The longest running live tournament festival outside of Las Vegas has a new sponsor, and dreams come true in Killarney, Ireland.
I don’t dream about winning poker tournaments, but some people do.
People like Thomas Gallagher.
And who can blame him?
Gallagher likes to pop down to Killarney to play in an upmarket event with his mates. This year, partypoker LIVE joined Ireland’s Event Centre (INEC) and the Gleneagle Hotel to create the €340 buy-in partypoker LIVE Grand Prix Killarney, and the man Gallagher won the lot.
partypoker was so confident that the Irish would turn their little party into a humdinger of one, they slapped a €300,000 guarantee on the tin, and 906 entrants ensured they surpassed it.
Gallagher, who finished Day 1a as the chip leader, began the final table as the man everyone had to catch, and although some of the lads eventually did, they couldn’t keep hold of his shirt tails.
Ironically, after leading the field for so long the final three players carved out a deal based on stack sizes, and Gallagher took home the smallest payout of €28,329, Ronan Sweeney banked the most (€38,393), and Yue Wang (I don’t think that’s a joke) took home €30,878.
The deal meant there was €5,000 and all the trapping of being a champion to play for. But before the three players settled down the business they decided to hit the bar for a celebratory pint.
It’s only a game lads.
It’s only a game.
After downing the ale, the three returned to the felt and Gallagher was able to come from behind to win.
Speaking to partypoker after his victory he said it was a ‘dream come true’ to win a tournament after playing recreationally for over 20-years. Before this monumental occasion, Gallagher’s previous best was a 146th place finish in the 2013 European Poker Tour (EPT) Main Event in Barcelona worth €8,680.
Three players won a $10,000 partypoker LIVE Caribbean Poker Party package in their Golden Chip promotion: Mike Quirke (8th), Ronan Sweeney (6th), and Colin Quarry (2nd) are the lucky trio.
partypoker LIVE to sponsor the Irish Open
partypoker LIVE and Irish poker strengthened their bond even further after the Killarney Tournament Director; JP McCann announced that the online poker room would be one of the primary sponsors of the 2018 Irish Open. The longest running poker festival outside of Las Vegas will begin with a €500,000 Guaranteed €150 buy-in Grand Prix.
