Michel Molenaar Crowned PartyPoker Irish Poker Festival Main Event Champion

Michel Molenaar Crowned PartyPoker Irish Poker Festival Main Event Champion

Dutchman Michel Molenaar is the latest poker player to become a PartyPoker LIVE champion, having taken down the 3,000 buy-in Irish Poker Festival MILLIONS Main Event in Dublin for an impressive 210,000 payday.

The 210,000 Molenaar collected is the largest score of his career so far, surpassing the 126,650 he scooped after winning the 550 The Festival Bratislava Main Event in October 2022.

It has been quite the year for the young Dutch star. Molenaar won the 5,300 Super High Roller at the PokerStars Summer Festival Malta for 53,440 in July 2023, was the runner-up in the 5,300 Hydra Entertainment High Roller at PartyPoker LIVE MILLIONS Malta for 49,632 in September, and now has his hands on a career-best score in Ireland.

PartyPoker Irish Poker Festival MILLIONS Main Event Final Table Results

RankPlayerCountryPrize
1Michel MolenaarNetherlands210,000
2Tomas MacNamaraIreland120,000
3Glenn KeoghIreland75,000
4Liam ChevalierIreland56,500
5Andrew HedleyUnited Kingdom44,000
6Richard KellettUnited Kingdom35,000
7Andy BlackIreland28,000
8Padraig O'NeillIreland22,840
9Barry CarsonIreland18,500

The PartyPoker LIVE Irish Poker Festival MILLIONS Main Event drew in a 286-strong crowd, who created a 766,840 prize pool. The top 29 finishers won a slice of that pie, with the likes of Seamus Cahill, Scott Margereson, and India's Ankit Ahuja all padding their bankrolls; the latter fell in 12th for 10,000, the tournament's first five-figure prize.

Barry Carson was the first finalist to bow out, doing so with a ticket earning him 18500. Fellow Irishman Padraig O'Neill followed suit, collecting 22,840, before Irish legend Andy Black busted in seventh for 28,000.

Richard Kellett saw his latest deep run end in a sixth-place finish worth 35,000, with fellow Englishman Andrew Hedley crashing out in fifth for 44,000, the second-largest haul of Hedley's live poker career.

Liam Chevalier came unstuck in fourth, a finish worth 56,500 before Glenn Keogh was eliminated in third for 75,000, which obliterated his previous best result, a $38,600 reward for a deep run in the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.

Heads-up pitted Molenaar against Tomas MacNamara. The final hand saw the players go to a four-five-deuce flop with two spades, MacNamara flopping two pair with his four-deuce, and Molenaar finding himself with a straight flush draw with his trey-deuce of spades. The ten of spades river improved Molenaar to the winning hand, busting MacNamara in second for 120,000 and leaving Molenarr to lift the winner#039;s trophy and see 210,000 head to his bank account.

Other PartyPoker LIVE Irish Poker Festival Results

EventBuy-inEntrantsPrize PoolChampionPrize
PLO 7-Max2505511,795Patrick Eagers4,250
NLHE Freezeout2508919,090Colm Chan6,490
Mystery Bounty40020772,655Thomas Murphy22,500*
Irish Omaha Championship2,50049109,880Ivelin Pavlov43,000
NLHE Freezeout2509019,305Barry Carson4,800
1K One Day Omaha1,0002925,445Barry Moore11,000
Dublin Poker Cup7509363,475Niall Murphy18,000
Dublin Ladies Championship250234,885Mary Seary1,335
PLO 7-Max2506513,945Elie Nakache5,500
Grand Prix550267130,140Ivan Tononi32,000
Leinster Poker Cup5505928,760Paul Carr10,600
High Roller2,50059132,310Vitor Hugo40,000
Monster Stack2507916,945Francesco Griffi4,000
PLO 7-Max4003010,530Jozsef Fauszt4,950

*includes bounty payments

That looks to be it for the PartyPoker LIVE tour in 2023. However, following the roaring success of its Bratislava, Malta, and now Ireland stops, it would be surprising not to see more stops announced for 2024 in the not-too-distant future. Watch this space.

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