By Rocco Havel | January 7, 2009

The Party Poker Irish Poker Championship recently concluded in Galway and Irishman Rory Brennan walked away with the victory. Brennan was able to defeat fellow countryman Chris Dowling in heads-up play to secure the win. Dowling made a bold move by going all-in with a 9-6 off-suited hand only to be called by Brennan; Rory was holding A-10 and was able to pair his ace to knock Dowling out.

While the showdown between Brennan and Dowling was the highlight of the IPC, the entire final table provided plenty of action. Most of the action revolved around Brennan, Dowling, David Poole, and Ben Vinson as the four took turns winning huge hands from each other. Final table play rarely slowed down and everyone was playing to win rather than just hanging back and trying to let others bust out.

Here were the chips counts going into the final table:

Seat 1 - Peter Murphy; 94,500 chips
Seat 2 - David Curtis; 146,500 chips
Seat 3 - Ben Vinson; 581,580 chips
Seat 4 - David Poole; 181,100 chips
Seat 5 - Chris Dowling; 147,000 chips
Seat 6 - Derek Murray; 183,500 chips
Seat 7 - Krystof Gwvsko; 304,000 chips
Seat 8 - Rory Brennan; 1,058,000 chips

Local Galway player Derek Murray was the first person to bust out of the tournament while Peter Murphy wasn’t far behind him in seventh place. Polish player Krzysztof Gwvszko was the next player to hit the rail and the other Galway player in David Curtis followed him out in fifth place.

Now down to four-handed play, Dowling, Poole, Vinson, and Brennan battled it out with all four playing very aggressively. David Poole played things a little too aggressively as he lost several big poker hands to bust out in fourth place. Ben Vinson was the final person to hit the rail before the Dowling/Brennan heads-up contest and he finished in third place.

Here are the results of the final table and the prize money each player earned:

1. Rory Rees Brennan €160,000.00
2. Chris Dowling €90,000.00
3. Ben Vinson €55,000.00
4. David Poole €30,000.00
5. David Curtis €20,000.00
6. Krzysztof Gwvszko €15,000.00
7. Peter Murphy €12,500.00
8. Derek Murray €10,000.00

There were also two other events held at the Party Poker Irish Poker Championship in the IPC ₤750 Freezeout and the IPC ₤500 Freezeout. Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot grabbed the early chip lead and managed to bully his way to the ₤33,000 first place prize. Daniel Vorbeck and Richard Trench had a long heads-up battle before Vorbeck pulled away in the end to secure the largest share of the ₤41,500 prize pool.

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