Only a few days ago we reported the triumph of Jimmy McSweeney at the Ladbrokes.com Irish Poker Festival, and now, just one week later, yet another Irish festival has drawn to a conclusion in the form of the highly acclaimed BoylePoker.com International Poker Open. Making a welcome return after last year's roaring success, the International Poker Open succeeded its own expectations as a remarkable, and record-breaking 1,300 poker enthusiasts jam-packed their way into the Regency Hotel in Dublin as part of the biggest field ever assembled outside the U.S. With the buy-in at an affordable €135, the event attracted both pros and amateurs alike as the likes of Marty Smyth, Padraig Parkinson, Ian Frazer, Andy Ward, Neil Channing and Jen Mason joined the array of local talent at the felt. Also making rare appearances were snooker world champion Ken Doherty, former Eastenders star Ray Panthaki, and Kilkenny hurlers Richie Power, John Tennyson and James Fitzpatrick.
Although none of the aforementioned stars made it onto the final table, Ray Panthaki performed credibly to finish in the top 300: “I got off to a poor start and was chasing for the whole tournament really but I still got down to about the last 300 so that’s not bad. The atmosphere was brilliant, I’ve had a fantastic weekend meeting so many people from all across Europe and I will definitely be back.”
Instead, the final table line-up was as follows:
Seat 1: Maxence Decorne (France) -- 635,000
Seat 2: Melika Pater (Netherlands) -- 1,475,000
Seat 3: Elie Payan (France) -- 1,270,000
Seat 4: Peter Murphy (Ireland) -- 590,000
Seat 5: Jonathan Gelston (Ireland) -- 1,095,000
Seat 6: Ruairi Coy (Ireland) -- 2,385,000
Seat 7: Raymond Kerney (Ireland) -- 3,010,000
Seat 8: David Introligator (France) -- 705,000
Seat 9: Cyril Bourmaud (France) -- 1,915,000
The International Poker Open saw 17 separate nations represented with France sending over an incredible 430 players. However, it was a Frenchman who dropped first, David Introligator pushing in with pocket fives but being looked up by A-T. An ace and ten on the flop was clinical and Introligator was out in ninth.
Next to hit the deck was Melika Pater, the only female player to make it to the final table. Desperately short-stacked and in need of a double through, Pater found herself all in with A-6 suited versus a dominant pocket queens. No assistance on the board, and she joined Introligaotor on the rail.
Cyril Bourmand finished seventh. Having been caught with his hands in the cookie jar, Bourmand decided to gamble by calling Max Decorne's reraise with J-9. Decrone showed A-K, and although a nine hit the flop, the river four flushed to give Decorne the victory, and consequently the scalp of his fellow countryman.
The next fatal confrontation saw Elie Payan, having just doubled through with queens, reraise all in preflop over the top of Jonathan Gelston. Gelston considered for a little while before deciding to go for it, getting his whole stack in with a dominated A-7 suited against A-Q. The dogged French railers got excited once more, as their man made a four-flush of clubs, sending Gelston to the rail in sixth place.
With five remaining, it was still anyone's game, that is until Ray Kerley's king high failed to outgun Ruairi Coy's ace high. Soon after, Coy snipered down his second consecutive man, as he looked up Peter Murphy's preflop push with K-Q suited. Murphy could only muster Q-3, which failed to improve on a raggy board and send him hurtling to the rail in fourth.
At 4.40am, play was threatening to slow down, but suddenly, out of the blue, the game exploded. With Decorne smooth calling a preflop raise of 800,000 from Coy, Payan pushed all in for over two million in chips. With Coy also pushing all in, Decorne made the fold and we had a showdown, Coy with his nose in front with A-J versus Payan's K-T. A teasing T-5-5-Q-J board later, and Payan was gone in third.
With 10.7 of the 13 million chips in play, Coy looked odds on to seal victory, and the inevitable did indeed occur as the local hero finally took gold when his A-7 held up against the Frenchman's K-8, all in prelfop.
And so we had our winner, Ruairi Coy taking home a mouth-watering €37,530 for his toruble. The Galway-born, Dublin resident, who won the event at 5.30 a.m. and was due in work two hours later at the IFSC, said of his victory, “What an incredible event, I just can’t believe I won it. Playing against the likes of legends like Padraig Parkinson and Marty Smyth was a dream come true but to beat 1,300 players is out of this world. I can’t believe I have to go to work now. I hope they give me the day off!”
Paul Spillane, head of poker at Boylepoker.com said, “Ruairi is a very worthy champion. Beating the biggest event field of players outside America is a unique achievement and one he’ll be able to enjoy forever. The success of the event was down to the hard work of the huge team involved and to the players who really got into the spirit of the tournament. So, a sincere thanks to all of them and we’re already looking forward to next year.”
1st Ruairi Coy -- €37,530
2nd Maxence Decorne -- €23,130
3rd Elie Payan -- €17,000
4th Peter Murphy -- €13,000
5th Raymond Kerley -- €9,000
6th Jonathan Gelston -- €7,000
7th Cyril Bourmand -- €5,500
8th Melika Pater -- €4,500
9th David Introligator -- €3,500
Irish poker legend Scott Gray, who came fourth in the World Series of Poker in 2002, said, “The standard of play was absolutely incredible. These guys were playing for their lives. I’ve seen worse play at the World Series. The event was very well organised and, as usual, Irish poker tournaments are way better craic than playing poker anywhere else in the world. All our friends from France and Holland who came over had a great time. I’ll be back again next year but only if Boylepoker are sponsoring it!”