Vandersmissen started the day as the short-stack but put in a masterful performance that saw him win a few pots early than double up through David “Dixie” Dean to over 1.4 million chips.
The Belgian pro managed another double against Ian Simpson and never looked back en route to his €420,000 score.
With the victory Vandersmissen moves past Pierre Neuville to take second on Belgium’s all-time leaderboard with $1.4 million. The only player above is Vandersmissen is WSOP bracelet winner Davidi Kitai who has $1.8 million in live tournament earnings.
Andy Black was surprisingly one of the first players to bust as he got all-in with A♠ K♠ but was crushed by his opponents’ Q♠ Q♦ and A♦ A♥ in a sick cooler of a hand.
Thomas Beer, who had pocket aces in the hand, skyrocketed to the top of the chip counts and rode his stack all the way to the final two.
Canadian Sam Cartier busted when he made an ill-timed shove with Ace-Jack only to have Ian Simpson snap him off with Ace-King.
It all led to an eventual showdown between Vandersmissen and German rival Thomas Beer.
The heads-up match was relatively short, the entire final table only took five levels, and all the money went in the middle after Vandersmissen flopped topped pair against Beer’s Ace-King.
Beer failed to improve on the turn or the river and had to settle for a consolation prize of €225,000.
The Paddy Power Poker 2012 Irish Poker Open in Dublin drew 502 players with some of the biggest names in poker including Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Freddy Deeb, Faraz Jaka on hand for the massive event.
Here are the complete final table payouts:
1. Kevin Vandersmissen - €420,000 2. Thomas Beer - €225,000 3. David “Dixie” Dean - €158,000 4. Ian Simpson - €107,000 5. Steve Watts - €78,000 6. Jordan Lewis - €59,000 7. Sam Chartier - €44,500 8. Andy Black - €32,700 9. Philip Magennis - €23,000
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