Picture the scene:
Five players remain, two massive stacks held by Paul Carr and Barry O'Sullivan. With the blinds 2,000 - 4,000 Barry limps and Paul looks down at AcKc; he raises to 20,000 and Barry makes the call. The flop is Qs5c4c. Check from Barry, 50k bet by Paul and a fast all-in from Barry. Paul stops to think furious with himself for getting into this situation ' why play a big pot with 3 short stacks around the table?'. Even so he calls and is stunned and happy when Barry shows 8c6c but delight turns to sickness when a red 8 hits the Turn. Nothing on the river and Paul is gone in fifth and Barry has over 90% of the chips in play.
Soon just three remain after Barry dogs Pete Finnerty. Vincent McNeela and Frank Concannon have a short conference and ask is it ok for them to split second and third (€1,350 each) and give first place to Barry (€2,760). No rule could be invoked to stop this odd arrangement and that was that.
After his triumph in the Grand Prix, Barry is on the run of his life - better lucky than good they always say, a bit of both is the magic formula.