When the clock struck midnight, Maximilian Sanders and Ewen Trevidy battled for the lion’s share of the €664,950 prize pool in Event #61 High Roller 8-Max. One hour earlier, that would have sounded very unlikely as Andrii Nikitin was on the verge of victory after running riot on the final three tables.
However, despite setting a new high-score for his live poker career, Nikitin must have felt disappointed to walk away with €63,700 for third place after he had both of his final opponents on the ropes multiple times. It was his second final table after he finished seventh for €26,400 in the €5,000 High Roller, which was won by PokerStars ambassador Kenny Hallaert in heads-up against Elias Suhonen. Hallaert bubbled the final table this time, and Suhonen was the next casualty thereafter.
During the final table, Nikitin mentioned that he has been playing online poker on a site that also features a Capybara – the most unfazed animal on the planet which is friends with literally every species and one of the newest trendsetting animal reels on social media. Nikitin was not as chilled and dominated the tables with sheer aggression until it all came to a crashing end.
Sanders survived a few times too many and then set the trap with turned quads to take a huge lead three-handed. Nikitin walked into it with nines full and lost a flip soon after. That gave serial short stack Trevidy yet another pay jump and he put up a fair fight in heads-up play despite the major chip disadvantage. But every double-up was followed by another setback and Sanders ultimately secured the victory after more than 12 and a half hours on the final day.
He is that kind of guy that talks a lot while at the tables, wishes everyone good luck when they get the chips in and bumps fists with them. Sanders’ previous live poker record showed a best score of $8,878 and the €140,450 top prize more than doubled his total earnings, while runner-up Trevidy also set a new personal best with a consolation prize of €87,800.
Two German-speaking poker pros reached the final table in Nils Pudel and Adrian Strobel, while defending champion Samuel Ju was among the first players to receive a cash prize when his pocket queens were cracked by the pocket nines of Hallaert. That was only a few minutes after Canada’s Jorge Alberto Artiga Pacheco had sent the chips in the same direction and was eliminated on the money bubble.
Event #31 NLH 8-Max champion Giuseppe Dedoni and PokerStars ambassador Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg also reached the money, as did 77-year old Judy Whitlow from the United States. She had just started playing poker two years ago and held her own against the long-time poker pros to reach fifteenth place for €11,500.
Many other well-known names of the international circuit had to leave without any cash prize such as Paul Hoefer, Philippe Souki, Josh Reichard, Tobias Peters, Stephen Song, Dinesh Alt and Govert Metaal. They were among the fifty-two Day 1 survivors in a huge field of 248 entries but bowed out in the early stages.
That has wrapped up the penultimate day of the 2025 Irish Poker Open festival, which is set to crown multiple trophy winners on Monday, April 21, 2025 to conclude a hugely successfully series at the Royal Dublin Society.
