€1,150 Main Event
Day 1a Started
2023 Irish Open
€1,150 Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 1a
2023 Irish Open
Buy-in
€1,150
Prize Pool
€2,428,725
Entries
2,491
Level
41
Blinds
600,000 / 1,200,000
Ante
1,200,000
Entries
324
Players Left
126
First Day of the €1,000,000 Guaranteed €1,150 Irish Open Main Event Starts at Noon
Welcome to Day 1a of the €1,150 Irish Open Main Event. This year's edition of the €1,000,000 guaranteed event is being held at the Royal Dublin Society and is set to have four starting flights. The winner will be crowned on April 10th, after four days of play. The Irish Open started April 3rd and is well underway with a plethora of side events and satellites.
In 2022 it was prolific tournament player and Dublin resident Steve O'Dwyer who took home the trophy, topping a record-breaking field of 2,040 entries for a €318,700 score.
This year that record turnout might be upped once again, with PokerStars and Paddy Power joining forces and hosting online qualifiers for the Irish Open Main Event, resulting in over 500 players getting their seats through one of the online poker rooms. With many more seats added to that total through the live satellites here in Dublin, the field is expected to be nothing short of enormous.
Play kicks off today at noon, with a starting stack of 30,000 chips and blinds of 100/100. The field will play ten levels of 60 minutes before the day wraps up, with a split dinner break during Level 6. Players have the option to reenter once during the day and once more before the start of Day 2, when late registration closes.
Irish Open Main Event Schedule
| Date | Day | Time (IST) | Tournament | |
| 5-Apr | Wednesday | Noon | Irish Open Day 1a | |
| 6-Apr | Thursday | Noon | Irish Open Day 1b | |
| 7-Apr | Friday | Noon | Irish Open Day 1c | |
| 7-Apr | Friday | 10 p.m. | Irish Open Day 1d | |
| 8-Apr | Saturday | Noon | Irish Open Day 2 | |
| 9-Apr | Sunday | Noon | Irish Open Day 3 | |
| 10-Apr | Monday | 1 p.m. | Irish Open Day 4 |
PokerNews will be on the floor reporting all action live until the Main Event reaches its conclusion, so be sure to tune in and not miss a single thing.
Level: 1
Blinds: 100/100
Ante: 0
Shuffle Up and Deal
Level 1
: Blinds 100/100, 0 ante
The button has been drawn, the decks have been prepared, and the cards are in the air. Day 1a of the 2023 Irish Open Main Event has officially begun.
Early Bird Boatman Gets the Worm
Level 1
: Blinds 100/100, 0 ante
Barny Boatman is one of the players who showed up right on time and raised to 300 from under the gun. Mahmood Rasheed called from the button and both blinds folded.
The flop came down 
, and a continuation-bet of 400 saw Boatman take down the pot without contest.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,600
30,600
|
30,600 |
|
||
|
29,700
29,700
|
29,700 |
McDowell Wins a Big One in the First Level
Level 1
: Blinds 100/100, 0 ante
Volodymyr Fasii in the cutoff and John McDowell in the small blind were battling heads up. Around 1,400 chips went in preflop before the flop came down 
. McDowell checked to Fasii who put out a bet of 700, which quickly got called by McDowell.
The turn 
saw Fasii up the ante to 1,100 after another check by McDowell, and he received a call from his opponent yet again.
On the 
river, McDowell checked for a third time, leading to a big bet of 3,000 from Fasii. McDowell responded with an almost instantaneous raise to 7,000, which Fasii called almost as quickly. McDowell showed 
for the best full house possible, and this was enough to win him a sizable early pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
39,400 | |
|
20,600 |
O'Kearney and Black Having a Good Time
Level 1
: Blinds 100/100, 0 ante
Dara O'Kearney and Andy Black are seated at the same table and there is plenty of chatter and laughter coming from there.
The first and 15th place on the Irish all-time money list were involved in a hand with Janis Valters, who had raised to 300 from the cutoff, which received a call from both O'Kearney on the button and Black in the big blind.
The flop came down 
and the action checked to O'Kearney, who elected to put out a bet worth 600. This was enough to let the other players forfeit their hands, and O'Kearney raked in a small pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
30,700
30,700
|
30,700 |
|
||
|
29,700
29,700
|
29,700 |
|
29,700
29,700
|
29,700 |
Holohan's One Pair is Good
Level 1
: Blinds 100/100, 0 ante
Shane Holohan and Adrian Malone were heads up in a pot that had 6,600 chips in the middle after a 
flop. The turn came the 
and saw Malone put out an extra 2,000. Holohan called and the two saw the 
river fall.
Both players now slowed down and checked, and Holohan exclaimed ''one pair''. Malone apparently played one pair as well, as he tabled 
. However, Holohan played 
for the higher pocket pair and took down the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
37,000
37,000
|
37,000 |
|
|
24,300
24,300
|
24,300 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/100
Ante: 0
Shine Comes Out Ahead in Three-Way All-In Cooler
Level 2
: Blinds 100/100, 0 ante
Action was caught on the turn with three players in the pot and nearly 10,000 chips in the middle. The board read 
, and Albert Sapiona had gone all-in from the cutoff for 13,500. James McDevitt responded by going all-in himself for the starting stack of 30,000, barely covering Emmet Shine in the big blind.
Shine thought for a while but decided he could not fold his hand, and all three players' cards were tabled.
Albert Sapiona: 
Emmet Shine: 
James McDevitt: 
Sapiona was drawing dead with his straight, while McDevitt needed to fill up to beat Shine's Full house.
The river fell the uneventful and Shine came out the victor in this huge three-way clash. Meanwhile, Sapiona was eliminated and McDevitt was left on fumes.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
75,000
75,000
|
75,000 |
|
|
3,700
3,700
|
3,700 |
|
Busted |