In a modest pot of 40,000 chips, Marcel Kessler got his stack of 114,000 in on the K♦8♥5♣Q♦ turn from the small blind against Juha Helppi in the big blind.
Marcel Kessler: A♥K♣
Juha Helppi: J♦2♦
Helppi's flush draw did not come in on the 3♣ river. Kessler doubled up with his top pair, leaving the Helppi with 10 big blinds to try and spin up.
Jamie Dwan opened to 10,000 as first to act. It folded to Roope Tarmi in the small blind, who pushed in his stack of 95,500. Govert Metaal then rejammed in the small blind, forcing out Dwan and heading to showdown.
Roope Tarmi: 6♠6♦
Govert Metaal: A♥Q♣
Metaal did not hit the 9♥4♥10♦ flop or 8♠ turn, while the 6♣ river gave Tarmi a set to secure his double-up.
Stephen Song opened to 10,000 under the gun. Adrian Strobel then put his stack of 56,000 in the middle from middle position, with Severi Palmu calling the all-in bet on the button.
Song got out of the way, leaving the other two players to show down.
Adrian Strobel: K♥K♦
Severi Palmu: A♦J♣
Strobel flopped a set on J♠K♣3♥ and secured his double-up on the 8♦ turn. The A♠ river changed nothing as Strobel climbed back above starting stack with a couple of hands to go on Day 1.
The €10,000 Super High Roller at the 2025 Irish Open, sponsored by PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker, started off as a quiet affair. It needed a few minutes to get underway, with three players taking their seats at the halls of the Royal Dublin Society about ten minutes after starting time. However, over the course of the ten levels of late registration, 53 entries were made, collecting a prize pool of €503,831, of which 25 made it through to Day 2.
Mengshi Tian joined in the second level of the day and could not be stopped for most of the day. At one point, the Hong Kong native had nearly eight starting stacks in front of him. However, he lost some pots near the end of the night, and he ended with 600,000 chips in his bag, six starting stacks, worth 100 big blinds at the start of Day 2. That put him in the lead in the hunt for the top prize of €163,800, which would double Tian's total lifetime earnings.
Following Tian in the counts is Christopher Nguyen. Nguyen was the recipient of a 1,000 big blind pot at the start of the day, doubling his starting stack. He closed the day out with a stack of 354,000, bagging just over half of Tian's chips. Marcel Kessler rounds out the top three with 284,000, while satellite winner Adrian Cazacu put his ticket to good use, ending in fourth with 265,000.
Adrian Cazacu
Other notables in the top ten include longtime high roller Govert Metaal (261,000), highest-placed Irishman Robbie Toan (251,000), and online phenom Anton "WhatIfGod" Bergstrom (200,000), who is attending more and more live events.
End of Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Day 2 Big Blinds
1
Mengshi Tian
Hong Kong
600,000
60
2
Christopher Nguyen
Austria
354,000
59
3
Marcel Kessler
Germany
284,000
47
4
Adrian Cazacu
Romania
265,000
44
5
Govert Metaal
Netherlands
261,000
44
6
[Removed:548]
Austria
259,000
43
7
Robbie Toan
Ireland
251,000
42
8
Jorge Artiga-Pacheco
Canada
237,000
40
9
Roope Tarmi
Finland
215,000
36
10
Bernard Larabi
Hungary
200,000
33
Like Cazacu, Ireland's Simon Wilson grabbed his ticket in the satellite, and made Day 2 with 160,000. 2022 GPI Player of the Year Stephen Song needed two bullets to find a bag with 148,000, while 2023 EPT Cyprus winner [Removed:553] ended with less than a starting stack with 91,000 chips in his possession. Meanwhile, Finnish legend Juha Helppi bagged up 54,000 chips as the absolute short stack of the field.
Simon Wilson
With just over half the field not making it through, many notable names saw their tournament end on Day 1. Samuel Ju fired three entries without success, while 2022 Irish Open Main Event champion Steve O'Dwyer fell victim to Tian's wrath before exchanging some heated words with Daniel Smiljkovic, who did make it to Day 2 with 133,000. EPT founder John Duthie also came to play some high-stakes poker in Dublin, but was eliminated just before the end of late registration.
The 25 remaining players will return at 1 p.m. local time tomorrow, April 17, for the second and final day of the Super High Roller. Seven of them will reach the money, with the min-cash amounting to a staggering €26,500. Meanwhile, two six-figure payouts are reserved for the eventual heads-up opponents.
€10,000 Super High Roller Payouts
Place
Prize
1
€163,800
2
€108,300
3
€73,100
4
€55,400
5
€42,800
6
€34,000
7
€26,500
The tournament will resume in Level 14: 3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 big blind ante. All levels will remain 40 minutes in length until the final three players have been reached or a deal has been made, at which point they will be reduced to 30 minutes. The 30-second shot clock will also remain in play until the end of the tournament, which will be when the winner is declared at the end of Day 2.
For the first time in 11 years, a new Super High Roller champion will be crowned at the Irish Open. Tune back in to PokerNews tomorrow to find out who will receive the honor, along with all the action leading up to it.
![Profile photo of [Removed:548]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
