A very tough couple of hands for Gareth McMahon have found him suddenly on the rail in 21st place and far from pleased about it. The major damage came in a preflop confrontation with Ian Gascoigne – similarly stacked with McMahon around 90,000 above Gascoigne’s 278,000.
McMahon: As Ah
Gascoigne: Tc Td
It took until the river for a ten to hand the pot (and a stack of 560,000) to Gascoigne, at which card McMahon said, “Oh no – oh my God. Well, it’s not my day.” Turning to the next table, and presumably a sympathetic ear, he said, “That one stung like a ****” – and every tournament player knows that particular pain.
Two hands later, small blind Jason Hill set him in with what turned out to be 6d 7d; McMahon called off the few chips he had left with Kd 2s. The 4h 5s 8h gave his opponent the nuts straight away on the flop, and McMahon had to accept €775 in prize money instead of a deeper run. Exiting just before him was Irish Open defending champion Steve O’Dwyer.