October 30, 2008 (InfoPowa News) — The Paddy Power Irish Masters Championship has been won by relative unknown player Fiachra Meere of Limerick, who survived a field of 423 poker hopefuls to scoop the €150,000 main prize. The championship was part of the Irish Winter Festival and provided a fitting close this week for the well-patronized Dublin event.
Meere's heads up clash with second-placed Chris Wood, who took home €106,000, was the culmination for both players of a journey that started with a free roll to qualify for the main event. Meere won his seat at his local card club's freeroll and Wood won his online at Paddy Power Poker.
Meere joins an honor roll of winners that dates back to 2004 and includes players of calibre like Ram Vaswami (2004), Mats Gavatin (2005), Roland De Wolfe (2006) and Reuben Peters (2007).