Fiachra Meere was the toast of Fitzpatrick's Casino – where he is a regular – on Wednesday night at a special party hosted to celebrate his first major tournament win. The huge event took place at the CityWest Hotel in Dublin over three days on the bank holiday weekend and featured 423 players.

The Barefield native won his ticket to the Irish Poker Masters through the league system in Fitzpatrick's whereby points are allocated depending on how a player does in the casino's tournaments throughout the year.

"I actually only won it on the last night so I may not have gotten to it at all because I wouldn't have the bankroll to be entering a competition that expensive with my own money," the 33-year-old explained on Wednesday evening.

"I've been working on my game properly for the last couple of years but my aim going into the tournament on Day 1 was just to get to Day 2, then on Day 2 I wanted to get into the money. The top 10 per cent of players got paid but once I'd gotten into the money, the title was all I wanted, winning the cash for any position other than first would have been a consolation prize."

Fiachra says the moment on which his tournament hinged was when he managed to eliminate Andy Black, one of the most respected names in Irish poker, in just two hands, thanks to an ace-queen and pocket aces combination one hand after the other.

"It gave me a lot of chips to work with and obviously put out one of the best players there. From then on, I knew there was a good chance that I'd do well."

Fiachra says that he had been planning to buy a house in the near future but had grown uncertain about the purchase recently as his job as a ground operations worker with Aer Lingus in Shannon seemed less secure. Such worries are now a thing of the past thanks to his big win and now he is considering making a career of his lucrative hobby.

"Well it wouldn't really be a case of me leaving my job if it does happen, it's more that they're deserting their workers here anyway. The head of marketing with Paddy Power handed me his business card after the tournament and told me to give him a ring when I'm ready so hopefully we might be able to work out sponsorship for future tournaments.

"The dream is to make this my job and compete regularly in the big tournaments. For now though I'm still walking on air, I can't believe my eyes every time I go to the ATM. I'm single too so I reckon I just became one of the most eligible bachelors in town."