This week, Fiachra Meere captured the Irish Masters crown and first prize of €150,000, outlasting the 422 other players taking part in the €1,650 buy-in no limit Hold'em event. Both Meere and second place finisher Chris Wood (who won €106,000) qualified for the tournament via free-to-enter tournaments, while third place finisher John Raftery won his seat via an online satellite on paddypowerpoker.com and took home €68,500.Meere was “over the moon” after clinching the title and cited his winning of a huge pot when all-in versus Andy Black (pictured) late on Day 2 as when he became a real contender to make the final table and win one of the bigger prizes.
The festival proved extremely popular with Irish and international players alike, as Europe’s top professionals fought it out over the felt during the Irish Masters and two side tournaments. The €200 rebuy event was won by Slovakian Jan Bendik, winning €31,000, while Dane Nicholas Lesckowicz took the €500 event title and €31,700. paddypowerpoker.com sponsored professional Ciaran ‘Big C’ O’Leary finished an impressive 4th of 203 runners in the €500 event for €7,800.
“We would like to offer our warmest congratulations to Fiachra, who battled through a very tough field over three days to become Irish Masters champion; I’ve no doubt we’ll hear more of his successes over the next few years!” said Eric Booth, Head of Poker at paddypowerpoker.com. “We’d also like to thank all the players who came from far and wide to play in the event, as it helped to create a very special atmosphere and we hope to see them all again for the Irish Open next April!”
1st Fiachra Meere -- €150,000
2nd Chris Wood -- €106,000
3rd John Raftery -- €68,500
4th David Poole -- €57,000
5th Peter Murphy -- €48,700
6th Jamie Zambuni -- €40,500
7th Andreas Schippani -- €24,000
8th Warren Woodall -- €17,180
9th Waseem Shahid -- €10,500