Michael O’Sullivan Wins IWF For €143,000

Michael O’Sullivan Wins IWF For €143,000

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

As the dust from 397 players hitting the rail cleared, one man remained – Michael O’Sullivan outlasted a huge field in the €1,650 buy-in Paddy Power Irish Winter Festival to take down an awesome first-place prize of €143,000.

The 24-year-old Irish student is a well-known online cash game player with a string of live results behind him including a runner-up finish in the BoylePoker Irish Championships.


O’Sullivan said that the €143,000 score “hasn’t sunk in yet” but that he plans to continue with his studies and focus on athletics. He defeated Michael Murphy in a classic coinflip with AK against JJ, hitting the ace from space on the river. Murphy won €88,500 for his runner-up finish.


Seventh-place finisher Paul Dooley had extra reason to celebrate. He may have lost out on the top spot and had to settle for a €22,400 prize for seventh; but he was PaddyPower’s sole survivor – the last man standing who qualified via satellite.


The 37-year-old Tipperary resident is known on the Irish Poker circuit, having final tabled the Irish Open in 2007 for €50,000. Dooley was competing with another at the IWF final table; eventual ninth-place finisher John Cassidy who also qualified via PaddyPower.


The Sole Survivor promotion is for players who qualify to major Irish events via satellites on PaddyPower. Whether you finish 1st or 100th, it doesn’t matter so long as you outlast every other PaddyPower qualifier.



Tags: Poker News, Michael, O’Sullivan, Wins, IWF, For, €143, 000