After a long day of intense competition, Gregory Olson finally emerged as the Irish Open Deaf High Roller champion for 2026.
It was a quiet start this afternoon. Many of the participants appeared to be feeling the effects of a night in the Craic Den — having spent the previous evening in the company of Deaf comedian John Smith.
But as the day wore on, the players shook off any lasting damage, and the atmosphere at the tables grew steadily throughout.
By the time the final table approached, the action had become incendiary: the chips flying wildly and bust-outs seemingly happening every other hand.
At one point, it looked like Anthony Lobue would win his second tournament of the week, putting himself among the chip leaders as the final table kicked off. However, he lost a big flip for most of his chips and was not quite able to put a recovery together.
With five left, it felt like Stephen Draper and Ciaran Moloney would be duking it out for the win. They had two-thirds of the chips between them, while Olson languished in last place, holding just four big blinds.
But the American dug in, and one by one his opponents fell, leaving him heads up with Draper. The players negotiated a deal, and the game was over just one hand later. Olson drank in the moment, as you can see from the photo above.
Asked if he would do some drinking of a more literal kind, Olson replied in the negative.
“I have a plane to catch in three hours!” the Texan explained. And with that, he headed for the exit.
