Michel Molenaar Crowned PartyPoker Irish Poker Festival Main Event Champion
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Dutchman Michel Molenaar is the latest poker player to become a PartyPoker LIVE champion, having taken down the €3,000 buy-in Irish Poker Festival MILLIONS Main Event in Dublin for an impressive €210,000 payday.
The €210,000 Molenaar collected is the largest score of his career so far, surpassing the €126,650 he scooped after winning the €550 The Festival Bratislava Main Event in October 2022.
It has been quite the year for the young Dutch star. Molenaar won the €5,300 Super High Roller at the PokerStars Summer Festival Malta for €53,440 in July 2023, was the runner-up in the €5,300 Hydra Entertainment High Roller at PartyPoker LIVE MILLIONS Malta for €49,632 in September, and now has his hands on a career-best score in Ireland.
PartyPoker Irish Poker Festival MILLIONS Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michel Molenaar | Netherlands | €210,000 |
| 2 | Tomas MacNamara | Ireland | €120,000 |
| 3 | Glenn Keogh | Ireland | €75,000 |
| 4 | Liam Chevalier | Ireland | €56,500 |
| 5 | Andrew Hedley | United Kingdom | €44,000 |
| 6 | Richard Kellett | United Kingdom | €35,000 |
| 7 | Andy Black | Ireland | €28,000 |
| 8 | Padraig O'Neill | Ireland | €22,840 |
| 9 | Barry Carson | Ireland | €18,500 |
The PartyPoker LIVE Irish Poker Festival MILLIONS Main Event drew in a 286-strong crowd, who created a €766,840 prize pool. The top 29 finishers won a slice of that pie, with the likes of Seamus Cahill, Scott Margereson, and India's Ankit Ahuja all padding their bankrolls; the latter fell in 12th for €10,000, the tournament's first five-figure prize.
Barry Carson was the first finalist to bow out, doing so with a ticket earning him €18500. Fellow Irishman Padraig O'Neill followed suit, collecting €22,840, before Irish legend Andy Black busted in seventh for €28,000.
Richard Kellett saw his latest deep run end in a sixth-place finish worth €35,000, with fellow Englishman Andrew Hedley crashing out in fifth for €44,000, the second-largest haul of Hedley's live poker career.
Liam Chevalier came unstuck in fourth, a finish worth €56,500 before Glenn Keogh was eliminated in third for €75,000, which obliterated his previous best result, a $38,600 reward for a deep run in the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.
Heads-up pitted Molenaar against Tomas MacNamara. The final hand saw the players go to a four-five-deuce flop with two spades, MacNamara flopping two pair with his four-deuce, and Molenaar finding himself with a straight flush draw with his trey-deuce of spades. The ten of spades river improved Molenaar to the winning hand, busting MacNamara in second for €120,000 and leaving Molenarr to lift the winner's trophy and see €210,000 head to his bank account.
Other PartyPoker LIVE Irish Poker Festival Results
| Event | Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLO 7-Max | €250 | 55 | €11,795 | Patrick Eagers | €4,250 |
| NLHE Freezeout | €250 | 89 | €19,090 | Colm Chan | €6,490 |
| Mystery Bounty | €400 | 207 | €72,655 | Thomas Murphy | €22,500* |
| Irish Omaha Championship | €2,500 | 49 | €109,880 | Ivelin Pavlov | €43,000 |
| NLHE Freezeout | €250 | 90 | €19,305 | Barry Carson | €4,800 |
| €1K One Day Omaha | €1,000 | 29 | €25,445 | Barry Moore | €11,000 |
| Dublin Poker Cup | €750 | 93 | €63,475 | Niall Murphy | €18,000 |
| Dublin Ladies Championship | €250 | 23 | €4,885 | Mary Seary | €1,335 |
| PLO 7-Max | €250 | 65 | €13,945 | Elie Nakache | €5,500 |
| Grand Prix | €550 | 267 | €130,140 | Ivan Tononi | €32,000 |
| Leinster Poker Cup | €550 | 59 | €28,760 | Paul Carr | €10,600 |
| High Roller | €2,500 | 59 | €132,310 | Vitor Hugo | €40,000 |
| Monster Stack | €250 | 79 | €16,945 | Francesco Griffi | €4,000 |
| PLO 7-Max | €400 | 30 | €10,530 | Jozsef Fauszt | €4,950 |
*includes bounty payments
That looks to be it for the PartyPoker LIVE tour in 2023. However, following the roaring success of its Bratislava, Malta, and now Ireland stops, it would be surprising not to see more stops announced for 2024 in the not-too-distant future. Watch this space.
