Irish Open daily reports

[TightEnd]

Irish Open Media Update - Day 1


A total of 321 runners made up the field for Day 1 of the €3,200 + €300 buy-in 2015 PaddyPower Poker Irish Open Main Event today, generating a prize pool of €1,027,200. At the end of play, 2013 champion Ian Simpson topped the chip counts on 143,425. We only have 235 players left going into Day 2.

The grand ballroom at the Doubletree by Hilton Burlington Road, universally known simply as the Burlington, was packed with such luminaries as Dan Harrington, Jake Cody, Mike Sexton and former Irish Open champions Ian Simpson, Neil Channing and Patrick Clarke, as well as PaddyPower Poker Madchester festival winner Shah Athar, who won his seat to this event as part of his prize package.

Chip leader Ian Simpson, who took down this event in 2013 for €265,000 before dramatically proposing to his girlfriend at the final table, is in the lead going into Day 2. Simpson is being railed this weekend by his aforementioned girlfriend, as well as his soon to be in-laws. He is also an online qualifier and therefore eligible for the Sole Survivor promotion and a shot at that extra €50,000 on top of anything he might win this week.

In second place behind Simpson on 122,200 is EPT winner Rupert Elder; EPT Grand Final champion Steve O’Dwyer is in third place on 111,975. Other notable players still in the running include Jake Cody, Andy Black and father and son team Donnacha and Eoghan O’Dea. Full chip counts are available on the blog.

https://paddypowerpokerblog.wordpress.com/

 It is often said that the real action at the Irish Open takes place at the bar, and among today’s entertainments were opportunities to flip for free drinks, and also a sumo suit wrestling contest, which garnered a bigger and considerably more raucous rail than the Main Event. These events, along with beer pong, will continue throughout the weekend.
 
Tomorrow the field reconvenes at noon and will attempt to play down to the money, or as close to it as possible.

[TightEnd]

Irish Open 2015 Press Release - Day 2

Steve O’Dwyer Seizes Chip Lead After Day 2 of the Irish Open

 Day 2 of the €3,200 + €300 PaddyPower Poker Irish Open Main Event is in the bag, and so are 598,000 chips for the new chip leader Steve O’Dwyer.  He’s not “new” in the sense that being well-stacked in major events is especially novel for a man with over $9 million in tournament winnings, but he’s overtaken prior leaders such as 2013 Irish Open champion Ian Simpson and early front-runner Carol Nichols (both now out).

To bag the €250,000 first prize, however, he’ll have to outlast the other 55 Day 2 survivors; to make the money he just needs to hit the top 36.  A field of 321 here in Dublin’s Doubletree by Hilton (Burlington to the old school) generated a total prizepool of €1,027,200 and tomorrow slices of the money pie will start to be distributed.

Others well-positioned for a deep run include Pavel Chalupka (390,000), Feargal Nealon (381,500 - also a Sole Survivor candidate), Kevin Killeen (366,500), and Simon Deadman (278,000). Tomorrow’s field will also be enlivened by the Day 2 survival of Rupert Elder (102,500), Donnacha O’Dea (77,500), Jude Ainsworth (262,000) and Dave Masters (111,000), although it will lack Day 2 bustees such as Jake Cody, Andy Black and Dale Philip.

In terms of actual poker side events, today saw the commencement of the €1,000 + €125 Liam Flood Memorial tournament, which is still ongoing with 18 out of 94 players remaining, as is the €200 + €25 Turbo Win the Button event.  Tomorrow sees the start of the two-day Irish Open Mini, which at €300 + €35 does exactly what it promises, bringing 30 minute levels and a 15,000 starting stack to ex-Main Event players and newcomers alike.

Live reporting continues throughout on the PaddyPower Poker Blog and feature tables will continue to rotate on the live stream from tomorrow’s noon start.

[TightEnd]

Irish Open Press Release - Day 3


The final table is set at the 2015 PaddyPower Poker Irish Open, and when play resumes at noon tomorrow, Irish poker legend Donnacha O’Dea will be in the lead on just over 2 million chips.

