of 1,712 players in the €500,000 guaranteed partypoker LIVE Grand Prix Irish Open.
partypoker LIVE Grand Prix Irish Open Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laurence O’Kane | €43,550* |
| 2 | Michael Graydon | €30,500* |
| 3 | Martin Burke | €30,500* |
| 4 | Robert Finlay | €30,500* |
| 5 | Kevin O’Malley | €12,000 |
| 6 | Christopher Canning | €10,000 |
| 7 | Mantas Misevicius | €8,000 |
| 8 | Shaun Hegarty | €6,500 |
*reflects a four-handed deal
Three-hundred and 61 players progressed to Day 2, each of them in the money and guaranteed €500. Two members of Team partypoker were among those Day 2 hopefuls. Louise Butler fell in 127th place for €800 while Padraig Parkinson went a little deeper before busting in 99th place, also for €800.
Each of the players at the eight-handed final table had locked up €6,500 for their efforts, but Shaun Hegarty would not collect any additional prize money because he exited at the hands of Martin Burke. Hegarty crashed out with top two pair against a straight.
A short-stacked Mantas Misevicius was the next casualty of the final table, pushing all-in with 
and being called by Burke holding 
. Misevicius flopped a flush draw when the first three community cards came 
, but the turn and river were both clubs and that was the end of the Lithuanian.
Down to the final five
Christopher Canning: Sixth-place finisher
Soon after Misevicius’ demise, Christopher Canning found himself with no chips. Canning committed his stack with 
on the button and O’Kane decided to call from the small blind with 
. Canning stayed ahead on the 
flop. The 
turn, however, locked up the hand for O’Kane as it gifted him a straight. The 
river just served to rub salt into Canning’s wounds.
Fifth-place went to Kevin O’Malley. Burke opened the betting with a raise to 4,500,000, O’Malley three-bet all-in for 29,000,000 and Burke quickly called. O’Malley turned over 
, Burke the 
and when the five community cards fell 
it was game over for O’Malley.
Let’s chop it up
The final four players battled it out for a short while before they paused the tournament clock and struck a deal that secured €30,500 for each of them, which left the trophy and an additional €13,050 for the one who would take down the event.
The deal worked in the favour of Robert Finlay because he was the next to be hitting the rail. Finlay pushed all-in with 
and O’Kane looked him up with the 
. Both players improved to a pair of eights on the flop of the 
board, and O’Kane won the hand courtesy of his ace-kicker.
Heads-up was set when Michael Graydon moved all-in from the small blind with and Burke called off the rest of his chips with 
. Burke looked set for a double-up because by the turn the board read 
, but the on the river turned the hand on its head and Graydon won the pot.
A brief one-on-one battle between Graydon and O’Kane saw Graydon wielding the all-in move often. On the final hand, Graydon moved ll-in again, this time with 
and O’Kane took a stand with 
. A six appeared on the 
flop and when the turn and river fell and , graydon was eliminated in second-place and O’Kane was crowned the 2018 partypoker LIVE Grand Prix Irish Open champion.
2018 Irish Open
The €1 million guaranteed Irish Open Main Event runs from March 14-18th and you still have time to win yourself a seat online here at partypoker. Also on March 14th is the €250 buy-in Ladies Championship Event that is sponsored by partypoker Ladies. Head to the My partypoker LIVE portal to follow all of the action from the Main Event.
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