April 6 – Irish Open side event round-up

€250 Championship Ladies Event

The Ladies event is one of the consistent fixtures on the Irish Open schedule and always attracts a substantial field. This year’s Ladies Event is at 2pm today and features a 15,000 starting stack and 30-minute clock. Among those set to compete is American player Kelly Saxby, who now runs Retail Marketing for MainEventTravel, plus Charlie Waters, Kim Kilroy, Natalie Bromley, Debs Worley-Roberts, Sin Melin, Tina Abery, PokerStars Ambassador Georgina James, Suzie ‘Shizzle Sizzle’ Williamson – who won the WSOP-C Ladies Event at Dusk Till Dawn last month – and Maxine Preston, who was runner-up in Nottingham. Last year there were 51 entries in the event with Lithuania’s Migle Kriksciunaite scooping €3,345 after beating Ireland’s Grace Hession heads-up (and Grace is back in the field this year). The total prize pool last year was €10,940.

Event 10: Benny Glaser wins the €5k Luxon Pay High Roller

Benny Glaser has won the €5,000 Luxon Pay Championship High Roller to scoop a trophy and €106,980 first prize. Glaser beat former EPT Prague winner Roberto Romanello heads-up in just one hand – a simple shove and call situation in which Glaser came out on top. Romanello snagged €76,055 for his runner-up finish.

Glaser, 33, is one of the UK’s most successful poker players and holds multiple poker records – he has won four bracelets at the World Series of Poker (more than any other UK player) and also holds the record for most online wins in PokerStars’ two Championship of Online Poker series with 15 victories in all. It was second time lucky for Glaser in the High Roller – he was beaten heads-up by Max Silver in the 2019 edition.

Waheed “Wadey” Ashraf, who held a steady chip lead for much of the latter stages yesterday, finished third for €49,795. See PokerNews for all updates.

1st, Benny Glaser, UK, €106,980
2nd, Roberto Romanello, UK, €76,055
3rd, Waheed Ashraf, UK, €49,795
4th, Michael Wilklow, USA, €38,320
5th, Arto Mansner, Finland, €30,345
6th, Paul Hofer, Germany, €23,730
7th, Blake Vogdes, USA, €18,675
8th, Mounir Tajiou, Sweden, €14,590
9th, Ewen Trevidy, France, €11,085

Event 13: Alessandro Pichierri wins the 2023 Irish Open Americas Cup Championship

Italian player Alessandro Pichierri has won the €250 buy-in Irish Open Americas Cup Championship for €18,035.50.  Pichierri bested a massive field of 298 entries – more than 100 entries up on last year’s field. Caps off to Marty Gorenc from Reno, the only player from the Americas who made the final, who will now be getting an Irish flag to add to his prolific results on Hendon Mob. Gorenc was eliminated by Pichierri in third place for €8,780. Andrew “Picasso” Hedley made the final table but bust in 7th place for €3,090. A total of 39 players cashed.

Event 15: €250 Irish Amateur Poker Championship down to 31 players

The €250 Irish Amateur Poker Championship goes into Day 2 today with just 31 players left. 2022 European Deepstack champion Shawn Morales is the current chip leader in this no deals, freezeout event. There were 214 entries generating a €45,903 prize pool. As well as a €9,708 cash prize, the winner will henceforth be known as the 2023 Irish Amateur Poker Championship Gold Medallist. Play resumes at noon. As well as updates on the Irish Open blog, check out the APAT facebook page.

APAT, the Amateur Poker Association and Tour, has been hosting championship events in Ireland since 2007 but this is the tour’s first event at the Irish Open. APAT, which launched back in 2006, is hosting a string of events across Europe this year including national Championships in Germany, Wales and Scotland.