Silva Wins 2020 Irish Open Online Main Event For €462K

The 2020 Irish Open Online Main Event crowned its champion on April and that champion is Pablo Brito Silva. The Brazilian grinder got his hands on €462,100 ($494,447), which is the largest online poker result of his career.

This year’s Irish Open, the 40th consecutive festival, took place online for the first time. It usually takes place in Dublin, Ireland, but was pulled because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Online poker giant partypoker stepped in to rescue the series, offering to host the majority of the existing schedule. A €1 million guaranteed Main Event was on that schedule and partypoker ran it.

Brito Silva was one of 2,945 players who bought into the Irish Open Main Event for €1,100. This bumper crowd blew the guarantee out of the water because the prize pool stood at €2,945,000.

Only the top 408 players saw a return on their investment. Warren Aspey burst the money bubble on Day 2, locking up a €2,149 prize for the surviving players.

Day 2 ended with 51 players in the hunt for the title.

Brito Silva Goes Into Final Table Second in Chips

Sihao Zhang started Day 3 as the chip leader and held onto that lead with only eight players remaining. Brito Silva started the final table second in chips ahead of Hungarian superstar Andras Nemeth.

Shaun Conroy was the final table’s first casualty. He three-bet shoved with ace-queen only to lose to Brito Silva’s pocket queens.

Zhang then sent Parker “tonkaaap” Talbot to the sidelines in cruel circumstances. Zhang shoved from the button with ace-ten and Talbot called with pocket queens. Two tens appeared on the board to bust Talbot in seventh-place, a finish worth €45,648 ($48,843).

Tom Middleton’s tournament ended in sixth-place after a clash with Zhang. Former EPT Barcelona champion Middleton got his chips in with top two only for Zhang to hit a runner-runner flush. Middleton banked €65,821 ($70,428).

Zhang’s run-good continued when his ace-king got there against Gerard Finlay’s queens to bust the last standing Irishman.

Brito Silva found himself in a dominant position and increased his stack with the scalp of a fellow Brazilian. Eduardo Silva committed his stack with a flopped straight but Brito Silva turned a bigger one. Eduardo Silva cashed for €139,004 ($148,734).

Heads-up was set when Zhang was given a taste of his own medicine. Brito Silva jammed blind-on-blind and Zhang was ahead. That was until Brito Silva turned a flush.

Brito Silva and Nemeth In Epic Heads-Up Battle

Heads-up lasted the best part of an hour because Nemeth clawed his way back from a 2:1 deficit. The chip lead exchanged hands several times before Brito Silva began pulling ahead.

The final hand took place with blinds of 400,000/800,000/100,000a. Brito Silva opened to 1,600,000 and Nemeth called. Nemeth check-called a 2,550,000 bet on the Jc-8d-4c flop. The ten of diamonds turn saw Nemeth check again. Brito Silva fired a 6,375,000 bet only for Nemeth to check-raise all-in for 25,941,200. The all-in bet was called!

Nemeth showed Jd-Tc for top two pair but Brito Silva held 9h-7c for a straight. The three of hearts completed the board, busted Nemeth in second and the tournament crowned its worthy champion.

2020 Irish Open Main Event Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize (EUR)	Prize (USD)
1	Pablo Brito Silva	Brazil	€462,100	$494,447
2	Andras Nemeth	Hungary	€325,423	$348,203
3	Sihao Zhang	Luxembourg	€210,723	$225,474
4	Eduardo SIlva	Brazil	€139,004	$148,734
5	Gerard Finlay	Ireland	€96,302	$103,043
6	Tom Middleton	United Kingdom	€65,821	$70,428
7	Parker Talbot	Canada	€45,648	$48,843
8	Shaun Conroy	Ireland	€29,097	$31,134

The Brazilian’s Breakout Year

The Brazilian was already gaining a reputation for being a talented tournament player before this result. He was ranked 13th in the world for online poker tournaments during 2019.

He’s started 2020 like a house on fire. It’s only two months since he won the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS South America Main Event. He got his hands on$1,000,000 after topping a field of 465 in the $10,300 buy-in tournament.

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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