It took almost 14 hours on the final day to determine a winner in Event #27 €3,000 Irish Open High Roller. One of the more pricier events on the 2024 Irish Open schedule at the Royal Dublin Society had already attracted 157 entries on Day 1 and another 15 players jumped in at the last minute to bring the field up to 172 entries, which generated a prize pool of €461,175.
In the end, it was German businessman and High roller regular Samuel Ju who claimed the trophy after a short-lived heads-up duel with Triple Crown winner Roberto Romanello. Both players cut a deal in which they locked up €80,000 each and played for the trophy as well as an additional €15,275 for the eventual winner.
It then only took three hands for Ju to claim his first ever trophy in a live poker event. Earlier this year, he finished as the runner-up in a €25,000 High Roller and came out on top this time. The victory will boost his total live MTT cashes to more than $1 million.
Long-time chip leader Dominik Nitsche finished in third place while the UK regulars Keith Johnson and Michael Kane fell in fourth and fifth place respectively.
Final Table Result Event #27 €3,000 Irish Open High Roller
| Rank | Winner | Country | Prize (in EUR) |
| 1 | Samuel Ju | Germany | €95,275 |
| 2 | Roberto Romanello | Wales | €80,000 |
| 3 | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | €48,200 |
| 4 | Keith Johnson | United Kingdom | €37,000 |
| 5 | Michael Kane | United Kingdom | €28,500 |
| 6 | Simon Beckmann | Austria | €21,900 |
| 7 | Tjenno Eskes | Netherlands | €17,800 |
| 8 | Marco Meisser | Switzerland | €14,800 |
The opening stages brought all-in showdowns at an exhilarating pace and the number of hopefuls was cut in half by the time the first break was reached. It didn’t take long anymore for the bubble to be reached with notables such as Michel Molenaar, Irish Open ambassador Chris Dowling, Jonathan Proudfoot, 2023 Irish Open Main Event winner David Docherty, Benny Glaser, and 2023 EPT Prague champion Padraig O’Neill all gone.
A few spots away from the bubble, disaster struck for Team PokerStars as Fintan Hand was eliminated and €5,000 High Roller winner Parker Talbot followed right after. Elias Fisz was the next bust when his turned nut flush ran right into a full house. Nikolai Mamut then became the bubble boy in agonising fashion when his pocket queens were cracked by pocket nines.
Benjamin Spragg was the last contender to represent the red spade and had to settle for a min-cash of €5,300 in 21st place. Start-of-the-day chip leader Alejandro Vazquez Gomez, Kevin Allen, Marc MacDonnell, and Guillermo Gordo all cashed but came up short of the final table.
Once the field was down to the last nine players, more than two hours passed without an elimination. The action became more cagey with an average of just 15 big blinds and it was just a matter of time before the floodgates opened. Romanello won a big three-way all-in to oust Tjenno Eskes in seventh place when cracking pocket kings with ace-queen. From there on, the Welshman remained a big stack and was responsible for the elimination of Michael Kane.
His eventual heads-up opponent Ju then knocked out Johnson and Nitsche to enter the final duel with a narrow lead. Only minutes after agreeing to a deal and leaving the trophy and a cash prize on top, Ju’s overpair held to seal his first ever live poker victory.
That concludes the penultimate day of the record-breaking 2024 Irish Open, and the final day promises plenty of fireworks with several trophies still up for grabs.