Gary McGinty Victorious at PSFEST Dublin for €91,808

The PokerStars Festival Dublin took place at the Regency Airport Hotel in Ireland’s capital city, with 544 entries to its €1,100 Main Event helping to create a prize pool of €700,000 ($798,204). At the end of three days, it was then Irishman Gary McGinty who would overcome the field, including fellow compatriot Jim O’Callaghan heads-up, to lift the title, and walk away with a top prize worth €91,808 ($107,926).
In April, McGinty won his previous highest score to date after taking down the €1,040 High Roller Turbo at the Irish Poker Open Festival for €26,625 ($28,386). Following a victory which now pushes his live career earnings to $171,024, the 29 year-old player stated:
“I won a satellite to EPT Barcelona and played that, and I’ve got experience playing 1ks and 2ks. I’ve played one EPT but this tops it all off. Shows that hard work comes to fruition. I wanna thank my family and a shout out to all my mates for railing me during the final table.”
By the time the final table had been reached, Mcginty was way out in front as the chip leader with almost one-third of the chips still in play. Progressing all the way through to four-handed play, McGinty, Antonio Merone, Jim O’Callaghan and Sean Prendiville then agreed an ICM deal in which all would receive a minimum payount of €71,000, with the remaining balance left over for the eventual winner.
Soon after, McGinty eliminated Callaghan in 3rd, and Merone in 2nd to usher in heads-up play against Jim O’Callaghan for the title. At this stage, Mcginty was sitting on a more than 5 to 1 chip lead, and the end was not long in coming after Merone moved all-in preflop holding Q-6, and was called by his opponent with K-J. The board then ran out K-A-4-J-7 to consign O’Callaghan to a runner-up finish worth €74,797, while Gary Mcginty was crowned the PokerStars Festival Dublin Main Event champion.
Final Table Results:
1: Gary Mcginty (IRE) €91,808*
2: Jim O’Callaghan (IRE) €74,797*
3: Antonio Merone (ITL) €78,554*
4: Sean Prendiville (IRE) €71,161*
5: Ivan Tononi (ITL) €35,780
6: Declan Connolly (IRE) €28,110
7: Michael Graydon (IRE) €20,980
8: Alex Bretherton (UK) €14,530
The PokerStars Festival Dublin ran from September 25th to October 1st, with the tour’s next stop being the Russian holiday resort of Sochi from October 16-22, followed by Hamburg in Germany from November 17-26.