After a two day break, the €1,150 Main Event sponsored by PokerStars and Paddy Power resumes play with Day 1b commencing today at 12 p.m. local time. From Day 1a , 114 of the 463 entrants have a stack ready to go for Day 2, but with a guaranteed prize pool of €2,500,000, many more players will be taking to the felt in the hopes of becoming a 2025 Irish Open champion over the coming days.
Of the 114 remaining, Martin Ilavsky came out best, bagging a stack of 529,000 for his efforts today. The Slovakian national was consistently towards the top of the counts throughout Day 1/A and will be looking for a first cash in Dublin to add to his total tournament earnings of $448,913.
Ukrainian Andrii Nikitin bagged 526,000, good for second place Nikitin rocketed up the counts after winning a four-way all in, busting three players in the process, with ace-queen in a monster pot towards the latter stages of play in Day 1/A.
Rounding out the podium places is Philip Carroll, who is a PokerStars Qualifier. He has a stack of 523,500 to work with on Day 2. Carroll's cashes have come exclusively in Ireland and he will be looking to take down the biggest prize of all on home soil.
Day 1a Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Ilavsky | Slovakia | 529,000 | 176 |
| 2 | Andrii Nikitin | Ukraine | 526,000 | 175 |
| 3 | Philip Carroll | Ireland | 523,500 | 175 |
| 4 | Michael Prendergast | United States | 520,000 | 173 |
| 5 | James McCreanor | United Kingdom | 460,500 | 154 |
| 6 | Mengshi Tian | Hong Kong | 441,500 | 147 |
| 7 | Seamus Cahill | Ireland | 438,000 | 146 |
| 8 | Stanislav Ivanov | Bulgaria | 426,500 | 142 |
| 9 | Silviu Tanase | Romania | 410,000 | 137 |
| 10 | Stanislav Anufriiev | Ukraine | 405,000 | 135 |
Players get 50,000 chips for their buy in and are allowed to re-enter once per flight, with registration closing after level 10 in each Day 1. Day 1's will feature 14 levels and the survivors of each flight will proceed to Day 2. Players who bag chips in any Day 1 may play a different Day 1 trying to bag a larger stack. Any player who bags chips in multiple Day 1’s will play their largest stack in Day 2 and forfeit any smaller stack.
Levels will run for 45-minutes each and the blinds will start at 100/100 with no ante coming into play until Level 3 where the blinds will be 100/200 with a 200 big blind ante. 20-minute breaks are scheduled at the end of levels 3 and 6 with a one hour dinner break commencing at the end of Level 9 followed by a final 20-minute break at the end of Level 12.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage on what could potentially be a record breaking Main Event from the halls of the Royal Dublin Society in the capital of Ireland.
