Dutch Rule International Field In Irish Championship
The Regency Hotel, Dublin saw no less than 13 nationalities fight it out to be crowned the APAT Irish Amateur Poker Champion. This included a strong Irish and UK contingent joined by players from France, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, China, Lithuania, Sweden, Hungary and Ukraine, but it was the Dutch who ‘top ‘n’ tailed’ the event and also who were double-handed on the final table.
272 players created a prize fund of €27,200 and were quickly reduced by 1 during the first level when Jordy De Groot (Netherlands) made a sharp exit, with by the Dinner break after Level 6 the field having been reduced rapidly to 157 and Day 1 ending with 31 Players:
JOHNSTON Brendan 599k
MCGUINNESS Mark 387k
VAN DEN ASSEM Skipp 365k
SPENCER Gary 350k
COUZY Fabrice 332k
BLAAUWGEERS Robert 328k
MCGRATH Ryan 248k
DOLAN Cathal 240k
MCFADDEN Keith 240k
RICHARDOT Alexandre 212k
YATSENKO Ivan 210k
GRAY Mark 163k
DOLAN Margaret 158k
BEAUZON Clement 123k
OBRIEN David 121k
BACKHAUS Bryan 111k
BLANQUART Florian 109k
PAGARECKAS Mantas 104k
SALLES Thibaud 103k
GOURNAY Joseph 101k
LYNESS David 101k
CUSACK James 100k
SLUYS Geert 92k
JANOWSKI Konrad 87k
COOK Ben 85k
HUSZTI Peter 85k
HEATH Caolan 79k
LADJIMI Ryiad 76k
SIMONAVICIUS Nerijus 67k
GALLOO Jerome 48k
THOMPSEN Sian 33k
Day 2 started with a bang having a flurry of double ups. Most notable was Brendan Johnston against Nerijus Simonavicius when the Board ran out 7h Qs 4h 9c 5h and big bets on the river and a shove from Simonavicius is eventually called by Johnston who shows 6s 8c for the straight but Simonavicius tables Ah Qh and doubles up.
The last Belgian departed only a few places off the cash. Greert Sluyts shipped with Ac Qd but could not outwit his opponents Ah As and he hit the rail.
One from the Bubble and David Lynes pushed all in for 50k on a Turn Board of 3s 10h 9s 5s. Ryan McGrath made the call and David shows Ac 5d, only to be devastated when Ryan tables Qs Ks and with David drawing dead he departed in 29th spot.
Very shortly after, Konrad Janowski on The Button pushed All In for 40k and Mark McGuinness made the call. Konrad 6h 6s and Mark Qh Jd with a Board 2d 4s 8d Qc 2c and Konrad departed on the Bubble, with all remaining playing for the €27,200 prize fund, National Championship Medals and Added Value:
1 €7,135 + National Championship Gold Medal + WCOAP Main Event Seat
2 €4,485 + National Championship Silver Medal
3 €3,400 + National Championship Bronze Medal
4 €2,650
5 €1,970 CUSACK James
6 €1,425 VAN DEN ASSEM Skipp
7 €950 BACKHAUS Bryan
8 €745 GOURNAY Joseph
9 €570 YATSENKO Ivan
10 €340 COUZY Fabrice
11 €340 RICHARDOT Alexandre
12 €340 GRAY Mark
13 €270 JOHNSTON Brendan
14 €270 SPENCER Gary
15 €270 SIMONAVICIUS Nerijus
16 €200 BEAUZON Clement
17 €200 MCFADDEN Keith
18 €200 LADJIMI Ryiad
19 €160 DOLAN Margaret
20 €160 PAGARECKAS Mantas
21 €160 THOMPSEN Sian
22 €160 OBRIEN David
23 €160 SALLES Thibaud
24 €160 DOLAN Cathal
25 €160 HUSZTI Peter
26 €160 GALLOO Jerome
27 €160 BLANQUART Florian
As it is whittled down to the remaining 4 players and on the ‘National Championship Medal’ bubble, remaining is James Cussack, Robert Blaauwgeers, Ben Cook and Mark McGuinness fighting it out.
Ben raised in the Cut Off which started a flurry of betting, the Small Blind (James) pushes All In and the Big Blind (Robert) calls, Ben gets out of the way.
James has 6h 6s Robert has As Jc and the Flop comes 9s Js 7c to give Robert the lead, which he holds when the Board completes with Turn 2h and River 4c and James exits in 4th place for €2650.
Now the infamous “medal bubble” had burst and all three remaining players were vying for Gold, Silver or Bronze National Championship Medals.
Not many hands later and it was heads up… Mark McGuinness, fairly short stacked, pushes with As 8h, Ben finds Qc Qs and instantly called. The board runs out 4h 7s 6s 4d 2h and Mark finishes in 3rd place for €3,400.00 and a National Championship Bronze Medal.
Ben Cook (and his ever expanding rail) is Heads Up against Robert Blaauwgeers (and his incredibly noisy rail), with both players pretty even in chips.
Ben won a nice pot on a Board Qc 4s 9h calling a bet from Robert of 100k, both checking the 6s Turn and Ben taking it down with 100k bet on 2s River.
Then 30 mins of play saw chips slowly move to Robert with numerous min/double BB bets and taking lots of hands down by the Turn.
Robert made lots of min bets… made it up from 45k to 90k, Ben called, Board 8c 9d 9c, Robert bets 110k Ben calls… Turn 5s and Ben calls a 140k bet to see a River 3c and calls a 370k bet from Robert… only for Robert to immediately say ‘Kings’ and Ben to reluctantly folds (saying he hit two pair on Flop…).
Ben 2.2m, Robert 3.3m.
After a series of raise, fold, raise, re-raise, fold etc, mostly pre-flop but all before the Turn, Ben was down to around 550k and pushed from the SB. Robert glanced at his cards and immediately called. Ben tabled 10h 5d and Robert Ah 9d. The flop came 7c Ac 5s and both pair but the advantage stays with Robert. The turn didn’t appease Ben or his rail who were calling for a ten or a five but got Qd and the River 2s made no difference and Ben Cook finished in National Championship Silver Medal position taking home €4,485.
Robert Blaauwgeers wins €7,135, World Championship Of Amateur Poker (WCOAP) Main Event Seat and National Championship Gold Medal and is crowned APAT Coral Irish Amateur Poker Champion.
