Level 27: 80,000/160,000/160,000
Entries: 1/346
Prize Pool: €104,042
On the final day of a special 2026 Irish Open, Canadian Manfred Gunther has emerged as the €350 Senior Championship winner, defeating Norwegian Vegard Ropstad heads-up to bank €20,600 and the trophy.
All 55 Day 2 players shared the €104,042 prize pool created by the 346-entry field, and the title was almost handed to Gunther after a bizarre hand three-handed.
Ropstad opened to 2,000,000, leaving himself 500,000 behind, and Djalili Dahou jammed for 3,090,000. Gunther was in the big blind and he quickly cold four-bet jammed with the covering stack.
Dahou did not realize Ropstad was not all-in, and tabled . Ropstad had the equivalent of 3 big blinds behind, and he rightfully folded hoping to take the ladder, it being crystal clear Gunther had a monster. Gunther had and held, and disposed of Ropstad in the next hand.
Gunther is a regular visitor to the Irish Open, and this score, his seventh recorded live victory, represents a new career-best cash.
2026 Irish Open Senior Championship Final Table Results
| Position | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Manfred Gunther | Canada | €20,600 |
| 2 | Vegard Ropstad | Norway | €12,980 |
| 3 | Djilali Dahou | France | €9,270 |
| 4 | Thierry Van den Berg | Netherlands | €7,130 |
| 5 | Anthony Carey | Ireland | €5,490 |
| 6 | Mitchell Jones | United Kingdom | €4,242 |
| 7 | Mark McNabb | United Kingdom | €3,300 |
| 8 | Gerard Mooney | Ireland | €2,680 |
| 9 | Antony Swain | United Kingdom | €2,230 |
Winner’s Reaction
“It feels amazing, I’m so happy. It’s such an amazing event, always love coming here. It was a tough enough table, got the right cards, played them well I guess.
The hand before was more important than the final hand, with 2 million dead money. That was the key hand. Get in there!”
Final Day Recap
Lee Mulligan came into the day as the chip leader, and he ultimately bowed out in 16th. The knockouts came at a rapid pace at the start of the day, and before long the field was reduced to two tables.
Matters slowed down significantly then, and after Hyndi Khomutetsky and Ozren Cvijanovic busted, a lengthy final table bubble occurred. The logjam was eventually broken when Kevin O’Hare busted to Gunther, who came into the final table second behind Thierry Van den Berg.
By this stage the average stack was around 25 big blinds, with some tiny stacks, but somehow it was over an hour before Antony Swain was the first casualty, losing a flip to Gunther. Van den Berg then eliminated Gerard Mooney, before Gunther rivered a straight to crack Mark McNabb’s jacks.
Ropstad got lucky to overcame Mitchell Jones’ queens with a single overcard, and Gunther claimed yet another scalp when he ended Anthony Carey’s run in fifth. Then came the two key hands of the tournament. Gunther jammed into fellow big stack Van den Berg from the small blind with a weak suited ace, but was dominated.
However he flopped the flush draw, turned a straight draw, and rivered the straight. Then came the key hand of Dahou’s exit with the exposed hand, and suddenly, within three hands, the tournament was over and another Canadian Irish Open champion had been crowned.
