Carl Shaw Leads Field in Biggest Ever €1,150 Irish Open Main Event
Day 2 of the €1,150 Irish Open Main Event, held at the Royal Dublin Society, has now concluded and remaining players are in the money.
The event attracted a total of 2,491 entrants across four starting flights, as well as those who registered late up until the start of Day 2. This made for a prize pool of €2,428,725, a 22 percent increase on last year.
This is not only a record breaking Irish Open Main Event, but also the biggest poker tournament ever held in Ireland.
A total of 1,061 players made it to the start of the day and 160 players have bagged and tagged to return for Day 3. They are all guaranteed to take home at least €2,990 for their efforts. The winner is set to walk away with €365,000.
David Docherty started the day as chip leader and managed to grow his stack and maintain a position towards the top end of the table. He is currently fourth with 1,335,000 chips.
Carl Shaw is currently the out and out chip leader with 1,700,000. Not far behind him is Ireland’s Seamus Cahill with 1,570,000, and Eftychios Georgiou is in third place with 1,410,000.
Top 10 End of Day 2 Chip Stacks
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carl Shaw | UK | 1,700,000 | 170 |
| 2 | Seamus Cahill | Ireland | 1,576,000 | 157 |
| 3 | Eftychios Georgiou | 1,410,000 | 141 | |
| 4 | David Docherty | Scotland | 1,335,000 | 133 |
| 5 | Michel Molenaar | Netherlands | 1,191,000 | 119 |
| 6 | Marc Macdonnell | Ireland | 1,113,000 | 111 |
| 8 | Dwayne Sluis | France | 1,077,000 | 107 |
| 9 | Sean O'Reilly | Netherlands | 994,000 | 94 |
| 10 | barry devlin | Ireland | 973,000 | 97 |
| 10 | Leo Worthington-Leese | UK | 970,000 | 97 |
Many notable players made it to Day 2 but couldn't survive to come back tomorrow. Last year’s Main Event winner Steve O'Dwyer busted out before the money, as did Fintan Hand. Irish Open Ambassador Chris Dowling busted shortly after cashing.
Both Benjamin Spragg and Marle Spragg busted as the day was drawing to a close. Marle Spragg’s bustout was particular brutal, her aces cracked by quads in the final moments of Day 2.
There are plenty of familiar faces and regular winners who will return to battle it out on Day 3. They include Conor Beresford, Irish Open High Roller winner Benny Glaser, and Timothy Chung, who all have around average stacks.
Four time WSOP bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche, meanwhile, sits towards the top of the counts with 851,000 chips.
When play resumes on Day 3 of the €1,150 Irish Poker Main Event, blinds will be on 6,000/12,000 with a 12,000 ante with blind levels running for 60 minutes.
PokerNews will be bringing you live updates from the floor as we play through to the business end of the tournament.