Summer In Dublin – Day 4 Wrap
We are gona need a bigger boat… The sharks must have smelt blood in the water from near and far as the poker floor has been bombarded by players from here, there and everywhere. With an action-packed schedule and the final day of the Main Event in the back of everyone’s mind, players now have to put in the grind to make it through for a chance to shine.
Main Event 1E €50k for 1st started off proceedings with a whopping 220 entries. Paul Carr put in a shift to secure 242,000. His excitement and love of the game is infectious and it will be great to see him competing in the Main Event. The highest stacks of the flight belonged to Phil McCreary who now has 486,000, Shane Kelly snapped up 557,000. With the highest stack so far went to Shyamrag Charuvil who raked in 756,000. From this flight 38 players went through.
The Smart Poker Tour NLH was up next, giving players the first chance to win a trophy. The tournament ran in association with our good friends at Smart Poker Tour whose event in Sunny Beach Bulgaria between 1st and 7th September is sure to be a whopper, a few of the boys have already booked tickets and all.
83 entries signed up bringing the prize pool to €17,530. As play progressed the field shortened, in 3rd place was Simon Keating who banked. After a 2-way deal heads up, Ryan Bushell came 2nd taking home €4,000 and the winner was Antrim’s Steven Lee who recently won the Main Event at Portlaoise. Stevie took home the trophy and €4,830 after a 2-way deal heads up.
Main Event 1F €50k for 1st saw 249 entries, which was the biggest turnout of the festival so far. With such a large field it meant there were a lot of chips up for grabs. Taking advantage of this and walking away with the highest stacks was John Cormican with 452,000, next was Emad Aghasi who banked 497,000. The highest stack went to Daniel O’Herlihy, who walked away ready for the Main Event with 500,000. With such a large field the chips ended up spread amongst the 45 players going through.
The Saturday Omaha saw 54 entries going through with a prize pool of €8,815 to be contested for. As play progressed it ended with Ektor Strumi once again walking away with cash from the festival in 3rd place and securing €1,350. The heads resulted in Darren Mohan taking home €1,950 in 2nd place. The winner was the figurehead of The Smart Poker Tour who has now been to 3 IPT events, Simeon Tsonev who took home the trophy and €3,115. It was great to have a chance to catch up with him early in the day to talk about the up-and-coming event in Sunny Beach.
The last of the trophies up for grabs was the Saturday Night €5k which had 64 entries bringing the prize pool to €7,680. As play progressed it came down to 3 players who fought hard for the number 1 spot. In the end 3rd place went Rickey Kong who banked €1,180. In 2nd was Patrick Joseph Coulter who took home €1,650. Winner of the 5k adding his 4th IPT trophy to the cabinet was Paudie Cusack who took home the trophy and €2,500.
The last flight of the day was the Main Event 1G €50k for 1st which saw 121 signing up. IPT regulars Tomas Flanagan and Dickie Whiteside managed to get a bag through. The highest stacks went to Joshua Noble with 330,000, Neil Higgins had 382,000 and the biggest stack of the flight was bagged up by Ernest Lydon with 422,000.
What comes next needs no introduction. Main Event final day always has a special feel to it, the precipice of glory within reach, the players who bagged up need only hold their nerve a little longer for the chance to become the champ. With the added incentive put in place by the WPT Global Team a few others will be a bit more nervous with the extra cash up for grabs.
Be sure to stay tuned to livepokerupdates for all the action