Barry Grime
One year ago, the €350 Big O Championship produced a field of 122 entries at the Royal Doblin Society and the opening day of the series saw Irish Open ambassador Chris Dowling lift the trophy after a late night four-way deal. Dowling wasn’t here to defend the title, but the field size of 118 entries was almost identical same to split the €35,483 prize pool among the top 17 finishers.
At almost three in the morning, the very chatty Barry Grime from England was the one to accumulate all the chips and he sure did so with a lot of buzz at the tables. “Big Baz from Bolton” made sure that plenty of opponents “got Grimo’d” though I can’t tell for sure how to spell that.
Grime already had more than $281,000 in live cashes to his name including three victories back on home soil in England prior to this. The top prize of €9,070 was also not the largest of his live poker career, but he might have had the most fun at the tables tonight all things considered.
It wasn’t an easy ride for Grime either after his hot run on the final two tables was cooled down in three-handed play. But he rallied back with sheer aggression to dispatch Simen Gulbrandsen in third place. Akseli Paalanen jumped into a commanding lead in heads-up, but Grime punished his more conservative playing style after that,
Oh yeah, none other than Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies was also there for the final hand to really his countryman Paalanen until the very end. The online legend with more than $2 million in live poker cashes was no slouch at the tables despite the €350 price tag and bowed out in fourth place. Last year’s third place finisher in the Mini Irish Open, Alexander Rizvi, got Grimo’d in fifth place.
There also ought to be special mention to Randy “Gucci Man” Hagen from the United States who had a custom-made outfit in the Irish country flag colours done in Europe, shipped back to the US and brought it here for the special occassion. He finished in sixth place, while June Jenkins narrowly missed the last table after she and Michael Morrissey busted from different tables to earn €1,122 each.
Olof “Franke” Von Zweigbergk was run over by Grime’s aggression and last year’s finalist Rodolphe Zagoury went from big stack to busto in 11th place. Commiserations must go out to poker live reporter Chris Bean who bubbled the tournament.
It was a blast all the way into the morning hours but now it’s time to catch up on some sleep with more Omaha action to follow.
Final Table Result:
1st Place: Barry Grime – €9,070
2nd Place: Akseli Paalanen – €5,690
3rd Place: Simen Gulbrandsen – €4,060
4th Place: Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies – €3,130
5th Place: Alexander Rizvi – €2,400
6th Place: Randy “Gucci Man” Hagen – €1,850
7th Place: Jari Mahonen – €1,460
