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Christer Johansson, 39-year old Swede and well-known online cash game specialist who plays under the handle 'sendmemore', bested 699 other players to capture the 2009 PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Open Championship title on Monday evening.

Becoming railbirds along the way were such poker notables as Dan Harrington, Jamie Gold, Phil Laak, Marty Smyth, Ciaran O'Leary, Neil Channing, and online cash game player Brian 'sbrugby' Townsend.

But after battling through the second largest field in the history of the event, it came down to Johansson defeating poker TV presenter and former model Kara Scott to win the Irish Open championship title.

The PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Open, held this year at the City West Hotel in Dublin, is the longest running tournament on the European continent, with its inaugural event having played out in 1980, and is second only to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in longevity. The tournament began on Friday, April 10th and featured a total prizepool of 2,240,000 Euros. The buy-in for the tournament was 3,500 Euros and 72 players made the money.

With chips spread amongst a number of the final table players, a long night of play was expected. But elimination of Bradshaw in eighth place happened in the second hand by the pocket Kings of Gueorguiev. Pantling eliminated Verburg in seventh place a few hands later and, when Scott moved all-in and wasn't called, there were three different all-in situations during the first ten hands of action.

Both Pantling and Gueorguiev continued to apply pressure to the final table, with Gueorguiev eliminating Kassouf in sixth and Pantling dispatching Brooke-Pearce in fifth. With four players remaining, the chips were evenly spread out and the eliminations slowed down. Scott and Johansson began to climb up the leader board during this period.

Fourth place was not settled for around another hour and a half. After raising the pre-flop pot, Gueorguiev found himself re-raised by Pantling. Scott, who held a slight chip lead on the table, promptly moved a 500,000 chip bet to the center. Gueorguiev immediately popped the remainder of his stack into the pot and, after Pantling folded, faced the call from Scott. Gueorguiev's pocket Kings were ahead of Scott's A-Q, but a cruel Ace on the river stole the hand from Atanas and eliminated him in fourth place.

After administering the bad beat, Scott held nearly two-thirds of the chips in play, and it looked like Scott was on her way to becoming the fifth woman to capture the Irish Open poker champion's title. Johansson eliminated Pantling in third place, when he rivered a Queen against Pantling's pocket sevens. Meanwhile, Scott still held the chip lead, but now by only 400,000 chips.

The heads-up play began, but 13 hands later a new champion was crowned. Johansson, who had been steady throughout play at the final table, gradually began to impose his will against Scott until he built a solid lead. On the final hand, Scott raised the stakes to 140,000 and was flat-called by Johansson. After a J-7-K flop, the remainder of Scott's chips found their way into the middle and Johansson called. When the cards were turned up, Johansson held the lead with K-3 for top pair against Scott's J-9 for second pair. No saving card came on the turn or river and Johansson captured the 2009 Irish Open.

With the Irish Open championship, Johansson, with four 1st place finishes including a major title on the World Poker Tour at the inaugural Grand Prix de Paris, surpassed the $2 million mark in career earnings. Scott, who finished 104th last year in the WSOP Main Event, took home her best finish ever in a tournament and showed that her poker skills are just as prominent as her announcing prowess.

The final results are listed below (shown in Euros):
# 1st.. .. Christer Johansson .. .. 600,000
# 2nd .. .. Kara Scott .. .. 312,600
# 3rd .. .. Andrew Pantling .. .. 205,200
# 4th .. .. Atanas Gueorguiev.. .. 163,300
# 5th .. .. Lee Brooke-Pearce .. .. 130,600
# 6th .. .. William Kassouf .. .. 100,800
# 7th .. .. Bradley Verburg.. .. 74,600
# 8th .. .. Andy Bradshaw .. .. 56,000