PaddyPower.com Irish Poker Open, Day 2: Bradshaw, Brooke-Pearce Share Lead

Apr 12, 2009 3 min read

PaddyPower.com Irish Poker Open, Day 2: Bradshaw, Brooke-Pearce Share Lead 0001

Day 2 of the PaddyPower.com Irish Poker Open kicked off with 287 survivors of the original 700 entrants returning. That field thinned even more on Day 2, with only 64 survivors dodging the minefield to make it through to Day 3. Among the casualties on Day 2 were Phil Laak, 2006 WSOP Champ Jamie Gold, Juha Helppi and Surinder Sunar. When the dust settled on Day 2, Andy Bradshaw and Lee Brooke-Pearce shared the lead atop a tightly packed leaderboard.

The short stacks wasted no time getting their chips in the middle in an effort to build a workable stack or go home. Among the early bustouts included Barny Boatman, Pat Vickers and 2008 champion Neil Channing. Channing's attempt at a repeat ended when he shoved A-K into pocket queens. All the chips went in preflop, and when the board missed his overcards, Channing was done early.

There were two bubbles that players kept an eye on as Day 2 moved along. One was the tournament bubble that everyone was concerned with, but the other was specific to the PaddyPoker.com qualifiers. Over 100 players qualified for the Irish Poker Open on PaddyPower.com, and all of them were entered into a Sole Survivor contest specific to that site. The last surviving PaddyPoker.com qualifier in the event was scheduled to pick up approximately �100,000 in cash and tournament buy-ins around the world. As Day 2 drew to a close, the 101 original qualifiers had been whittled down to only nine survivors.

As the money bubble neared, several high-profile players headed to the rail. EPT champion Julian Thew busted when his A?10? ran smack into Evan Hunt's A?K?. No help showed on the board for Thew, and he was done just out of the money. On the money bubble, after a long period of cautious play, two all-ins took place at the same time. On one table, Graham Masters got all his chips in preflop with A?A?, which held up against Andrew Pantling's 10?10?. Before Masters could get his heart rate under control, another all in was announced at a nearby table. This time Ronald O'Hara got all his chips in behind with A?10? against Andreas Kyprianou's A?Q?. Kyprianou picked up a queen on the flop and O'Hara was eliminated on the bubble.

As the money bubble burst and the last levels of play commenced, Packie Quinn busted in a controversial hand just after making the money. Quinn called a preflop raise from Joe Fleming for the last of his chips, and former chip leader Maurice Harmon moved all in over the top for the last of his stack. Quinn exposed his cards prematurely, showing J?10? before Fleming made the call for the rest of Harmon's chips. Quinn's hand was declared dead despite the appeals of the players, and Quinn's tournament was over without a chance at one last triple-up. It turned out that it made no difference, as Harmon flopped a straight on the 9?J?10?5?3? board and more than doubled up right before the end of the day.

Kara Scott also made a late surge, coming back late in Day 2 off a short stack early on. Scott (photo above) picked up a big pot in the last level when she re-raised to isolate preflop after Carsten Joh moved all in. After a few moments of thought, a player in late position folded, and Scott showed 9?9?. Joh was drawing thin with 8?8?, and the board ran out A?Q?K?J?Q? to move Scott near the top ten chip stacks as the day drew to a close. Other notable survivors included Roy "the Boy" Brindley, Paul Testud, Pascal Perrault and Andy Bradshaw, who finished Day 2 tied with Lee Brooke-Pearce for the overall lead. The top ten after Day 2 play: