Hiep Ninh stopped at the second position and Tero Laurila Crowned Champion (€292,685) in Record-Breaking Irish Open Main Event
06:06 05/04/2024
A massive field of 3,233 entries assembled at the Royal Dublin Society for the 2024 Irish Open €1,150 Main Event, partly thanks to sponsors PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker, setting a new record for the Irish Open and absolutely smashing the guaranteed prize pool of €1,000,000 by creating a prize pool of €3,152,175.
However, as with any other tournament, there could only be one person left standing at the end. Over four long days of poker action, it was Day 3 chipleader Tero Laurila who won the iconic Irish Open trophy and took home €292,685 after a three-way deal.
Tero Laurila
Laurila defeated Ireland’s Hiep Ninh after a relatively short heads up battle, as the blinds had been reduced from 60 to 20 minutes after the deal. Ninh, who plays almost exclusively in Dublin, took home the larger sum of €335,636 for his efforts due to having a massive chip lead when the deal was made. The final person involved in the deal was the 21-year-old Mark Johnston, who is just dipping his toes in the waters of professional poker and walked away with €232,685 for third place.
Hiep Ninh
Laurila is a full-time traveling poker player from Finland who has been playing for nearly 20 years. He mostly plays Omaha cash games, however, he has plenty of tournament experience as well, making the final table of the WCOOP Main Event in 2006 and more recently winning a main event in Barcelona for his biggest-ever live score until today.
"I almost passed out," Laurila said in an interview with Irish Open host Laura Cornelius when asked about his feelings after the win, "with all the stress coming out of my body and mind." Laurila had a big Finnish rail, with which he is sure to have a few beverages to celebrate his historic victory as the first-ever Finnish winner of the Irish Open. "I've got four and a half hours of sleep two to three nights in a row, but of course [I'm going to celebrate] something with the guys."
Also on the final table were WSOPC ring winner Georgios Tsouloftas (4th - €142,760), long-time Irish Open regular Oliver Boyce (5th - €109,820), and Spanish grinder David Tous (9th - €38,420).
Tero Laurila
