Ireland’s Simon Wilson Wins Record-Smashing Irish Poker Open Main Event

The 2025 Irish Poker Open €1,150 no-limit maintain’em important occasion attracted a file subject of 4,562 entries, blowing away the €2.5 million assure by practically €2 million. This was by far the most important operating of this storied event, which holds to honor of being the longest-running no-limit maintain’em occasion in Europe after debuting in 1980. The earlier field-size file was set simply final 12 months, with 3,233 entries. That meant a 41.1 % year-over-year enhance in turnout.

After 5 beginning flights and three extra days of motion contained in the Royal Dublin
Society, it was Ireland’s personal Simon Wilson who lastly hoisted the trophy. The resident of Ashbourne, which is a part of the Dublin metro space, earned a career-best payday of €600,000 ($684,000 USD) for the win.

“It’s really special. We come every year, and thousands of people enter. It’s always just a pipe dream,” Wilson mentioned on the PokerStars stay stream after popping out on prime.

“Really happy to be able to close it out,” he later famous. “Of course the first-place prize is incredible, but the memory of winning this tournament is second to none. Biggest achievement I’ve had, and I’m going to remember this day forever.”

Wilson now has greater than $1.2 million in recorded earnings to his identify, together with $48,792 for a fifth-place end in a €10,000 buy-in facet occasion at this similar competition simply days earlier than taking down the principle occasion. Prior to this, his prime payday had been the $251,073 he earned because the ninth-place finisher within the 2023 World Series of Poker Online important occasion.

In addition to the {hardware} and the cash, Wilson additionally secured 1,320 Card Player Player of the Year factors because the champion. With his two final-table finishes at this sequence, he’s sitting in 76th place within the 2025 POY standings.

The prime 671 finishers earned a bit of the $5,119,590 prize pool. Several notables ran deep, together with bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Soheb Porbandarwala (twenty fifth), bracelet winner Carl Shaw (twenty first), 2013 Irish Open champion Ian Simpson (twentieth), and poker journalist Terrance Reid (eleventh).

The remaining day started with 19 gamers remaining and Italy’s Umberto Ruggeri within the lead. Wilson was located in eleventh place when playing cards first received within the air. Michael Karim had pulled out in entrance by the point the official remaining desk was set. Joe O’Donaill was the primary to hit the rail after the final 9 posed for a fast photograph. He ran pocket nines into the pocket kings of bracelet winner Georgios Skarparis to complete ninth ($52,212).

Robert Fluereci misplaced a preflop race with pocket sevens in opposition to Brandon Harris’ A-9 to go house in eighth place ($67,294). Panteleimon Pontos’ remaining stand pitted his A-3 suited in opposition to the A-Ok suited of Karim. Pontos flopped a 3 to take the lead, however Karim rivered a king to slim the sphere to 6. Pontos earned $88,350 for his seventh-place displaying.

Kicker issues spelled the top of Harris’ run. He check-raised all-in on a ten-high flop with J-10, solely to obtain a fast name from the A-10 of Wilson. Blanks on the flip and river meant that Harris settled for $114,000 because the sixth-place finisher, whereas Wilson surged up the leaderboard.

UK’s Brandon Harris scores the primary 6-figure payout within the Irish Open Main Event.

He exits in sixth place, bagging €100,000! pic.twitter.com/5CmK9PFesz

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) April 21, 2025

Karim had fallen to only over eight huge blinds by the point his remaining hand arrived. He shoved from the small blind with Q6 and was shortly referred to as by Ignotas Kirsis from the massive blind with 77. Karim discovered now assist from the board and was eradicated in fifth place ($148,200).

Wilson overtook the lead throughout four-handed play, then additional prolonged his benefit when his A6 drew out on the 77 of Skarparis, who referred to as Wilson’s button shove from the massive blind. The board got here down A1023 and Skarparis was knocked out in fourth place ($193,800).

A battle of the blinds led to the subsequent elimination. Wilson ripped from the small blind with Ok9 and acquired a name from Kirsis, who had been dealt 55 within the huge blind. The AJ9A4 runout gave Wilson aces and nines with a king kicker for the win. Kirsis secured $256,500 for his podium end.

Heads-up play started with Wilson holding 168,500,000 to the 53,500,000 of Ruggeri. It didn’t take lengthy for Wilson to transform his lead into the title. He had prolonged his benefit even additional earlier than the ultimate hand arrived. Wilson three-bet shoved excessive of Ruggeri’s button min-raise with 65. Ruggeri referred to as all-in for 7.5 huge blinds whole with A10 and the board got here down 763Ok2 to provide Wilson a pair of sixes and the title.

Ruggeri was awarded $360,240 because the runner-up. This was his third-largest money but, trailing solely his third-place end within the 2023 European Poker Tour Prague important occasion ($495,979) and his win on this 12 months’s Merit Poker Western Series important occasion ($377,500). This was Ruggeri’s fourth final-table end of the 12 months. With 2,828 POY factors and greater than $812,000 in to-date POY earnings, he has climbed to seventh place on the leaderboard.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd. / Danny Maxwell.