Irish Open 2012 Won by Kevin "Civel" Vandersmissen
April 10, 2012 11:54 amKevin Vandersmissen has won the 2012 Irish Open, after defeating a field of 502 players over four days to lift the trophy, and collect the €420,000 ($549,196) top prize.
With his latest victory in Dublin, the Belgium pro’s live career earnings has now reached $1,450,430 with a further $573,454 earned online. Commenting later on his impressive win, Vandersmissen said:
“I feel pretty happy. It’s my first big tournament that I’ve won. I tried to do my best. I felt pretty comfortable. I had to double up in the beginning and had to play very tight but as you saw I’m not afraid to bluff!”
The €3,500 Irish Open attracted a whole slew of pros to the tournament, including Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Freddy Deeb, Maria Ho, James Dempsey, Andy Black, Faraz Jaka, Adam Levy and and Julian Thew. Notable names who cashed included Phil Hellmuth in 33rd (€9400), Freddy Deeb in 27th (€11,200), and Adam Levy in 14th (€15,400).
As the final table of nine was eventually reached, the highest profile player still remaining was Andy Black in 5th, while Kevin Vandersmissen was the shortest stack at the table.
Thomas Beer (A-A) then dispatched both Andy Black (A-K) and Philip Magennis (Q-Q) in a three-way pot while, while Kevin Vandersmissen hung on and managed to double-up twice as other players were eliminated.
When the game reached three-handed play, England’s Dixie Dean made a button shove (K-5) into the pocket aces of Vandersmissen and so the heads-up phase was set between the Belgium (5.53m) and Germany´s Thomas Beer on a 4.5m stack.
Vandersmissen then reduced Beer’s stack further including a hand in which he held As-Ks to his opponent’s A-J, before the final hand was played in which Beer’s A-K fell to Vandersmissen’s 9-7 after he made trips on the river.
Consequently, Thomas Beer collected €225,000 for his runner-up finish, while
Kevin Vandersmissen was crowned the 2012 Irish Open Champion. Tweeting a few hours after his victory, the Belgium wrote:
“Won the Irish open!!! Ooooohyeaaaah. In the middle of Festung insanely drunk right now! Thx for all the support!!..Ok i am drunk… But i f***ing Love life!!!
The final payouts were as follows:
1 Kevin Vandersmissen – €420,000
2 Thomas Beer – €225,000
3 David “Dixie” Dean – €158,000
4 Ian Simpson – €107,500
5 Steve Watts – €78,000
6 Jordan Lewis – €59,000
7 Samuel Chartier — €44,500
8 Andy Black – €32,700
9 Philip Magennis – €23,000