As the curtains come down on a record-breaking Irish Open 2025, Javier Francort has capped off a remarkable week by capturing his third PLO trophy of the festival.
Francort defeated Paul Haycock heads-up in short order to take the top prize of €20,960 – adding to his victories in the €1,150 7-Max (€35,799) and €550 4/5/6 event (€21,287).
€550 PLO 6-Max Final Table Results
1. Javier Francort (Holland) – €20,950
2. Paul Haycock (United Kingdom) – €13,100
3. Ali Sarkeshik (United Kingdom) – €9,350
4. Paul Newsome (United Kingdom) – €7,200
5. Jarkko Suokas (Finland) – €5,550
6. Niclas Thumm (Germany) – €4,250
Recap of Day’s Action
A total of 184 entrants decided to hunt a final payday of the festival, creating a €89,700 prize pool, with 23 places paid.
Ethan Bennett was the unfortunate player to bust on the bubble when he ran into the top set of Joseph Van Sommeren. Once in the money, the knockouts came quickly, with players such as Chris Dowling and Henning Wendlandt making the money, but not the business end of proceedings.
The last two tables were set when Stephen Neeson busted in 13th. Play slowed down at this point slightly, but the final table was primed when Jorg Viereck busted in eighth.
Haycock came into it as the chip leader, and he dominated the early proceedings. Jenna Murray was the first to exit when her tens ran into Niclas Thumm’s jacks, and Haycock continued to play aggressively, but the tables turned when Francort woke up with aces against Thumm’s kings and Haycock’s queens, and held – busting Thumm in the process.
Francort put the pedal down from there and Jarkko Suokas busted to him in fifth, Francort rivering a full house against the Finn’s flush. Paul Newsome was next to go, as Haycock went runner-runner for a flush versus Newsome’s aces.
Ali Sarkeshik had nursed a short-stack from the final 12, doing amazingly well to navigate to third, but he would also exit to Francort – who then swiftly finished off Haycock heads-up.
Winner’s Reaction
The London-based Dutchman is a PLO specialist and was understandably overwhelmed by his achievement – “I can’t believe it. My family thought it was crazy I won one, so to be taking home three trophies is unreal, I can’t wait to tell them. I have to thank Monster, I’ve been drinking them all week to keep my energy levels up.”
“I can really look forward to WSOP now. I was already really excited about that – I’m going to play some mixed games events there. I’m selling action for the 25k PLO – I’m ready, the backers are ready, I’m going to win it for a million and retire!”
On the final table – “I came in short, and then got the crucial triple up with aces versus kings and queens. Most of the other players seemed happy to ladder and I’m not sure that’s the right approach in PLO tournaments – so I was able to steal a lot of pots pre and keep the pressure on. From there it was pretty smooth.”
Who would bet against the Dutchman getting some PLO bracelets at the WSOP?
That concludes our coverage of this event, but stay tuned to Irish Open Live Updates for all your coverage of the final tournaments of an amazing Irish Poker Open 2025.
