Michael O’Sullivan today won the Paddy Power Poker Irish Masters poker tournament, winning a first prize of €143,000 and outlasting the 397 other players taking part in the €1,650 buy-in No Limit Holdem main event.  The 24-year old Irish student is a well-known player who focuses on online cash, as well as having a respectable string of live tournament results to his name.

O’Sullivan started the Irish Masters slowly, but on Day 2 of the tournament started to accumulate chips at a rapid pace and was comfortably positioned by the time play ended.  On the final day, he made some big calls and some bigger laydowns, finally winning the bulk of the chips in play heads-up when his Ace-King overthrew Michael Murphy’s pair of Jacks when an Ace fell on the river.

O’Sullivan has no immediate plans for his winnings and commented that the victory “hasn’t sunk in yet.”  He plans to concentrate on completing his studies and to devote more time to athletics.

Murphy won €88,500 for his 2nd place finish, with Irishman Gary Mealy receiving €55,300 for third place and Slovenian Matej Kokalj winning €44,800 for finishing fourth.

Tenth place finisher Paul Dooley became Paddy Power Poker’s IWF Sole Survivor by outlasting 61 other Paddy Power Poker online qualifiers, winning a prize package worth €20,000.  The Irish Winter Festival Sole Survivor promotion was created solely for players who qualified for the Irish Masters via Paddy Power Poker’s online satellites. Each online qualifier was automatically entered into the Sole Survivor promotion; all they needed to do was outlasted all other online qualifiers in the Irish Masters to win a €20,000 package.

The tournament began on Saturday, 24th October and featured a total prizepool of €597,000.  The buy-in for the tournament was €1,650 and 40 players won cash prizes.  A live webcast and comprehensive updates were available throughout the weekend on the Irish Winter Festival blog.

paddypowerpoker.com today launches the Irish Winter Festival Sole Survivor promotion by announcing details of a 3-Tickets-Guaranteed Super Satellite on Sunday May 10th at 9.00pm. Feeders to the Super Satellite will run daily from Wednesday May 6th.

The Sole Survivor online qualifier promotion was successfully introduced at the Irish Open 2009 where Marcel Koch won a €100,000 package. Similarly, the Paddy Power Poker online qualifier that lasts the longest in the Irish Masters main event at the Irish Winter Festival will win a €20,000 package in addition to whatever prize money they win in the tournament.

“The Sole Survivor promotion really spiced up this year’s Irish Open”, said Paddy Power, Communications Manager for Paddy Power Poker. “We are thrilled to launch the IWF Sole Survivor by guaranteeing three seats to the Irish Masters main event in this Sunday’s mega satellite. It’s never too early to grab your seat and stake your claim as our next Sole Survivor!”

The Irish Masters is a €1,500 + €150 buy-in NLH freezeout tournament and will return to Citywest Hotel, the home of the 2008 Irish Winter Festival and the 2008 and 2009 Irish Open festivals. Running for three days from October 24th, the tournament will pit the cream of the Irish poker community versus the best international players.

Weekly super satellites ($200 + $15 freezeouts) to the Irish Masters start online at Paddy Power Poker on Sunday May 17th, with a variety of feeders running daily