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After Michel Molenaar’s victory in 2023, the Irish Poker Festival has its 2024 winner! The new €3,000 Main Event title belongs to Irish player Mark Buckley, who patiently claimed the first-place prize of €177,000.
Buckley took first place from a field of 285 entrants, which generated a total prize pool of €753,330, slightly exceeding the €700,000 guarantee. Winning the tournament wasn’t easy, due to the nearly nine-hour final table and the strong competition from players like Joni Rantamaki, who finished as the runner-up for €113,000, and Conor O'Rourke, who took third place for €70,000.
Niall Farrell secured fifth place for €38,000, while recent EPT Cyprus Eureka winner Leo Worthington-Leese finished in sixth place for €31,500.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Buckley | Ireland | €177,000 |
| 2 | Joni Rantamaki | Finland | €113,000 |
| 3 | Conor O'Rourke | Ireland | €70,000 |
| 4 | Sean Hegarty | United States | €50,000 |
| 5 | Niall Farrell | Scotland | €38,000 |
| 6 | Leo Worthington-Leese | United Kingdom | €31,500 |
| 7 | Ignotas Tamasauskas | Lithuania | €27,500 |
| 8 | Ignas Navickas | Lithuania | €24,000 |
| 9 | Florian Fuchs | Austria | €20,500 |
“It was a very long final table. There were a lot of ups and downs, a lot of swings, but we got there in the end,” summed up the new champion after posing for his winning photos. He went on to explain: “It was a tough final table with a lot of good, very aggressive players.” Despite these strong opponents, Buckley said that “it was smooth from the beginning". "I basically max-late-regged; I only bought in on Day 2.” He finished third in chips after that day and never dropped from the top spots.
This Irish Poker Festival marks Buckley’s second-best career cash, following his seventh-place finish at the 2018 European Poker Tour Barcelona for €220,000. Since then, he’s kept grinding across Europe, even winning a Spade in an Omaha event in 2023. “Now I need to win another trophy,” he joked, adding that he doesn’t have many poker plans for now. “Just EPT Prague will be my next stop.”
Although 18 players returned on Day 3, they were down to 17 on the very first hand of the day after Sam Dobbins was eliminated (18th - €9,500). WSOP bracelet winner Eoghan O’Dea didn’t last much longer (17th - €9,500), losing a flip to Vasilijus Piskunovas, and Tomas Flanagan was also eliminated shortly after (16th - €10,000), running into Ignotas Tamasauskas’s aces.
Jonathan Proudfoot seemed to be in a strong position after flopping a straight against Buckley. However, Buckley hit a runner-runner full house to claim a massive pot, the chip lead, and ended Proudfoot’s tournament (15th - €10,000). Aleksander Januskevic (14th - €10,750) and Rafael Golka (13th - €11,580) were also eliminated before the first break, while Vasilijus Piskunovas was left with just 5,000 chips after being caught bluffing. He was eliminated immediately upon the restart.
Day 1a chip leader Alec Torelli then opted to four-bet all-in with ace-seven suited. He faced Worthington-Leese's pair of jacks, which turned into a set on the flop. Finishing in 11th place, Torelli won €15,000.
At the same table, Rantamaki and Farrell went all-in, creating a 3,500,000 chip pot. Rantamaki had aces and secured a massive double-up against Farrell’s ace-king. Moments later, Farrell was unlucky again when Ignas Navickas doubled up through him. However, he managed to turn things around by eliminating Richard Ashby in 10th place and secured his seat at the final table.
The final table started with Florian Fuchs losing chips to O'Rourke who moved all-in on the river. Moments later, Fuchs found jacks but ran into Farrell's kings to become the first eliminated player of the final table (9th - €20,500).
After Sean Hegarty hit trips with ace-queen to double up through Buckley’s ace-king, Ignas Navickas lost a flip against O’Rourke and was eliminated in 8th place for €24,000. Following this hand, the seven remaining players went on their second break of the day, with Rantamaki as the chip leader and the other players having relatively even stacks.
Very little action occurred during the next level, but things changed when Tamasauskas and Hegarty found themselves in a classic race. Tamasauskas lost the flip and was sent to the rail, leaving his six opponents to head into a 40-minute dinner break. Moments before heading to eat, Worthington-Leese and then Farrell both doubled up.
Once everyone was back at the table, play slowed significantly until Farrell doubled up again. Shortly after, O’Rourke also doubled his stack, leaving Worthington-Leese short-stacked. The recent EPT Cyprus Eureka champion moved all-in once but split, then lost to Hegarty’s pocket deuces to finish in 6th place for €31,500.
He was followed to the cashier desk by Farrell, who held pocket tens against Hegarty’s ace-queen. Farrell was on his way to double up, but an ace completed the board, and the triple crown winner exited in 5th place (€38,000). Thanks to previous eliminations, Hegarty held 40% of the chips in play when only four players remained.
Almost two more hours passed at a very slow pace, but Hegarty was unable to maintain his lead, especially after Buckley doubled up through him thanks to a lucky river. After this hand, Rantamaki, in the small blind, applied pressure on Hegarty’s short stack. Hegarty eventually called but lost, taking home €50,000 for his fourth-place finish.
O’Rourke now had the shortest stack and needed to dodge bullets to reach the next step. He was only a few cards away from heads-up play when the two big stacks went all-in. Buckley doubled up with kings, extending the three-way battle. But it didn’t last long, as O’Rourke jammed with ace-deuce into Buckley’s ace-six. O’Rourke was quickly drawing dead and was eliminated in third place (€70,000) after Buckley flopped the best full house. This meant the trophy and first-place prize would go to either Buckley or Rantamaki.
Moments after heads-up play began, the first all-in and call situation occurred between the two players, with Rantamaki doubling up with nines, bringing both stacks almost back to even. But after the break, the cards went on their backs again, with Buckley winning with ace-king over Rantamaki’s gutshot and flush draw. The Finnish player was left with very few chips, and only one more hand was needed to crown Buckley as the 2024 Irish Poker Festival Main Event champion.
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