Michal Havavka Wins the Biggest Ever THMC for €37,348!

Slovakia’s Michal Havavka has won the biggest ever The Hendon Mob Championships to be held in Europe after besting 888 opponents. Havavka, who enjoyed his second success in as many years at the Irish Poker Open, defeated Charlie Waters heads-up after an ICM chop.

The winning moment came after Waters shoved with ace-nine and ran into Havavka’s ace-king. Havavka hit his king on the river to secure victory and book his ticket to South Africa and to lift the beautiful THMC trophy.

Winner’s Reaction

Havavka is no stranger to lifting hardware at the Irish Open. In 2024 he won the America’s Cup for €27,042 and revealed to us that he is struggling to find space for his burgeoning trophy collection at his new home. “I have been everywhere to find a nice trophy cabinet, I have been to IKEA, and other furniture stores but I can probably find someone to build one now!”

Recounting his epic heads-up battle with Waters, “It was a tough match, she played great, it is hard to give more praise to her. I got incredibly lucky with the ace-king; if the hands were reversed, I would have done exactly the same. She crushed everyone. She took out five or six players, she definitely did the heavy lifting.”

Havavka went on to praise the Irish Open. “This is my fourth time here, third year in a row, I love this place it is a fantastic atmosphere. Everyone is super friendly and spacious in here. I love the fact it isn’t in a casino and the beer is very good!”

Final Table Payouts

Final Day Action

For the first time at the Irish Open, The Hendon Mob Championship was split over two days. Instead of finishing near sunrise with just the cleaners for the rail, the final table was reached at 4 pm at the front of the Royal Dublin Society Main Hall, which grabbed the attention of the punters coming in and out of the venue.

From the 888 players that started the event, only 56 came back at lunchtime with the dream of becoming the champion. The first to have their dreams dashed was local Padraig Burns, who cashed for €800.

The overnight chip leader, Petar Petrov, continued his dominance from the night before. The Bulgarian already had a commanding chip lead starting the day with 1,920,000 soon doubled his stack within the space of two hours.

Kwan Chan was another who was throwing their weight around early on, by knocking out Kelly Slay and Iosif-Daniel Spulber. The final table was set when eventual winner Havavka knocked out James Ingram with a pair of threes.

Final Table

It would not be hyperbolic to say that Waters eviscerated her opponents on the final table. Coming into the final nine, Waters was 8th in chips with 11 big blinds but knocked out six opponents along the way to heads up. Her meteoric rise started by busting the shortstacked 2024 Grosvenor Poker Player of the Year Matt Davenport with a better ace-high.

Within a couple of hands, Waters knocked out Spaniard David Alvarez in a classic flip. Her big slick connected on the flop to beat Alvarez’s pocket ladies. By this point, momentum was on Waters’ side as she entered the biggest hand of the day.

Waters opened the action with a min-bet from early position. Andreas Blasov three-bet from the button, and the Day 1 chip leader Petrov four-bet shoved for over 4 million chips, just shy of 20% of chips in play. Waters made the call with pocket kings and held to propel her to the top of the chip standings with over half of the chips in play.

While Waters caught her breath, the champion Havavka stuck his head above the parapet by calling Blasov’s button shove with ace-six. The Slovak woke up with pocket tens and made a four-flush at the turn after the Austrian flopped two pair.

The next two to depart were German Christoph Huber and Canadian Stuart Taylor. Both players were super short and ran into a better hand held by Waters, who now had two-thirds of the chips in play.

Havavka reduced the deficit by eliminating Dara O’Kearney student Kwan Chan after Chan ran his ace-seven into ace-king. Chan cashed for €21,150 to exceed his biggest score set last year for €14,000.

From nine players to the final two took around an hour of play. Deciding the winner took closer to three hours. Waters and Havavka shared the chip lead umpteen times before they finally decided to talk numbers. The clock was stopped, and at the time, Waters had the chip advantage over the Slovak. They both agreed Waters would get €40,000 and Havavka got €37,348. Play would continue for a further hour to decide who would claim the trophy and the trip to Cape Town.

In the end, it was Havavka who secured the trophy, which is the second in as many years after lifting the America’s Cup in 2024.

There is not too long to wait for the next installment of THMC, with the next edition being held at the Malta Poker Festival Spring Edition, which will be held on 4th May at Portomaso Casino, St Julians.