Dundalk called , Grabowski answered.

On this summer’s finest weekend and at a packed house in Dundalk we found out that whilst some men are happy to chase their dreams at least nine attempted to catch them by the throat.

After two days of fast-paced action at the Main Event, which finished with 371 entries and a €92,500 prizepool, any one of the final 9 would have been worthy champions.

Bartlomiej Grabowski, the Polish cold-blooded surgeon of the showdown, walked away with €20,500 to his name after defeating Krasauskas Vytautas (€14,500). Didn’t blink. Didn’t falter. Just cut through the table like a scalpel through silk and was consistently among the chip lead late on.

The Heads Up started with Bartlomiej having an enormous 6 to 1 chip lead having consigned Karolis Brazdeikis (€8,700) to third. However, as often happens, Krasauskas found the short stack easy to play and soon enough they were back level, each having about 25 BBs. Then Bart limped the button and Karolis blasted all-in. It was the moment that Bart had been waiting for and he snapped off with JJ. Krasauskas had a better than average for the circumstances AT but the board ran dry and we had our champion.

Gerard Wynne – €6,200, was the best of the rest and rounds off a successful deep run with a lovely payout. Happy and disappointed in equal measure afterwards.

John Keown – €4,500, the legendary player and bookie known in every card room in Ireland had a great run but fell away in fifth.

Neil O’Reilly, the man with the stare that cracked kings but eventually cracked in sixth for €3,400.

Keith Smith, who never once looked like he doubted himself – €2,850. Stone-faced and steel-backed.

Con Collins- €2,500; Belfast based Corkman who has been cashing constantly at IPT events over the last few months since persuading his wife that he should be allowed out again.

And rounding out the hall of reckoning: Liam McVeigh, €2,250 in his pocket. Quiet fire. Deadly aim. The Galway 2023 Main Event winner gets another decent cash in the books.

Final Fling.

An entertaining send off of NPF 2025 the final fling saw the legendary Willo Connolly celebrating her birthday by making another FT. She ultimately finished 9th running 99 into QQ. Happy birthday Willo from everyone at the IPT.

After what was not Paul Carr’s most successful run at a festival (rumours are that he had 10 entries in the ME), the Cookie Jar did turn his luck around and manifested persistence into another trophy and €1,600 which at the least will soften the blow. He defeated Andrew Colburn heads up to take the crown. It’s always the sign of a player to push through a downswing and etch out a hard earned victory.

Omaha ⅘ card

It’s Keary, so let’s just hand him the trophy next time? Not this time, says Mr Meegan..

Diarmaid Meegan, playing his first ever Omaha tournament, edged the field, €770 after a deal. Shane Keary wasn’t far behind stacking €670 and 250 vital Leaderboard points. Again the table talk was lively, full of laughs throughout and a perfect way to see out the festival. When is it not when Mr Keary is involved?

Below the money line, the battle still burned with Shane O’Neill, Killian Farrell, George Warnock, and Steven Lee all taking their shots.

Katie Harrington and Frederico Hitner shared 7th.

The Monsterstack

104 entries. Nearly 8 hours of war. €16,975 on the line. No easy chips.

Barry McKelvey stood tallest, bagging €5,000. Another trophy is going back up the road to the Antrim sports Club.

Charlie Porter was 2nd for €3,225.

Paudie Cusack rounded the podium with €2,150 and a look that said, “I’ll be back.”

Shoutout to Margaret Doyle, one of the final nine, finishing 8th for €650 and Dickie Whiteside finishing 9th for €500, but every chip was a fight.

Dundalk was a romp from start to finish and The Irish Poker Tour will do it all again on the 5th of July for Portlaoise €30k In A Day.

www.livepokerupdates.com to stay ahead of the game.

Thank you Dundalk, you have once again shown up.