The Irish Poker Tour Monster Smashes Its Ambitious Guarantee

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Senior Editor
4 min read
Peter Burnett

When Fintan Gavin's Irish Poker Tour announced it was putting a �200,000 guarantee on the prize pool of The Monster event, a tournament costing only �150 to enter, a few people raised their eyebrows. Such a large guarantee for an affordable buy-in seemed ambitious at best. However, those who thought The Monster would overlay were left eating their words after 1,858 entrants created a guarantee-busting �224,122 prize pool.

The top 187 finishers received a slice of the pie, and the sheer number of different nationalities that saw a return on their investment shows the Irish Poker Tour is gaining in strength and popularity.

Although the field was, naturally, with the tournament running in Dublin, predominately Irish, players from Brazil, Croatia, France, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, and Spain all padded their wallets with some euros. Having Paddy Power Poker supporting the tour through special promotions and online poker satellites is doing wonders for the Irish Poker Tour.

All of nine finalists called Ireland home: eight from the Republic of Ireland and one from Northern Ireland.

Irish Poker Tour
Irish Poker Tour

The Monster Final Table Results

RankPlayerPrize
1Peter Burnett�25,125*
2Massimo Pacini�27,365*
3Carl Cullen�26,500*
4Aidan Quinlan�11,000
5Darren Wilson�8,000
6Cian Spillane�6,300
7Michael Fri�5,200
8Phil Molloy�4,400
9Axel Noack�3,820

*reflects a three-handed deal

Each of the nine finalists locked in at least �3,820 for their efforts, with the top four finishers taking home not a cent less than �11,000. Axel Noack was the first to fall. Phil Molloy joined Noack on the sidelines shortly after.

Michael Fri's seventh-place finish came with a career-best �5,200, which was a similar story to that of Cian Spillane who busted in sixth for �6,300. According to The Hendon Mob Database, this was Spillane's first recorded live cash; what a way to get off the mark.

Fifth place and �8,000 went to Darren Wilson, with Aidan Quinlan capturing the third five-figure live score of his career, �11,000 for finishing in fourth. It's been quite a year for Quinlan, who in March finished in 14th place in the Irish Poker Open Main Event for �20,560 to the Irishman, and followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the �2,500 Super High Roller at the Malta Poker Festival for an additional �12,760.

The tournament clock paused while the remaining three players discussed a potential deal. A deal was agreed after some number crunching, a deal based on ICM that left an addition �2,000 for the runner-up and another �4,000 for the eventual champion.

The deal worked in Carl Cullen's favor because he bowed out in third. Thanks to the deal, Cullen collected �26,500, narrowly missing out on a career-high which stands at �27,770.

Massimo Pacini, a regular in Ireland-based live poker events, and Northern Ireland's Peter Burnett locked horns heads-up for the title and the extra �4,000 on offer. Pacini was guaranteed his first five-figure score, but he was looking for his first outright victory. That wait continues because Pacini fell in second place, a finish good for �27,365, leaving Burnett as The Monster champion and �25,125 richer than he was a few days ago.

Other Irish Poker Tour Monster Results

It was not only The Monster that caught the eye over the weekend but several other well-attended tournaments.

The Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT) was in town, running its �150 APAT Irish Amateur Championship event. Stephen Campbell took that down for �8,300 after outlasting 447 opponents.

Steven Bartley will fondly look back on the festival having triumphed in two side events. Bartley became the �250 Mystery Bounty champion and received �6,100, and also won the �250 Omaha 4/5 card event for an additional �3,600.

EventEntrantsPrize PoolChampionPrize
�150 The Monster1,858�224,122Peter Burnett�25,125
�550 Super High Roller49�26,077Johnathan McCullagh�9,225
�150 APAT Irish Amateur Championship448�54,040Stephen Campbell�8,300
�400 High Roller104�36,130Joseph Carey�8,155
�150 MonsterStack294�36,883Neven Marusic�6,730
�250 Mystery Bounty124�12,701Steven Bartley�6,100
�150 IPT One Day81�11,270Alan McFerran�4,750
�350 High Roller Omaha39�11,856Patrick Eagers�4,500
�200 Omaha 4/5 Card69�11,653Steven Bartley�3,600
�200 PLO 7-Max40�6,755Shane Keary�3,040
�120 LPPL Open105�10,133Wagner Oliveira Torres�2,385
�120 Friday Night NLHE91�8,782Daniel Blake�2,130
�100 Holigames75�5,790Liam McVeigh�1,640

Upcoming Irish Poker Tour Events

The Irish Poker Tour stops continue coming thick and fast, and not only in Ireland, because the Portugal Adventure is on the horizon as the Irish Poker Tour spreads its wings; PokerNews will have more on that particular stop shortly.

As always, thanks to the special relationship between the Irish Poker Tour and Paddy Power Poker, you can win your way into Irish Poker Tour events online. Ensure you download Paddy Power Poker via PokerNews to lock in the best available welcome bonus.

DatesEventLocationMain Event Buy-inFestival Guarantee
May 11IPT: BallinasloeBallinasloe�200�20,000
May 17-19The Siege of ClonmelClonmel�250�100,000
May 24-25Irish Poker Tour: CorkCork�150�17,000
June 18-24Portugal AdventurePortugal�700�400,000
June 28-30Summer in DublinDublin�250�150,000
July 26-29Northern Poker FestivalDundalk�300�100,000
July 26-27Irish Poker Tour: CorkCork�150�17,000
August 17�20K In A DayClaremorris�200�28,000
August 23-25Lunasa Lunacy FestivalDublin�250�150,000*
September 13-15Donegal FestivalLetterkenny�300�100,000
September 25-29The Killarney FestivalKillarney�700�700,000

*includes 10x Killarney packages

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