Weijie Zheng Wins 2019 Irish Poker Open (€300,000)
The 2019 Irish Poker Open €1,150 Main Event trophy will remain on Emerald Isle with Ireland's Weijie Zheng shipping the event for €300,000 ($337,797) at Citywest Hotel in Dublin on Monday.
This is easily Zheng's biggest cash as he entered the tournament with $26,611 in live tournament career earnings in his name according to The Hendon Mob.
The event smashed its €1 million guarantee after attracting 1,807 entrants to generate a massive €1,805,870 prize pool. This represents a huge 34 percent increase from last year's Main Event won by Ryan Mandara for €210,000.
2019 Irish Poker Open €1,150 Main Event Final Table Results
| Position | Player | Country | Prize (Euro) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Weijie Zheng | Ireland | €300,000 | $337,797 |
| 2 | Dave Masters | Ireland | €190,000 | $213,938 |
| 3 | Thomas Gallagher | Ireland | €125,000 | $140,749 |
| 4 | Raymond Wheatley | Ireland | €85,000 | $95,709 |
| 5 | Sami Agel | Luxembourg | €63,520 | $71,523 |
| 6 | David Crilly | Ireland | €50,000 | $56,300 |
| 7 | Max Silver | United Kingdom | €37,500 | $42,225 |
| 8 | Seamus Cahill | Ireland | €27,500 | $30,965 |
| 9 | Steven Alper | United Kingdom | €21,000 | $23,646 |
The final table began with Zheng holding a sizable chip lead with almost double the chips of his nearest competitor Max Silver. Zheng managed to keep the chip lead the entire day to go coast to coast on the final table for the victory.
According to the Irish Poker Open blog, it took two blind levels until United Kingdom's Steven Alper, who entered the day in the middle of the pack, bowed out in ninth place for €21,000 ($23,646). Alper three-bet jammed with ace-jack suited and didn't get there after he got called by Zheng with ace-queen suited.
A short while later, Ireland's Seamus Cahill, who entered the day with the shortest stack, was ousted in eighth place for €27,500 ($30,965) after his nine-eight suited proved to be no good against the ace-five held by Ireland's Dave Masters.
Despite starting the day with the second biggest chip stack, Silver was unable to parlay this into something special and hit the showers in seventh place for €37,500 after he jammed ace-ten unsuccessfully into Zheng's pocket tens.
Ireland's David Crilly followed Silver to the rail shortly after in sixth place for €50,000 ($56,300). He jammed a short-stack with ace-queen and was well ahead the king-queen held by Raymond Wheatley until a king spiked the turn.
Luxembourg's Sami Agel jammed a short-stack with ace-four and was called by Thomas Gallagher with king-queen. It was looking good for Agel to double up until a queen spiked the river to end his run in fifth place for €63,250 ($71,523). After the elimination of Agel, it was guaranteed that the trophy would stay home with the remaining four players all hailing from Ireland.
Gallagher then eliminated Wheatley in fourth place for €85,000 ($95,709) after his ace-seven held against his opponent's ace-five.
Next to go was Gallagher himself in third place for €125,000 ($140,749). He attempted a bluff after missing a straight draw and was called by Zheng with top pair.
Things could have ended differently than they did as the final hand ended on a coin flip. Masters jammed for 28 big blinds with sixes and was snap-called by Zheng with king-jack. A jack spiked the flop to pair up Zheng and Masters was ousted in second place. Although Zheng got to lift the trophy, Masters walked away far from empty-handed with second place awarding €190,000 ($213,938) for easily his largest live tournament cash to date.
*Images and hand data courtesy of the Irish Poker Open.
