Recap #4: More Trophies, More Stories at the Irish Open 2025

€350 6-Max PLO Championship: Harwood’s Whim Pays Off

Bradley Harwood showed up for beers and ended up with a trophy. The English online grinder known as ‘mrbradleyy’ decided last minute to fire the €350 6-Max PLO Championship and outlasted 316 players — including close friend and heads-up opponent Sander Ostlyngen — to take the title and €18,960, his biggest live cash to date.

Coming into Day 2 with an average stack, Harwood steadily chipped up until he found himself second in chips behind Finland’s Rasmus Ekstrom at the final table. Once it got three-handed, Harwood turned up the heat, battling Ekstrom before reaching a dominant chip lead against Ostlyngen. The Norwegian never recovered, and Harwood celebrated with his friends (and a few more drinks), already plotting a Irish Open 2025 Main Event run before heading back to the online grind.

Final Table – €350 6-Max PLO Championship

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Bradley Harwood		€18,960
2nd	Sander Ostlyngen		€11,853
3rd	Rasmus Ekstrom		€8,450
4th	Mohamed Fawzi		€6,500
5th	Andreas Stocker		€5,000

€550 NLH Mystery Bounty: Norden Scoops the Lot

Alexander Norden came out on top in the €550 NLH Mystery Bounty after a wild final table that included a three-way bustout and plenty of envelope-hunting. Norden and runner-up Steven Arsnes agreed to an even chop of the cash prize (€26,500 each), but Norden walked away with the lion’s share of the bounties — including the top envelope worth €33,000 — for a total of €69,400.

The final stages were chaos. Norden hit a straight to knock out three players in a single hand, before finishing off Desmond Connolly in third. With nearly even stacks, Norden and Arsnes made the deal and wrapped up a crowd-pleasing event that had drawn 710 runners and a booming €346K prize pool.

Final Table – €550 NLH Mystery Bounty

Place	Player	Country	Prize*
1st	Alexander Norden		€69,400
2nd	Steven Arsnes		€34,500
3rd	Desmond Connolly		€14,700
4th	Ivan Kuziv		€30,200
5th	Daniel Samson		€11,800

*Inclusive of bounties

Irish Open Ladies Championship: Skinner Runs the Show

Michelle Skinner didn’t just win the Irish Open 2025 Ladies Championship — she bossed it from start to finish. The Day 2 chip leader never lost control and sealed the deal heads-up against Lydia Cugudda after a short but entertaining battle. The two agreed to chop the money before playing on for the trophy, which Skinner claimed along with €8,100.

The final table was fast-paced and heavy on all-ins, with Cugudda responsible for most of the early eliminations. The last Irishwoman standing, Keri Shaughnessy, fell early, and Cugudda and Skinner made sure the tournament’s final stages belonged to them alone.

Final Table – Irish Open Ladies Championship

Main Event: Numbers Don’t Lie

The Irish Open 2025 Main Event has smashed all previous records with 4,562 entries — the largest field in Irish poker history. The €2.5 million guarantee is now a distant memory, with the prize pool topping €4.4 million. By Day 3, only 218 players remained, all eyeing up the €600,000 first prize.

Michel Molenaar bagged the chip lead with 3.8 million, trailed by Michel Karim and Tyler Spaugh. Former champ Ian Simpson, Steve O’Dwyer, and PokerStars Ambassador Parker Talbot are also still in the hunt. Talbot, notably, is the only Ambassador left standing after Day 2, with the others turning their attention to lip-syncing duties.

Play resumed at noon on Sunday and will continue down to the final table. Until the winner’s officially crowned we’ll just leave this insane hand from the Irish Open 2025 Main Event here:

The Mini Irish Open Bubble Madness

The Irish Open 2025 Mini Main Event continues to build toward its €1,000,000 guarantee, with Flight 1J pulling in 819 players — the biggest yet. At day’s end, 41 players bagged for Day 2, with Neculai Macovei leading the way on 1.66 million in chips.

Among the notables to survive was Soraya Estrada Gonzalez, who delivered a dramatic double KO to end the day and bag second in chips. The prize pool has already soared past €850,000 and more Day 1 flights remain. With momentum like this, it looks like another seven-figure prize pool is all but locked in.

Photo Credit: Evelyn Rom & Danny Maxwell