Ryan Mandara outlasted a field of 1,340 to take down the 2018 Irish Poker Open €1,150 no-limit hold’em main event, but runner-up, Ferdia O’Connell achieved something more incredible.
The Irish Poker Open is the second longest running No-limit Hold’em tournament in the world, after the World Series of Poker. It was first organized in 1980 by the iconic Irish bookmaker, Terry Rogers.
Perhaps even the late Rogers wouldn’t believe what happened this year at the Main Event of the prestigious festival. A total of 1,340 players paid the buy-in of €1,150 – or won a package online. As it turned out, second place finisher, Ferdia O’Connell of Ireland got a seat to the tournament by qualifying through a €0.01 buy-in satellite online on Partypoker. Ferdia’s return on investment is an incredible 1,799,999,900 percent!
The eight-handed final table started with Pascal Baumgartner having the chip lead. However, Pascal eventually finished 3rd for €123,000 when his eights ran into the nines of Mandara’s. The heads-up began with Ryan having a 4-to-3 chip lead over O’Connell. The two discussed a deal and they agreed on Mandara locking up €197,000, while €180,000 went O’Conell’s way. They returned to the table to battle for the remaining €13,000 and the trophy.
Mandara was able to extend the lead and eventually busted O’Connell when the latter shoved on the board of 9TA with J which he called with 8. However, it’s safe to say that Ferdia was pretty happy with the unbelievable run of turning €0.01 into €180,000!
The final results
| Place | Player | Earnings (USD) | POY Points |
| 1 | Ryan Mandara | $257,321 | 960 |
| 2 | Ferdia O’Connell | $220,561 | 800 |
| 3 | Pascal Sven Baumgartner | $123,000 | 640 |
| 4 | Dan Samson | $92,250 | 480 |
| 5 | Joseph Cahill | $67,650 | 400 |
| 6 | Sameer Singh | $52,275 | 320 |
| 7 | Daniel Fargher | $39,360 | 240 |
| 8 | Dean Clay | $28,290 | 160 |
| 9 | David Barnes | $23,375 | 80 |
