Chris Moneymaker Bags Big in PokerStars Festival Dublin Main Event Day 1A
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After 12 action-packed levels of poker on Day 1a of the PokerStars Festival Dublin Main Event, 42 players bagged up chips. Yuriy Boyko from Ireland ended as the chip leader finishing the day with a stack of 196,900.
In second place was another Irishman Seamus Cahill with 191,100 and Italian Antonio Merone ended in third with 189,900.
It was a sleepy start to the day as 60 players took their seats at 12 p.m. for cards in the air. The world famous Dublin hospitality, a victory for Celtic in the Champions League the night before and all-night cash games no doubt accounted for a few of the bleary eyes and modest start.
The Main Event soon picked up momentum though as the caffeine kicked in and the numbers steadily swelled to reach 137 total entries.
Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker gave a well-received “Shuffle up and deal!” at the start of the day but then kept his powder dry until level six when registration closed before taking his seat.
It all looked so easy for Moneymaker as he steadily accumulated chips without ever seeming to put his stack at risk. Indeed it was Moneymaker putting other stacks at risk and he busted a player in one of the last hands of the day to finish near the top of the leaderboard sitting on 179,900.
Many were unable to bag chips in this flight though. Among them was Terry Jordon, who likes to play an aggressive game and is always likely to have a ton of chips or none; today it was the latter. Jordan hit a four on the flop holding seven-four in Level 2. All the chips went in but Jordan’s opponent had aces and held on to bust him.
Andy Black, number one on the Ireland all-time money list, was at the tables bright and early and in fine form, chatting up a storm and building a decent stack towards the middle of the day, but he fell short of bagging up chips.
Belgian poker pro Matthias De Meulder was another of the early risers and was cruising along until he lost a big pot in Level 5 when a river bluff on a paired board was picked off by Mark Buckley holding a baby flush. De Meulder was out later in the same level after losing a flip to Michael Mazilu.
For those who failed to carry chips forward to Day 2, there is a final chance Turbo with a 20-minute clock starting at 9:30 p.m on Friday. That includes those who bust Day 1b, which kicks off at 12 p.m. on Friday.
Day 1b notables are likely to include Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody, Niall Farrell, Ludovic Geilich, Kelly Saxby as well as seven-time world snooker champion Stephen Hendry and ex-footballers Wayne Bridge and Michael Duberry.
Follow all the action right here as the PokerNews Live Reporting team brings you updates from the felt and beyond as the €700,000 guarantee PokerStars Festival Dublin continues.