Mark Buckley – Photo Credit: PokerNews
Mark Buckley successfully defended his home turf, taking down the main event title at the Irish Poker Festival in Dublin.. The top prize money was worth $192,930 for the Irishman, the second six-figure cash and fourth live win on his poker resume. He now has $750,000 in career earnings.

“It was a very long final table,” he told PokerNews reporters. “There were a lot of ups and downs, a lot of swings, but we got there in the end. It was a tough final table with a lot of good, very aggressive players. It was smooth from the beginning. I basically max late-regged, buying in on Day 2.”

The $3,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament attracted a field of 285 entries over four starting flights. The total prize pool came in at $821,130 with the top 29 players cashing out for at least $8,720 in prize money.

There were 117 players that advanced to Day 2 of the tournament, with the field playing down to the final 18 players for the start of Day 3. The defending champion of the event Michel Molenaar was eliminated on the money bubble during the day’s action.

Notables eliminated on the final day of play along the way to the final table included Eoghan O’Dea (17th), Tomas Flanagan (16th), Alec Torelli (11th), and Richard Ashby (10th).

Buckley entered the final table second in chips, but he was right on the heels of leader Joni Rantamaki when cards got into the air among the final nine.

Poker triple crown winner Niall Farrell struck first at the final table when he took out Florian Fuchs in ninth place. Ignas Navickas was out next in eighth place, and Ignotas Tamasauskas followed in seventh place. A lengthy battle for sixth place ended with Leo Worthington-Leese hitting the rail.

Farrell eventually fell in fifth place, as Sean Hegarty scored his third knockout punch at the final table and increased his chip lead among the final four players. Farrell earned $41,000 for his latest deep finish, giving him $6.9 million in career earnings.

Buckley then scored a huge double up in the most consequential hand of the tournament when his A-5 found a five on the river against the A-K of Hegarty to take the chip lead. Hegarty was out in fourth place a short time later, and Conor O’Rourke followed in third place to set up the final match.

Buckley held a nearly 4:1 chip advantage over Rantamaki when heads-up play began, but Rantamaki won the first all-in confrontation to double up and eventually take the lead. A short time later, Buckley nabbed a double up of his own to turn the tables.

The final hand of the tournament saw Rantamaki move all in short preflop holding 10-4 offsuit, and he was way behind the A-3 suited held by Buckley. The board brought no rescue to take out Rantamaki in second place. He took home $123,170 for his deep run in the tournament, the largest score ever for the player from Finland.

Final Table Results

*Photo by Irish Poker Festival – PokerNews