Samuel Petteri Saariaho crowned Killarney Champion for 100.000€

Finland’s Samuel Petteri Saariaho turned a roaring Gleneagle INEC Arena into a sea of Finnish green-and-white, lifting the Irish Poker Tour Killarney Main Event trophy and banking 100.000€ after a commanding final-day surge. His victory capped a record-setting festival that drew 3.100 entries across the week for a combined 1.122.010€ in prize money, underscoring why Killarney remains the heartbeat of Irish poker.

Main Event delivers on a 500.000€ promise

The festival’s crown jewel carried a 700€ buy-in and a 500.000€ guarantee and it delivered. A total of 899 entries built a 535.085€ prize pool and set the stage for a drama-packed finale, with the top 90 places paid.

Grosvenor Poker Team PRO Katie Swift added extra shine with a deep run, joined during the week by IPT stalwarts Paul Carr, Andy Black, Dara O’Kearney, Mary Galvin and Shane Keary. The floor buzzed thanks to on-site partners Paddy Power Poker, WPT Global and Grosvenor Poker supporting their qualifiers and sharing merch, while World Pool Champion Ronan McCarthy dropped by to soak up the Killarney atmosphere.

The Finn who wouldn’t blink

Saariaho, already the owner of a WSOP Omaha ring, arrived at the last day with momentum and a lively rail. By the time the dust settled, he had outdueled Ireland’s Tommy O’Rourke heads-up to etch his name into IPT history for 100.000€, while O’Rourke collected 63.500€. John Ward’s run ended in third for 45.000€. As a sweetener, both O’Rourke and Ward secured Last Longer packages to November’s London Poker Festival.

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Samuel Petteri Saariaho	Finland	100.000€
2	Tommy O’Rourke	Ireland	63.500€
3	John Ward	Ireland	45.000€
4	Derrick Wall	Ireland	35.500€
5	Cathal Heapes	Ireland	27.000€
6	Ed Fogarty	Ireland	22.385€

Side-event snapshots

A stacked schedule produced new champions and big moments:

Mystery Bounty (193 entries) - Winner Andrew Lukas Allain for 10.900€
Killarney 300 (370 entries) - Winner June Jenkins for 14.530€
Omaha Championship (38 entries) - Winner Mark Buckley for 24.000€
€1K One Dayer (59 entries) - Winner Jamie Kelly for 12.750€
NLH 20K (Day 3) (242 entries) - Winner Robertas Gludkinas for 10.000€
NLH 20K (Day 5) (215 entries) - Winner Wang Kwan Chan for 7.655€
Women’s Championship - Winner Caroline McKeever for 3.485€
Saturday Omaha (75 entries) - Winner Gerard Carbo Santamaria for 5.040€
Monsterstack (235 entries) - Winner Charlie Porter for 9.500€

What’s next

The Irish Poker Tour rolls straight into Carrick-on-Shannon on October 4, with more big guarantees and that trademark IPT community energy (per organizers). And for London-bound grinders, the London Poker Festival looms with packages already locked up by O’Rourke and Ward.