Andy Black Wins At The Irish Poker Festival

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The week-long Irish Poker Festival finally came to an end yesterday, with the eventual winner being legendary player Andy Black. The legend managed to pocket €18,150 at the end of play. The event was hosted by D4 and took place at the Bonnington Hotel. There was a host of internationally recognised players in attendance for the festival, but Black was the last man standing.

Black managed to outlast a big field of players to take home the biggest prize, while Sean Foley and Igor Matias were made to settle for second and third respectively. Foley took home €15,585, while Matias took home €15,235. There was also top-nine finishes for Kurt Suarez, Charlie Porter and Ciaran Burke.

Huge Field At Irish Festival

There was a bit of a shock factor that Black was involved, as the competition is predominantly an amateur event. The first event to take place was the Amature Championship of Poker (ACOP), which included 616 players. The prize pot of €123,200 was split between the players that achieved a finish in the top 79.

Black was able to find the value in the game, as his play of €230 was a moment of genius. That play ensured that he made it to the final without event securing all the chips that were in play. The first casualty of the day was Konstantin Teresko before he was quickly joined by Ciaran Burke and Eoin O’Shea. Burke has now won over $200,000 in live poker.

Foley was the last man standing against Black, but he would have been happy with his effort as he took home €15,585, which was the biggest amount that he had won at a live event. However, there was no stopping Black, as he edges closer to the total of $5 million in total prize earnings.

Richard O’Neill Claims Win

The competition that Black won wasn’t the only one taking place, as there was also success for Richard O’Neill in the European Deepstack Main Event. O’Neill managed to overcome 415 opponents to take home the lofty amount of €32,450 in the prize pot.

There were 47 other players that saw returns during the event, with Ronan Sweeney, Wilhelmine Connolly and Ismael Bojang all securing some returns. Bojang took home €3,050 for finishing in 13th place. Masud Prodham, Frederik Cuyt and Oskar Jonsson all missed out on a place in the top five. All the players that managed to finish in the top five took home at least five-figure sums.

Mark Flanagan and Mark O’Hare finished fourth and third respectively, with both players collecting over €20,000. Meanwhile, Patrick Eagers finished in second, and collected just over €27,000.

The next event in Ireland will be the Unibet Open Dublin. That will kick off on the 27th February, with the entry stake being €1,100. Players in that Unibet competition could take home a percentage of the €250,000 prize pot.