by Emma
14. December 2008 22:09
Top Poker Player Marty Smyth Finally Wins the final of Poker Million third time lucky!
Marty from South Belfast made up four out of the six who were representing Irish Poker at Ladbrokes Poker Million live on Sky 3 on Friday Night. He was joined in the final six at the London tournament by Liam Flood and Eoghan O'Dea from Dublin, Ciaran O'Leary from Cork, Englishman Kevin Allen and Norwegian Svein Petter Neilsen.
It was the third time lucky for Marty as it was the third year in a row he had made the final table of the prestigious Ladbrokes Poker event.
Smyth thought his tournament was over after unsuccessfully running ace-king into Liam Flood's king-king in the first few hands of the game and losing most of his chips but he battled hard and came from last to first in a thrilling event which saw Irishmen sweep the first four spots and over $1.5 million in prize money. "I can't quite believe it still," said Smyth. "I thought I was gone when I lost most of my chips early in the tournament. To come back and win $1 million is probably the highlight of my career. It just shows it's never over until it's over."
The prize pool for the event was :
- First $1,000,000
- Second $260,000 (Eoghan O'Dea)
- Third $175,000 (Ciaran O'Leary)
- Fourth $130,000 (Liam Flood)
- Fifth $100,000 (Kevin Allen)
- Sixth $75,000 (Svein Petter Neilsen)
Special mentions should also be given to Eoghan O’Dea who also came back from short stack to chip leader in the final heads up with Marty Smyth. One memorable moment was when O’Dea won a split pot against O’Leary but his father, the famous poker player Donnacha O’Dea thought he had won one of the biggest pots in the final and was celebrating!
In all it was a tense time for the friends and family especially that of newcomer to the live tournament circuit Kevin Allen. Winning his seat through a Freeroll and earning success through online poker this was the first time the poker community had seen him in a televised event and he showed some very intuitive poker at the start. He is definitely a poker player to watch out for in the coming year.
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