Pruneau Wins Maiden Title Taking Down JP Masters for €58,579

Alexandre Pruneau has won his first-ever live trophy, taking down the prestigious JP Masters trophy for €58,579. Pruneau made an ICM chop with runner-up Henning Kosmalla, who got €49,021 in the deal.

Pruneau outlasted the 742-strong field for the second-biggest live score of his career at the Royal Dublin Society. The French-Canadian has a myriad of cashes in high roller events, including results at Triton, EPT Cyprus and WSOP Bahamas.

Speaking to the Irish Open after the fact, Pruneau felt his experience in high roller events allowed him to adapt his play. “A lot of the players did not play GTO (Game Theory Optimal), it took some time to adjust, but after a few hours, I felt I got a good read of people and it was my time.”

The next stop for him will be EPT Monaco “My friend suggested we visit the Irish Open as a warm-up before Monte Carlo. We have had fun in Dublin, and it is the first time I have seen most of the players drinking beer during poker.” Pruneau plans to come back next year.

Controversially, Pruneau revealed the secret of his success at the Irish Open: “I like to mix the Guinness with the apple cider, a lot of people who have seen me do that have not talked to me anymore!” Alexandre, a Guinness Snakebite may get frowns at the bar, but at least you have your first trophy to keep their mouths shut!

Final Table Payouts

Final Day Action

From the 742 who entered, only 48 returned with the chance to put their hands on the JP Masters trophy. Amongst the early casualties were Chris Da-Silva and 2024 Irish Open Main Event Champion Tero Laurila.

Overnight chip leader Aleksandras Nagreckis could not utilise his massive stack and dwindled throughout the day, eventually finishing in 15th place. With only 14 players remaining, there was a good chance a player from Estonia would lay their hands on the ultimate prize, with three still in contention from the Baltic nation. But Ranno Sootla and Kapuo Teeno fell in 14th and 13th respectively, leaving only Erik Polluveer as the sole Estonian representative.

Darius Marcinkowski brutally bubbled the final table when eventual winner Pruneau spiked a jack on the river to send the distraught Pole to the exit.

Final Table Action 

Vikram Digpal was the first to bust the final table after getting his pocket aces cracked by the eccentric Ektor Strumi. The Albanian who lives in Ireland rivered a flush with king-three suited.

Short-stacked Koen Roelofsen was eliminated in 8th place after running his king-queen into Kosmolla’s ace-jack. The Norwegian spiked an ace on the turn to dispatch the Dutchman.

The final Estonian Polluveer was the next to crash out after running his pocket fives into Jessica Marks’ pocket aces. After giving the Irish Open reporter a literal rubdown, Strumi fell in 6th place after running his ace-queen into the ace-king of ????

Nicolas Theodorowicz didn’t get going on the final table and ran out of options when he was pretty much forced to go all in with seven-three suited. Unfortunately, he was dominated by Pruneau’s king-seven.

Local boy Luke Molloy had aspirations of being a high roller in Vegas this summer if he secured the win, but he ran his pocket tens into Pruneau’s pocket aces and fell by the wayside in 4th place.

Marks secured her biggest ever live cash in third place for €29,500. The 2023 Ladies Online WSOP Bracelet winner shoved with ace-eight but ran into Pruneau’s pocket tens, and despite her demands to the dealer for an ace on the board, it didn’t come.

Stick with IrishPokerOpen.com for all of the action from the final day where a winner will be crowned in the Main Event, Mini Main, The Liam Flood Memorial Trophy and many more!