2018 Irish Open Champion Ryan Mandara has just scored the biggest cash of his live poker career after taking down the $10,300 EPT Cyprus High Roller event for $709,285.
Mandara’s sensational victory in the flagship PokerStars tournament came in record time after he dispatched six of his eight final table opponents with ruthless efficiency and took just three swift hands to bust Polish player Sebastian Malec heads up.
Among those who fell by the wayside during Mandara’s final table onslaught was 2022 Irish Open champion Steve O’Dwyer who finished ninth for $92,400. Overall, the event attracted 456 entries creating a $4,423,200 prize pool.
Mandara, who hails from Coventry, has enjoyed a superb run of results this year; as well as cashing in three other events in Cyprus, he also achieved a 12th place finish in the EPT Barcelona High Roller for €60k. His latest triumph takes him into the top 100 on the UK’s all-time money list for the first time.
In the six years since he took down the Irish Open Main Event, Mandara has achieved a slew of great results but it was his 2018 victory in Dublin – for €210,000 – that was the real turning point in his live poker career. Prior to Dublin, he had only won a few far smaller tournaments with $16k his biggest cash. The 2018 Irish Open was a record-breaker in its own right with 1,348 entrants generating a massive €1,347,164 prize pool.
A host of well-known poker players have now taken to social media to congratulate Mandara including 2013 Irish Open champion Ian Simpson and Swiss player Pascal Baumgartner who was one of Mandara’s chief rivals on the 2018 Irish Open final table. There have also been online toasts from many other British notables such as Rick Trigg, Keith Littlewood, Paul Mcaulay and Gary Whitehead.
The dates have now been set for next year’s Irish Open which is taking place from April 10 to April 21 at the Royal Dublin Society.
