Ireland’s Kevin Killeen won the Dublin leg of the UK and Ireland Poker Tour at the historic Round Room at the Mansion House in the heart of the city centre from 27 February-3 March 2014.

Killeen’s heads-up battle with Max Silver, looking for his second UKIPT title, lasted around two-and-a-half hours but it was almost over within minutes of it beginning. Killeen was all-in with pocket nines and survived the race with Silver’s king-queen.

Silver got the better of most of the pots that weren’t all-ins but when all the chips were at risk, Killeen had the goods, or got there. Three more times his stack was a risk and all three times he found a double up.

When Silver was short and needed to make a move, he found himself dominated and out. His four-bet all-in with queen-eight was called by Killeen holding the dominating king-queen. Five cards later and Silver was covered in drink from Killeen’s rail as they charged the tournament floor to celebrate.

After his victory Killeen said on the PokerStars blog: “I’m absolutely delighted to have won UKIPT Dublin, words can’t describe how I feel. The rail kept me believing, they were loud, and they were great. Max is a very good player, it took me a while to find my rhythm but once I got even I believed I could win.

“I said at the beginning of the year that I wouldn’t shave my beard until I’d had a 50k score so I guess the beard’s got to go! The money’s one thing but I’m just absolutely delighted to make a run like this and to be crowned champion of Dublin is fantastic.”