Irish Open results

The Irish Open drew to a close in the early hours of Tuesday morning April 18, with a local winner, Vincent Melinn of Dublin.

The tournament was run superbly, with a real festival atmosphere, and many players including US legend Mike Caro stayed on after elimination to soak up the craic and the final table action.

The competition was the 25th staging of the event, making it Europe’s oldest, and it drew its largest ever field with 350 runners.

The final table was broadcast around Europe on Sky Sports 2 from the Royal Dublin Society and has been hailed by many of Europe’s top poker players as the best TV poker event ever.

It was only the 54-year-old accountant’s second live tournament with Melinn beating south Londoner Ian Woodley into second place. Melinn began the end game with the big stack, and solid, aggressive play saw him through to the title and the big cheque.

It was a massive improvement on his previous live tournament experience. Before this, he busted out of the World Series of Poker Main Event last year, on his first hand when his set of Queens was beaten by three Aces.

Melinn picks up €350,000 for his work in Dublin over the Easter weekend, boosted by another €47,375 as the canny operator backed himself with a €250 each way bet at 150-1 with Paddy Power.

Melinn said of his victory, ‘Its not about the money for me, it’s about the title. I‘ve only ever played one tournament before and went out in that in my first hand but I knew from the early stages of this game I had a chance and I’m really so proud to have my name on the trophy.’

Poker commentator (the voice of poker), Jesse May said of the event ‘It was just like Binion’s (Las Vegas) in the old days. The atmosphere and camaraderie was great.’

The prize pool was won by:

1 – Vincent Melinn €350,000 (Ireland)
2 – Ian Woodley €182,000 (England)
3 – Brendan Ruane €90,000 (Ireland)
4 – Jon Wong – €70,000 (England)
5 – Conor Smyth €60.000 (Ireland)
6 – Paul Daly €50,000 (Ireland)