Last year, a massive field of 3,233 entries assembled at the Royal Dublin Society for the 2024 Irish Open €1,150 Main Event. The tournament set a new record for the Irish Open and absolutely smashing the guaranteed prize pool of €1,000,000 by creating a prize pool of €3,152,175.
However, as with any other tournament, there could only be one person left standing at the end. Over four long days of poker action, it was Day 3 chipleader Tero Laurila who won the iconic Irish Open trophy and took home €292,685 after a three-way deal.
Laurila defeated Ireland’s Hiep Ninh after a relatively short heads up battle, as the blinds had been reduced from 60 to 20 minutes after the deal. Ninh, who plays almost exclusively in Dublin, took home the larger sum of €335,636 for his efforts due to having a massive chip lead when the deal was made. The final person involved in the deal was the 21-year-old Mark Johnston, who is just dipping his toes in the waters of professional poker and walked away with €232,685 for third place.
Action was picked up on the river of K♦9♦3♥7♦3♠ where Jamie Brent was all in for 31,600 in the hijack. Scott Stewart, in the big blind, was in the tank.
"I don't understand, it feels like a bluff" said Stewart as Brent sat motionless. Brent appeared to talk himself into a call, and call he did. Stewart had 10♣10♦ for two pair but Stewart had K♥7♥ for a far superior two pair.
"You're never folding that" said one of his tablemates as he took in the pot.
Action was picked up on the turn of J♣4♣5♥2♥ where Roope Tarmi bet 10,800 from early position into around 20,000. Matthew Stearns made the call from the cutoff.
On the A♥ river, Tarmi went into the tank for around a minute before checking. Stearns checked back and tabled A♣2♣ for two pair. Tarmi mucked.
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