Winner of one WSOP bracelet and veteran of countless final tables, as well as the father of recent WSOP finalist Eoghan O’Dea, O’Dea is making his first Irish Open final table appearance. Also still in the running is Declan Connolly (playing his third Irish Open final), UKIPT winner Kevin Killeen and EPT finalist Baard Dahl.

The €3,200 + €200 NLH Main Event is taking place April 3-7 at the Doubletree by Hilton Burlington Road hotel. A total of 321 entries generated a prize pool of €1,027,000. Participants included Mike Sexton, Jake Cody, Kara Scott, Dan Harrington and former champions Neil Channing, Marty Smyth, Niall Smyth, Patrick Clarke and Ian Simpson. Thirty-six places paid out, and the eventual winner will take home €250,000.


Steve O’Dwyer, by far the winningest player in the field with well over €9 million in live tournament earningswas in the lead at the start of Day 3, but things did not go entirely his way – he eventually took home €12,500 for 15th place. Other notable players who made it into the money but did not progress to the final table included Keith “The Camel” Hawkins (23rd place), Simon Deadman (16th), and people’s favourites Feargal Nealon (18th place) and Tom  Kitt (outflipped on the final table bubble for 9th place). The unluckiest player of the day was Peter Barrable – he lost a coinflip with pocket fours against Giacomo Fundaro’s A-Q on the money bubble and was the last player to leave the tournament with nothing to show for it.

Tomorrow’s final promises to be one of the best in recent memory, and viewers at home can watch the entire affair, with hole cards, on a 30 minute delay via our live stream. The PaddyPower Poker blog will also be recording all the action for posterity. Play kicks off at noon, and the live stream will begin at 12.30.

 
Final table line up:

 
Seat 1: Declan Connolly – 1,050,000
Seat 2: Donnacha O’Dea – 2,010,000
Seat 3: Kevin Killeen – 1,280,000
Seat 4: Michael Wang – 1,215,000
Seat 5: Andreas Gann – 485,000
Seat 6: Baard Dahl – 962,000
Seat 7: Fergal Cawley – 655,000
Seat 8: Ioannis Triantafyllakis – 1,898,000
 

Still to play for:

1 - €250,000
2 - €152,000
3 - €111,750
4 - €82,750
5 - €61,850
6 - €46,500
7 - €32,250
8 - €26,750

 
Elsewhere, the Liam Flood Memorial event concluded today. The €1,000 + €125 NLH side event was won by Garrett Boyle for €25,000 after a heads up battle with Padraic O’Luana. 2008 Irish Open Main Event champion Neil Channing took third place. The side events continue tomorrow with Day 2 of the €300 + €35 Irish Open Mini, and the €125 + €25 + €20 NLH Scalps event at 2pm. You can find the full festival schedule here.

 

Main Event payouts so far:


9th - Tom Kitt - €20,500
10th - Pavlos Xanthopoulos - €15,700
11th -Andreas Leledakis - €15,700
12th - Pavel Chalupka - €15,700
13th - Chris Dowling - €12,500
14th - James McManus - €12,500             
15th - Steve O’Dwyer - €12,500
16th - Simon Deadman - €9,750
17th - Boris Fragin - €9,750
18th - Fergal Nealon - €9,750
19th - Alexander Beck - €7,750
20th - John Hughes - €7,750
21st - Ronan Gilligan - €7,750
22nd - Daniel Tighe - €7,750
23rd - Keith Hawkins - €7,750
24th - Declan Baker - €7,750
25th - Giacomo Fundaro - €7,750
26th - Phillip Huxley - €7,750
27th - Niko Koop - €7,750
28th - Hugh Parker - €6,250
29th - Kamal Singh - €6,250
30th - Herman Campmans - €6,250
31st - Con Collins - €6,250
32nd - Tim Davie - €6,250
33rd - Martyn Frey -€6,250
34th - Henry McGrath - €6,250
35th - Jamie Daly - €6,250
36th - Peter Murphy - €6,250

[OverTheBorder]

Worst slow roll of all time maybe?

Donnacha O’Dea opened to 100k with -6c and Andreas Gann in the small blind just flat called with -Qd, leaving himself just 177k behind.

