161 poker players attended the €3,000 event at the City West Hotel in Dublin, Ireland. The organizers had originally planned to run the tournament for four days, but then decided to announce it as a three-day fair, considering about half of the 161 runners would be out the very first day.
Only nine players remained for the final event, whose winner got a €170,000 prize. The favorites for conquering the first place were Ram Vaswani, who arrived at the final table with an amazing chip lead, and Mel Judah, the poker legend. The nine finalist were Hendon Mobster, Ram Vaswani, Mel Judah, Tony Baitson, Alan Trueick, Julian Thew, Greg Hemphill, Brendan Walls and Mohommad Shafiq.
Four hours after the beginning of the final stand of the game, only four players remained. Vaswani had clearly lost his undisputable lead, but was still a strong contestant. On the other hand, Brendan Walls had shown an outstanding performance that placed him in a much better position. The first to leave the table was Mel Judah, achieving a fourth place and the largest round of applause. Vaswani refused to deal with only three players and finished in the third place.
Against all odds, Brendan Walls defeated Mohommad Shafiq, taking the €170,000 check plus a beautiful trophy home. There are rumors about a previous 50/50 arrangement between both finalists, but this is still to be confirmed officially.
161 poker players attended the €3,000 event at the City West Hotel in Dublin, Ireland. The organizers had originally planned to run the tournament for four days, but then decided to announce it as a three-day fair, considering about half of the 161 runners would be out the very first day.