After four rounds on the opening day and three heads-up duels on the final day, the €350 Heads-Up Championship has crowned a winner at the 2026 Irish Poker Open. Out of a bracket of 128 entries, Jedrzej Gruszczynski defeated Karri Uusi-Aijo in the finals to claim the largest piece of the €38,490 prize pool in the vast tournament area of the Royal Dublin Society.
Prior to the start of the final round, both players had agreed to decrease the gap between first and second place to leave €2,500 as well as the Irish Open trophy to play for. They also talked about their experience in the previous round and Gruszczynski mentioned that he “had a very good flop distribution” and all previous matches were “kinda easy”.
In the semi finals, Gruszczynski pulled into a commanding lead against Darren Taylor within the first two levels and finished the duel in the very last hand of the level. Uusi-Aijo had a far longer task ahead against Stanislav Anufriiev and they went all the way to level eight with an average of 20 big blinds before the line-up for the finals was set.
The 27-year-old Spin & Go player Gruszczynski, who may look as if he was in his early twenties, became the silent assassin once again and consistently chipped up to establish a commanding lead. There weren’t many showdown pots and if so, most of them went his way. Ultimately. Uusi-Aijo dropped to around 10 big blinds and lost a flip with pocket eights against ace-queen suited.
Gruszczynski even had a shot at a royal flush to win the tournament in style, but that would perhaps be too much to ask for after all. Just a normal coin flip it is then, and a name that may need to be copy-pasted in live poker updates for many years to come.
Results of the Final Day
1st Place: Jedrzej Gruszczynski- €9,095
2nd Place: Karri Uusi-Aijo – €6,595
3rd Place: Stanislav Anufriiev – €3,400
4th Place: Darren Taylor – €3,400
5th Place: Jiang Pu – €2,000
6th Place: Edgaras Gendvilis – €2,000
7th Place: Michael Harland – €2,000
8th Place: Chris Ruprecht – €2,000