Flop: -Ad-6d

Gann checked it, and O’Dea bet 300k, setting his opponent in.

Gann, sitting on the nut flush against O’Dea’s two pair, now tanked up. Not just for a few seconds to enjoy the moment, but, like, for a full 3-4 minutes. Just sitting there with the nuts, watching O’Dea sweat. For ages. As the commentators noted, “That is disgraceful.”

Finally he called and flipped over his cards, and the entire table exploded. Outrageous behaviour! Said the commentators, “If there is any justice in this world, there’ll be an ace or a six.” Ask, and ye shall receive!

Turn:

River: !!!!!

[tikay]

Worst slow roll of all time maybe?

Donnacha O’Dea opened to 100k with -6c and Andreas Gann in the small blind just flat called with -Qd, leaving himself just 177k behind.

Flop: -Ad-6d

Gann checked it, and O’Dea bet 300k, setting his opponent in.

Gann, sitting on the nut flush against O’Dea’s two pair, now tanked up. Not just for a few seconds to enjoy the moment, but, like, for a full 3-4 minutes. Just sitting there with the nuts, watching O’Dea sweat. For ages. As the commentators noted, “That is disgraceful.”

Finally he called and flipped over his cards, and the entire table exploded. Outrageous behaviour! Said the commentators, “If there is any justice in this world, there’ll be an ace or a six.” Ask, and ye shall receive!

Turn:

River: !!!!!

Here it is........

[tikay]

Donnacha never said a word.

Proper bloke.

[AndrewT]

Awesome hand - couldn't have been scripted better. Sign that German up to play the villain in the pantomime at the Gaiety theatre this Xmas - he'd sell it out.

[bergeroo]

Played with Andreas all day on Saturday. One of the oddest opponents I've had. For most of the day he seemed pretty confused and bewildered. I put it down to the fact that he insisted on wearing sunglasses and having headphones in at all times and not speaking much English. However I saw him this morning and had a bit of a chat and his English is OK.

I think he knew he had the nuts, but even so he was genuinely considering folding...

Amazing hand.

[kp24]

Donnacha never said a word.

Proper bloke.

Class act nice to see justice served really can't understand the slow roll there

[dwayne110]

Kinda felt he was laddering and was imagining doomsday scenarios of being up against a set and only being a 60/40 favourite... lol

Fantastic TV though!

[Karabiner]

Those Germans do love a slowroll it's almost a national sport for them.

[GreekStein]

Those Germans do love a slowroll it's almost a national sport for them.

The chinese population watching that will be thinking 'what did he do wrong, this is standard behaviour no?!'

[rfgqqabc]

For a slowroll to be offensive/nasty it has to be malicious and on purpose. This wasn't, just a case of nowt as queer as folk.

[TightEnd]

Irish Open 2015 - Final Day Media Update


Greek online qualifier Ioannis Triantafyllakis has won the 2105 Irish Open and €209,500, plus a bonus €50,000 for becoming the PaddyPower Poker Sole Survivor, outlasting 107 other qualifiers – along with everyone else.

The €3,200 + €300 Irish Open Main Event attracted 321 entrants, generating a prizepool of €1,027,200 which was distributed (unevenly, of course) to the top 36 finishers.   This year saw side event action crowned with the €1,000 Liam Flood Memorial Tournament, which was won by Garrett Boyle for €25,000.  There were six side events in total, including a €300 Mini version of the Main Event, which was won by Mahmood Rasheed for €13,133.

This being the Irish Open, there were also sumo-suit battles, flips for drinks, a zebra on the rail and a spicy dusting of controversy to top off a week of the craic the like of which hasn’t been seen since this time last year.

A who’s who of Irish poker descended on the Hilton Doubletree (née Burlington) over the Easter weekend (April 3rd-6th).  Making the final table today meant outmanoeuvring the likes of Simon Deadman (16th for €9,750), Steve O’Dwyer (15th for €12,500), and Tom Kitt (9th for €20,500).  Just to finish in the money involved nearly three days of navigating the shark-infested waters of the Main Event, past Mike Sexton, Dan Harrington, Daragh Davey, Sean Prendiville, Jude Ainsworth and Dave Masters.

