Richard Lawlor Triumphs at 2016 WPT National Ireland

Richard Lawlor has won the 2016 WPT National Ireland main event, after besting a field of 260 players over three days on his way to capturing the title, as well as a first place prize worth €65,000.
The €1,100 WPT National Main Event was held at Ireland’s National Event Centre in Killarney, and featured a prize pool of €260,000. It also attracted a number of well-known pros, including Andy Black, Louis Salter and Michael Fletcher. Managing to cash in at the event, however, was the likes of Cathal Shine, Bob Tait, Ian Simpson, and partypoker ambassadors Tony Dunst and Natalia Breviglieri.
The third and last day of play then saw the final table set, with the players lining up as follows:
Richard Lawlor 1,815,000
Alan Kelleher 1,455,000
David Masters 1,135,000
Ray Masters 920,000
Dara O’Kearney 895,000
Eric Doyle 525,000
Laurence Ryan 505,000
Jason Tompkins 290,000
Tadhg Ryan 260,000
Alan Kelleher (A-9) then eliminated Jason Tompkins (K-Q) in 8th, while Richard Lawlor (A-Q) took care of David Masters (A-10) in 5th, before being deal A-K and doing likewise to Dara O’Kearney (K-Q) in 4th. Lawlor (A-9) subsequently eliminated Raymond Masters (8-8) in 3rd to usher in heads-up play against Alan Kelleher for the WPT National title.
At this stage, Lawlor held a 5.66m to 2.14m chip advantage over his remaining opponent, and 56 hands later the deciding hand was played with Kelleher going all-in preflop holding A-6. Lawlor made the call with K-2, and after the dealer laid out a 9-K-J-2-A board, Alan Kelleher collected €42,500 for his runner-up finish, while Richard Lawlor was crowned the 2016 WPT National Ireland champion.
Final Table Results:
1st: Richard Lawlor – €65,000
2nd: Alan Kelleher – €42,500
3rd: Raymond Masters – €27,500
4th: Dara O’Kearney – €20,000
5th: David Masters – €15,000
6th: Laurence Ryan – €12,000
7th: Eric Doyle – €9,250
8th: Tadhg Ryan – €7,000
9th: Jason Tompkins – €5,500
Next stop on the WPT National tour is the Casino De Marrakech from September 24th to October 2nd. With a population of around 930,000 people, Marrakech is Morocco’s 4th largest city, behind Casablanca, Fes and Tangier.


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