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.

Paddy Power Poker today launches its biggest summer promotion to date, the Paddy Power Poker Pro. With over €100,000 in packages to be won, players at all levels will have the opportunity to live the life of a poker professional. “Everyone dreams of jetting around the world, playing in the biggest tournaments against the biggest players and we’re really excited to be able to make this dream a reality for one lucky player”, said Paddy Power, Communications Manager for Paddy Power Poker.

Partnering with Paddy Power Poker in the search to find the newest star is poker publication Bluff Europe. Editor-in-Chief Michael Caselli is relishing the opportunity to unearth the next big poker pro; “There is nothing better in the world of poker than to be one of its stars. This promotion will transform an ordinary player into an extra-ordinary poker pro, which is really thrilling!”

Eric Booth, Head of Paddy Power Poker also commented, “This promotion aims to make the Poker Pro lifestyle accessible to everyday players and we’re delighted to have Bluff on board to help us in our search for the first Paddy Power Poker Pro. There’s no doubt but it will be an exciting summer.”

The Paddy Power Poker Pro promotion will culminate in a Live Grand Final to be broadcast live from Citywest Hotel at the paddypowerpoker.com Irish Winter Festival on October Bank Holiday weekend. With a top prize of €60,000 (approximately $85,000), one lucky player will take a free run at some of Europe’s largest poker tournaments within the next year, and those who do not qualify for the top prize will be in with a chance to win a variety of other packages worth €40,000 in total.