Konstantinos Vatseris Leads 109 Returning Players on Penultime Day of Irish Open Main Event
Day 3 of the 2024 €1,150 Irish Open Main Event, sponsored by PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker, has arrived and 109 players will come back to the Royal Dublin Society at noon local time, all of which are well into the money. They are the survivors of a record-breaking field of 3,233 entries, who created a prize pool of €3,152,175, of which each returning player will receive at least €4,720.
However, all eyes are on the top prize of €415,615 which the eventual champion will receive alongside their trophy. Sitting in a prime position to reach the big bucks is Greek player Konstantinos Vatseris, who bagged the chip lead on Day 2 with a stack of 3,215,000, good for 129 big blinds at the start of play today. Vatseris first recorded live cash stems from less than a year ago, but he has already made several final tables since then and is looking to add another one to his resume at the Irish Open.
Irish grinder Simon Wilson was the only other player who ended Day 2 with more than 100 big blinds, taking 2,710,000 chips into Day 3. Meanwhile, Wilson's fellow countrymen Aidan Quinlan and Robert Shanley also bagged big, coming back with 2,340,000 and 1,840,000 chips respectively. Also in the top ten chip counts at the start of Day 3 is Conor Beresford (1,990,000). The Brit is mostly known for his online poker accomplishments as "1_conor_b_1", but is no slouch in the live field either, winning a $50,000 buy-in tournament at PCA 2023 as his best-ever result.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Konstantinos Vatseris | Greece | 3,215,000 | 129 |
| 2 | Simon Wilson | Ireland | 2,710,000 | 108 |
| 3 | Georgios Tsouloftas | Cyprus | 2,400,000 | 96 |
| 4 | Aidan Quinlan | Ireland | 2,340,000 | 94 |
| 5 | Conor Beresford | England | 1,990,000 | 80 |
| 6 | Narcis Nedelcu | Romania | 1,950,000 | 78 |
| 7 | Robert Shanley | Ireland | 1,840,000 | 74 |
| 8 | Nicklas Dehli | Denmark | 1,690,000 | 68 |
| 9 | Ravi Sheth | United Kingdom | 1,650,000 | 66 |
| 10 | Kimmo Kurko | Finland | 1,645,000 | 66 |
Other notables who secured a seat on Day 3 include PokerStars Ambassador Sebastian Huber (480,000), recent bracelet winner Tobias Peters (1,185,000), former PokerStars employee turned tournament crusher Ankit Ahuja (1,075,000), and PokerStars Live Event VIP Specialist Brandon Nguyen (1,465,000). Ireland, meanwhile, still has plenty of irons in the fire, with the likes of Padraig Parkinson (1,300,000), Paul Carr (870,000) and David Lappin (400,000) still in the mix.
When play resumes at noon local time, the blinds will be at 10,000/25,000 with a 25,000 big blind ante. All levels are 60 minutes in length, and eight of them are scheduled to be played, subject to change depending on how many players will be left at that point. The action will also be streamed live, with a cards-up feature table over at the PokerStars' Twitch and YouTube channels, operating at a 30-minute delay.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor in Dublin to provide all of the information and interesting hands from the outer tables, so stay tuned to not miss any of the Irish Open Main Event.