Richard Lawlor Wins the WPT National Ireland Main Event For €65,000
Richard Lawlor became the latest in a long line of World Poker Tour champions after he triumphed in the WPT National Ireland Main Event this weekend, topping a field of 260 entrants to get his hands on the winner’s trophy and €65,000 in prize money.
2016 WPT National Ireland Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richard Lawlor | €65,000 |
| 2 | Alan Kelleher | €42,500 |
| 3 | Raymond Masters | €27,500 |
| 4 | Dara O’Kearney | €20,000 |
| 5 | David Masters | €15,000 |
| 6 | Laurence Ryan | €12,000 |
| 7 | Eric Doyle | €9,250 |
| 8 | Tadhg Ryan | €7,000 |
| 9 | Jason Tompkins | €5,500 |
The €1,100 buy-in Main Event attracted plenty of the United Kingdom and Ireland’s top poker talent, including Andy Black, Louis Salter and Michael Fletcher, who all bust before the money places. Navigating their way to a cash prize were the likes of Cathal Shine, Bob Tait and Ian Simpson, the latter falling in 16th place late on Day 2.
Day 3 began with 14 players in contention for the title, among them a duo of partypoker ambassadors, Tony Dunst and Natalia Breviglieri. Unfortunately for those two players, Dunst bust in 14th place and was joined on the rail shortly after by his partypoker team mate, Breviglieri.
Following Dunst and Breviglieri to the sidelines over the course of Sunday afternoon were Daniel Tighe, Peter Murphy and Gatis Cibulis, which set the nine-handed final table.
2016 WPT National Ireland Final Table
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richard Lawlor | 1,815,000 |
| 2 | David Masters | 1,135,000 |
| 3 | Tadhg Ryan | 260,000 |
| 4 | Dara O’Kearney | 895,000 |
| 5 | Laurence Ryan | 505,000 |
| 6 | Ray Masters | 920,000 |
| 7 | Eric Doyle | 525,000 |
| 8 | Jason Tompkins | 290,000 |
| 9 | Alan Kelleher | 1,455,000 |
Jason Tompkins was the first finalist to bust, his king-queen falling victim to the ace-nine of Alan Kelleher despite catching a queen on the flop. Tompkins was soon joined at the cashier’s desk by Tadhg Ryan whose suited ace-queen couldn’t find any outs against David Masters’ pair of eights.
Next to fall by the wayside was a short stacked Eric Doyle who got his chips in with a pair of kings only to see them cracked by Dara O’Kearney’s ace-queen which flopped two pair before Larry Ryan exited in sixth place.
Fifth place and €15,000, went to David Masters, his ace-ten remaining behind the ace-queen of Lawlor. Then the table lost one of its true stars in O’Kearney when his king-queen couldn’t get there against Lawlor’s ace-king. O’Kearney’s exit meant he could concentrate on the Irish Grand Prix tournament taking place at the same venue which he was multi-tabling!
Ray Masters was the penultimate bust out of the day, Ray Masters being the father of David Masters who early finished in fifth place. Master Sr. got his chips in with a pair of eights and was flipping against the ace-nine of Lawlor. He would ultimately lose the flop when the nine of hearts appeared on the flop and Masters couldn’t find either of his two outs.
Lawlor went into heads-up holding a 5,600,000 to 2,140,000 chip lead over Kelleher but took 56 hands to send his opponent home with a runner-up finish.
The final hand of the WPT National Ireland Main Event saw Lawlor set Kelleher all in for his 715,000 stack (at the 40,000/80,000/10,000a level) and Kelleher called. It was king-deuce for Lawlor versus the ace-six for Kelleher, Lawlor spiking a king on the flop then improving to two pair with a deuce on the turn. An ace on the river was too little too late for Kelleher and served only to rub salt into the wound.
Lead image courtesy of the WPT live updates team
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