Santtu Leinonen tossed in his final 38,000 from the hijack, being called by Stephen Freeman in the cutoff and Wouter Beltz in the big blind.
The flop fell 4♠Q♣3♣, where Beltz led all-in for 138,000. Freeman spent some time in the tank before proclaiming to gamble for the two bounties.
Santtu Leinonen: Q♦10♣
Wouter Beltz: 5♣4♦
Stephen Freeman: K♦J♣
The A♥ turn and 7♠ river changed nothing. Leinonen tripled up with his pair of queens, while Beltz took the sidepot with his pair of fours, leaving all bounty chips in play.
Pavel Plotnikov jammed in his stack of 120,000 from middle position and was looked up by big stack Mengshi Tian on the button.
Pavel Plotnikov: A♣J♦
Mengshi Tian: Q♥10♣
Tian shot ahead on the 8♥Q♦10♥ flop with two pair, but the 9♥ turn made Plotnikov a straight to retake the lead. The K♥ river upgraded Tian to a flush, however, taking down the pot and eliminating Plotnikov.
During the first hand on the stone bubble, Adrian Strobel raised to 16,000 in middle position. Leo Worthington-Leese was already all-in for his final 1,000 in the small blind, after which Henry Wilken called in the big blind.
Strobel continued for 10,000 on the K♦A♥7♠ flop, seeing Wilken fold his 10♠10♦ face-up.
Leo Worthington-Leese: 9♥6♥
Adrian Strobel: A♠J♣
The room erupted in cheers as the 4♥ turn gave the crowd favorite a flush draw, but the enthusiasm was quickly tempered when the A♦ river made Strobel trips to lock up the pot and eliminate Worthington-Leese on the stone bubble.
However, four more all-in and calls were announced. On one table, Nikolaos Mouroutis had over-bet shoved his stack of 320,000 into a pot of 225,000 on a river of 4♦3♥2♦K♦A♣.
He had been looked up by Thomas Clack, who showed A♥4♥ for two pair when the floor had arrived. Mouroutis could only show 9♥9♣ for a caught bluff, sending him to the rail as well.
At another table, Rafael Navas had gone all in on the 4♥K♠J♦4♦10♦ river, being called by Erik Sturkenboom.
Navas showed K♥10♥ for kings and tens, but it was no good against the Q♦4♥ of Sturkenboom, who eliminated Navas on the stone bubble.
As the two remaining all-in players doubled up, the three eliminatees shared two min-cashes of €840, netting them €560 each.
The remaining players were all in the money as play continued with the mystery bounties in play.
Richard Frey raised to 13,000 in middle position and was three-bet to 30,000 by Ian Simpson in the hijack. It folded back to Frey, who put in a call to the 10♥K♣4♣ flop.
Simpson continued for 20,000, which Frey check-called. The 3♥ turn and 5♠ river were checked to showdown, where Frey tabled A♣9♣ for ace-high.
Simpson had also missed his flush with Q♣10♣, but his pair of tens was good enough to rake in the pot as fewer than ten eliminations remained before the money.
Gabriele Lepore open-jammed from the hijack for 85,000 and was called by table chipleader Stanislaw Grodek in the cutoff. The rest of the table got out of the way as the cards hit their backs.
Gabriele Lepore: A♠9♠
Stanislaw Grodek: A♦Q♥
The 3♦8♠J♥5♣2♥ board brought no help for Lepore, eliminating him some 25 spots away from the money.
Robbie Bull in the hijack and Mark Spelman in the small blind were battling over a pot of 35,000 when Spelman checked the 2♠K♦5♠ flop to Bull. Bull put in a bet of 8,000, which Spelman raised to 22,000.
Bull flicked in a call to the 7♣ turn, where he instantly called when Spelman put him all-in for 64,000.
Robbie Bull: 5♥5♣
Mark Spelman: K♣Q♣
Spelman's top pair was drawing dead against the set of Bull, rendering the 6♣ river meaningless. Bull doubled to a healthy stack, while Spelman was left short with a stack of only seven big blinds.
Dinesh Alt checked to Vasileios Zisis on a flop of 6♥6♦8♦. Zisis fired a bet of 13,000, which Alt raised to 29,000. Zisis put in a call and snap-called when Alt put in his stack of roughly 50,000 on the 6♣ turn.
Dinesh Alt: 8♠7♠
Vasileios Zisis: 9♠9♥
Zisis' pocket pair remained the best full house on the K♦ river, knocking Alt out in the first level of Day 2.
The 1,222 entries have gathered a regular prize pool of €595,725. The money will be distributed among the top 183 finishers, with a min-cash being worth €840.
Meanwhile, the final table of eight will have guaranteed five-figure payouts, while the winner will walk away with the massive sum of €102,600. The mystery bounty prizes mirror the regular payouts, meaning there is one six-figure bounty up for grabs.
The2025 Irish Open's kickoff has been a roaring success. The €1,150 Luxon Mystery Bounty, the first main attraction of the festival, attracted 1,222 entries to the halls of the Royal Dublin Society across four starting flights, making it the largest-ever mystery bounty event on Irish soil. The ambitious €1,000,000 guarantee was smashed, creating a total prize pool of €1,191,450, split evenly between regular and mystery bounty prizes. Today, 385 players will return for Day 2, which kicks off at noon local time.
Triple Crown Winner Niall Farrell ended the relatively quiet Day 1a atop the leaderboard, with his stack of 392,000 rewarding him with 98 big blinds and a 17th place overall. Farrell makes regular poker trips to Ireland, but an Irish Open trophy still eludes the accomplished Scotsman.
Meanwhil,e Greek player Nikolaos Angelou captured the overall chip lead on Day 1c, obtaining 900,500 chips. The top three is completed by Archibald Seaton and Jason Barton, both from the Unted Kindom. Meanwhile, former Irish Open Main Event champion Patrick Clarke was the best-performing Irishman, sitting in seventh with 525,000.
Start of Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Nikolaos Angelou
Greece
900,500
225
2
Archibald Seaton
United Kingdom
782,000
196
3
Jason Barton
United Kingdom
605,000
151
4
Ben Miller
United Kingdom
560,500
140
5
Vikrum Mehta
United Kingdom
559,000
140
6
Patrick Clarke
Ireland
525,000
131
7
Mark Finnane
Ireland
448,500
112
8
Michael Khan
Canada
437,000
109
9
Lee Rogers
United Kingdom
421,500
105
10
Leonel Guerra Garza
Mexico
416,500
104
Patrick Clarke
The action will restart in Level 15: 2,000/4,000 with a 4,000 big blind ante. All levels will be 60 minutes in length, and eight of them are scheduled to be played today, seeing the day end around 9 p.m. local time. A break of 20 minutes will be had after every two levels. The exact payout structure has not been announced yet, but it is expected to be announced before play gets underway.
The bubble of the €1,150 Luxon Mystery Bounty is set to burst today, so stay tuned to PokerNews to not miss any of the thrilling action from the Irish capital.
