The Irish Poker Open main event returned to the live felt in 2022, after two years of being held online during the pandemic. There was apparently plenty of pent up demand for live action, as the €1,150 buy-in no-limit hold’em event attracted a record live field of 2,040 entries to the Citywest Hotel in Dublin to build a prize pool of €1,989,000. While thousands turned out, it was one of poker’s most accomplished professional tournament players who emerged victorious with the title: Steve O’Dwyer. The American-born resident of Dublin dominated the final table, busting each and every opponent on the last day as he stormed to victory.
O’Dwyer earned €318,700 ($344,196 USD) as the champion, increasing his career earnings to more than $31.9 million. He remains in 14th place on poker’s all-time money list after this latest six-figure score.
“I am really happy to win this, maybe more than any other poker tournament I have ever played. It was special, especially not being able to play live after such a long time.”
O’Dwyer entered the final day as the chip leader, with Kyle Maguire in second place. 2014 Irish Open champion Patrick Clarke was the first to hit the rail, with his A-J running into the pocket kings of O’Dwyer, which improved to top set on a king-high runout. Clarke earned $28,760 USD as the ninth-place finisher.
It didn’t take long for O’Dwyer to convert his massive chip advantage into the title. In the final hand, he limped in with AHeart Suit5Club Suit and Maguire shoved from the big blind with 9Spade Suit9Club Suit. O’Dwyer called and the board ran out ASpade SuitJHeart Suit4Spade SuitJDiamond Suit10Diamond Suit to lock up the pot and the title for O’Dwyer. Maguire cashed for $211,464 USD as the runner-up.
Final table results:
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