Dinneen, who started the final table with just 35,000 in chips, was short on words while his title sunk in.
“I don’t even know what to think, really. This is a big one to win," he said while leaving the poker table with the trophy, a €39,450 prize and and the sweet feeling of having survived heads-up against EPT Grand Final Champion O’Dwyer.
“This is a big one," he kept saying. “Especially with a tough field like the one I played against. Steve O’Dwyer, Max Silver – it’s a big one.”
From the Bottom to the Top
Known on the Irish circuit for some good scores, including a 10th-place at UKIPT Dublin in 2012 and 4th-place at the Irish Poker Championship in Galway back in 2008, Dinneen didn't start the day in the best spot.
The short stack at the start of the final table Dinneen spent the early part of his day fighting against busting - not an easy task when you have 35k, the top two have 528,500 and 253,800 respecitvely and their names are Steve O’Dwyer and Max Silver.
Yet the online grinder with over $300K in cashes did what he had to to change his destiny and get to the very end of a tournament.
“I was the very short stack, I know. But I got queens twice, things got good and then … it all just went like I dreamt last night.”
AQ vs Tens and O’Dwyer is Out
Although it might not have been exactly how he dreamt about it last night, the decisive hand of the tournament came on a coin flip after Dinneen had stretched out his 2-1 heads-up chip lead.
O’Dwyer opened the betting with 22K and Dinneen raised it up to 44K. O'Dwyer made it 70k and Dinneen shoved.
O’Dwyer called and flipped over TT. Dinneen showed A♦ Q♦.
A turn queen turned the tide for Dinneen and the J♣ river finished O'Dywer off.
Already Time for New Challenges
Just minutes after scoring his victory Dinneen talked about his future plans and his desire to move on to bigger challenges outside of the Irish border.
“I played in Prague last December and I would love to play another EPT again. I want to try try getting a couple of more results now. Let’s see how it goes.”
All without losing his direction, though, as poker plays an important but not primary role in his life.
“I work for a living, I don’t play poker. And I don’t think this will change so soon.”
Irish Poker Championship Final Results and Payouts
1. Trevor Dinneen – Ireland – €39,450 2. Steve O’Dwyer – Ireland - €27,840 3. Marc MacDonnell – Ireland - €18,560 4. Ian Gascoigne – UK – €11,600 5. Thomas Hall – UK – €8,120 6. Max Silver – UK – €5,800 7. Peter Murphy – Ireland - €4,642Visit www.pokerlistings.com