Donal’s Corner – Leaderboard Battle Heads for the Siege of Clonmel IV

The Irish Poker Tour Annual Leaderboard race is building to a crescendo with an almighty battle ahead for the top three places and overall glory, alongside an equally intriguing fight for the last few places in the Top 16.

The overall winner of the Leaderboard will be collect approximately €6,000 and a year’s worth of bragging rights, with second and third winning about €3,500 and €2,500 respectively. The competition runs all the way to the final event of the year which is the Portlaoise €35k in a Day in the Killeshin Hotel on December 27th.

Throughout this year, Shane Keary has had a comfortable lead and the slightly arrogant air of a champ in waiting but the big man from East Galway has recently started to wobble and the sharks, led by 2023 winner Paul Carr, Killian Farrell, and Tomás Flanagan, can smell bllod in the water. Micky Merrigan, Tommy O’Rourke, Steven Lee and Mary Galvin are all within easy striking range of the podium also.

The Top 16 finishers in the Leaderboard qualify for the Playoff at the IPT Final in the Green Isle in January with 75% of the overall fund up for grabs. Everyone in the Top 16 is guaranteed a payday so there will be a terrific scrap for the last few places. Currently, there is only 825 points between David ‘Panda’ Fitzpatrick in 11th and John Fannon all the way down in 30th. All of these players are still in with a great chance of making the Playoff.

This brings us to Clonmel next weekend, Friday October 17th to Sunday 19th, where the Main Event guarantee is €50,000 and there are seven different tournaments with points available to be won. Expect most of the leading contenders at the Talbot Hotel, but also expect a new face or two to jump into the reckoning with a couple of big results.