 The final table featured players from five countries, including respected local lad and UKIPT Dublin winner Kevin Killeen and Declan Connolly, making an incredible third appearance at an Irish Open final; it was led at the start of the day by two-time WSOP finalist and all around Irish poker legend Donnacha O’Dea.

 Andreas Gann may have spent the least amount of time on the feature table (finishing 8th for €26,750), but his exit has undoubtedly been the most talked-about hand of the entire tournament.  Playing out of position against O’Dea with -Qd, he flopped the nuts on an -Ad-6d board when O’Dea’s -6c guaranteed him a payoff.  Instead of snap-calling when O’Dea set him in, there ensued a tank of over a minute, which qualifies this as Slowroll of the Year.  The deck brought Gann’s karma full circle, however, with a house-completing on the river which sent the crowd, staunch supporters of both tournament etiquette and the O’Dea poker clan, into a frenzy.

Next out was Norwegian Baard Dahl (7th for €35,250), a victim of his stack size and some unlucky timing running -Jc into Killeen’s pocket aces.  Killeen used his stack boost to begin mixing it up against the two most active players on the (now short-handed) final: Michael Wang and Ioannis Triantafyllakis, the latter soon to become a comfortable chip leader after busting Fergal Cawley in 6th place (€46,500).  Cawley had played a fearless Day 2, but he didn’t have the stack to work the same magic on the final.

o’Dea, the man splitting the Dublin-heavy crowd’s cheering loyalties with Killeen, hit the rail in 5th place.  Short stacked for a while, he found a hand – Ah-9d – with which to make a stand against Triantafyllakis.  Unfortunately, the chip leader had A-K this time around, and O’Dea adds €61,850 to his mile-long list of lifetime tournament cashes.

 A tournament break five-handed seemed to bring the stars (or at least the deck) into alignment for Killeen, as in back to back hands he picked up pocket queens and busted an opponent.  Victim one was prolific – and successful – Irish tournament player Connolly, who probably felt more at home playing on the feature final table (with hole cards broadcast with an hour delay) than anyone, seeing as he’d done it before in 2010 and 2013.  Even for a seasoned player like Connolly, finishing 4th must have rankled because although he picked up a hefty €82,750, his exit made Triantafyllakis the Sole Survivor (see above).

Victim two was American Michael Wang, who had impressed on Day 2 with his relentless preflop aggression when playing down to the final table, although Killeen back then had been the recipient of one or two of his chips.  Now he got the lot, his second pair of queens crushing Wang’s -Jc.  He takes home €111,750.

 Suddenly Killeen and Triantafyllakis found themselves heads up, and quickly came to a chop arrangement - €192,500 for Killeen and €197,500 for Triantafyllakis, with €12,000 and the coveted trophy left to play for.  Soon Triantafyllakis built a 2:1 chip lead, which he parlayed into the victory after around a level and a half.  A mid-stages comeback by Killeen never put him back into the lead, his final hand all-in with As-2c vs. the stack-dominant Triantafyllakis with -Td.  It was a swift and clinical end for local hero Killeen – a queen in the door left him drawing thin, and it was soon over.  Nearly €200,000 for a weekend’s work is probably some consolation.

 Triantafyllakis looked delighted after his win, telling Laura Cornelius that this was his first big event in Ireland.  He was especially keen on the Sole Survivor package, saying, “This promotion from PaddyPower Poker is very good – I’ve never seen this before.  Very exciting! “

Commenting on his win, he said, “OK – I was a little bit lucky – but luck is important in poker!  Everyone [on the final] was very good.  I will come next year, the people here are very nice.  Very polite.”


Full final table payouts:

1: Ioannis Triantafyllakis,Greece - € 209,500
2: Kevin Killeen, Ireland - € 192,500
3: Donnacha O'Dea, Ireland - € 111,750 
4: Michael Wang, USA - € 82,750             
5: Declan Connolly, Ireland - € 61,850     
6: Fergal Cawley, Ireland - € 46,500         
7: Baard Dahl, Norway - € 35,250