Galway poker legend, Vinnie O'Toole, won two side events over last weekend at the Connacht Open in the Radisson Galway.
On Saturday night, The Longlad won the €100 Turbo event beating Fintan Gavin, Paul Carr and James Walsh in a superbly entertaining Final Table.
The decisive hand came with both players having about 150,000 in chips and the blinds 5000-10000. Vinnie raised to 25,000 from the small blind andFintan called with 9d4d. The flop came Q98 and Vinnie bet 30,000. Fintan called. The turn came another Queen and both playrs checked. A 3 on the river and Vinnie quickly pushed all-in. After a lot of banter back and forth and with a large crowd of onlookers entranced, Fintan announced that he was probably calling for a split and pushed his chips over the line. The Longlad said it was a good call and Fintan proudly tabled his hand, only for Vinnie to produce JT to rousing cheers and peels of laughter much of it from Fintan who appreciates a good slowroll when he sees one.
Sunday afternoon's tournament was the €75 Monster Stack in which Vinnie beat Eglinton regular, Thomas McDonagh in the heads up with the Camel Doctor also cashing.
As is the norm, a large number of Vinnie's friends were delighted with his victories and were happy to share his good fortune after he received his prizemoney.