A Look Back at Hansen's Win in Event #8 €1,000+€100 UK vs. Ireland Heads-Up Championship

The Full Tilt Poker Galway Festival, which is happening now on west coast of Ireland, will culminate next week with the Main Event, €2,000 UKIPT High Roller and €10,000 UKIPT Super High Roller, all of which PokerNews will be on hand to live report. In the meantime, we thought we’d take a look at the preliminary events completed thus far, which includes a win by FTP Professional Gus Hansen, who emerged victorious in the highly publicized Event #8 €1,000+€100 UK vs. Ireland Heads-Up Championship.

The tournament, which was live streamed on the Full Tilt Poker Blog, attracted 32 runners and created a prize pool of €32,000. The event was also built upon a UK vs. Ireland rivalry as members of each country squared off against one another. Among the participants were Marty Wilson, Jude Ainsworth, Steve O'Dwyer, Martins Adeniya, Dermot Blain, Donnacha O'Dea, Matt Perrins, Andy Black, Jake Cody and Surinder Sunar.

While that competition was heated for a bit, by the time the final four rolled around the Irish were mathematically eliminated. Even through the UK won 44 points to Ireland's 36 points, the Irish got a little hope when Hansen, who is Danish mind you, switched allegiances from the UK to Ireland.

Hansen first defeated the UK's Max Silver 2-1 in the semi-final, before taking on Dave Nicholson in the best-of-five final. It was as heated as could be as both players took two matches, and it came down to the fifth for all the glory. Fortunately for Hansen, and his newfound Irish allies, he was able to clinch victory. Hansen, who donned green hat and draped the Irish flag over his shoulders, literally toasted a Guinness as he took down the €16,151 first-place prize and the title.

“There were no walks in the park,” Hansen said after winning the title. “I played twelve hours yesterday and twelve hours today. I didn’t sleep last night and haven’t eaten anything today."