Irish Open Ambassador Chris Dowling Scoops Trophy on First Day; Wins the Big O Championship

Level 23: 25,000-50,000/50,000Players: 4/122

Two trophies have been awarded on the opening day of the 2025 Irish Open at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) in the city centre of the Irish capital and it was a very familiar face who ended up as the winner in a four-way deal past three in the morning.

None other than Irish Open ambassador Chris Dowling scooped the trophy in Event #4 Big O Championship, as he held the most chips and earned the biggest slice of the €36,875 prize pool in a field of 122 entries for the €350 buy-in. A stalwart of the Irish poker scene and participant of the flagship live poker event of the country since 2009, Dowling was already known as a Pot-Limit Omaha specialist when he was announced as a brand ambassador.

In 2017, he made it all the way to third place in the Irish Open Main Event in the rare two-card variant and the deep run for €75,000 is his fourth-biggest cash with now more than $1.4 million in live scores.

At the end of the level and the three shorter stacks all within two big blinds, Peter Malbhasa inquired whether or not any of the players was interested in an ICM deal. The clock had ticked over to the new blinds, but no further hand was played as they agreed to straight ICM numbers.

Dowling entered during the final stages of the late registration period and quickly ran up a stack, but his journey towards the top of the leaderboard at the very end wasn’t without setbacks. However, once he doubled through Ethan Bennett and then took a big pot off Jon Kyte, the local lad was in control.

Kyte was arguably one of the most notable players with a cash prize to show for as the top 17 spots were paid. Eventual champion Dowling was responsible for sending the field into the money when he claimed the last big blind of Lee Horton. Other well-known players to cash were Sonia-Veronika Shashikhina, Andreas Froehli and Dermot Flanagan.

Malbasha was responsible for the last elimination of the tournament when he turned the nut flush against first-time visitor Kurtis Ruhl from Canada but ended up with the shortest stack in the deal by a fraction of a big blind behind Rodolphe Zagoury. The second-biggest slice of the pie went to Niall Parke, who doubled through Zagoury during five-handed play.

Final Result Event #4 Big O Championship: