Portlaoise €30K In A Day Wrap
Landing in the location where the first Aeroplane in Ireland was built the Irish Poker Tour has arrived as always on time and ready to provide those present with a day to remember. Touching down in the Killeshin Hotel for the first time, the closest hotel to the stomping grounds of Electric Picnic, regarded as Ireland’s equivalent to Glastonbury. It was sure to see a tantalising turnout as always and it didn’t disappoint. With a festival guarantee of €30,000 it brought in many new punters and familiar faces. The prize pool for all the combined tournaments on the day reached a staggering €58,325.
The day got underway at 1pm with the Portlaoise Main Event, queues at the check-in desk filled up and filed into place, with no flights required, just speedy boarding straight to your seats. Throughout the day though people had to fight to keep their place, with big hands and even bigger plays resulting in early ejections and rekindling of well-established connections. Which is a staple of any IPT event, anyone who has had the pleasure of attending will know that it is more than just a poker event. It is a community that promotes comradery with people from all over the world and from different walks of life. All with one common love and that is Poker. The prize pool for the Main Event reached €47,165, the Main Event saw 289 entries in total.
At every Main Event the highlight for all but one came once again. The unlucky “bubble boy” was Jimmy Devaney, leaving the rest of the field in the money and ready to duel it out in the hopes of leaving as Top Gun.
As the day rolled on, 7.30pm saw the start of the Saturday NLH kick off presenting a fresh opportunity to walk away with a slice of the prize pool, the trophy and glory. At the close of registration 72 entries had signed up, with the prize pool reaching €8,640. In 3rd place was Gediminas Bartkus taking €1,210, in 2nd was Vasileios Kontogiannis, who banked €1,770. The winner of the Saturday NLH was Tipperary’s finest Kitty Kerwick who pocketed €2,570.
With the atmosphere reaching supersonic levels, those still playing in the Main Event had a chance to regroup and make a charge for the number one spot on the podium. 9.30pm saw the last of the day’s tournaments beginning, the Omaha 7-Max, with 21 entries and a prize pool of €2,520 this was our competitors last opportunity of the day to bolster their trophy cabinet. With the noticeable absence of the always cheery Shane Keary who sits atop the Irish Poker Tour Leaderboard. Shane and a squad of IPT regulars who met through the events boarded a plane for Las Vegas, we wish them all the best of luck and hope The Hangovers aren’t too bad and more importantly no one gets locked out on the roof.
The players battled through the evening, into Sunday morning, in the end Kate Zed placed 3rd with €500. In 2nd place was Michael Merrigan, with €800, Mikey who sits 4th Irish Poker Tour Leaderboard was bested by non-other the man who he is chasing in the IPT leaderboard. Paul “Cookie Jar” Carr adds another trophy to the already packed cabinet. Taking home the trophy and €1,220.
The Main Event was riveting to behold, with many of those who busted out watching from the sidelines. The field was widdled down to the final 3 and a 3-way deal was done resulting in a long-awaited trophy for Steven Lee, he shared the pot pocketing €8,010 with fellow Antrim man Barry McKelvey and Istvan Szakacs.
Once again, the team at IPT have packaged up and presented the punters with an event to remember. With memorable moments all jammed into one day. As always for all those who attended many thanks for joining us and we look forward to seeing you and those who couldn’t make it at the next event…Summer in Dublin July 23rd – 27th