Third Starting Flight of 2026 Irish Open Main Event Gets Underway at Noon
A new day in Dublin means a new starting day of the 2026 Irish Open €1,150 Main Event, sponsored by PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker, is on the horizon. Day 1c, the third of five starting flights in the €2,500,000-guarantee tournament, is scheduled to kick off at noon local time, looking to add to the 1,176 total entries so far on Day 1a and Day 1b.
During last year's record-breaking edition of the Irish Open Main Event, Day 1c attracted a field of 1,012 entries. Day 1a and Day 1b both had a few more entries this year than their counterparts in the previous edition, meaning another busy day can be expected in the halls of the Royal Dublin Society.
Leading the 242 survivors of Day 1a and Day 1b is Lawrence Penfold. The old-school online poker player proved he still had what it takes on Day 1b, crushing the competition to end up with 796,000 in chips, good for over 130 big blinds at the start of Day 2. Penfold is closely followed by Day 1a chipleader Massimiliano Cordeschi, while Abel Pruchon, Fraser Bellamy, and Hamza Nasir also collected more than 100 big blinds in their starting flight.
Day 1a and 1b Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lawrence Penfold | United Kingdom | 796,000 | 133 |
| 2 | Massimiliano Cordeschi | Italy | 773,000 | 129 |
| 3 | Abel Pruchon | France | 666,000 | 111 |
| 4 | Fraser Bellamy | United Kingdom | 665,000 | 111 |
| 5 | Hamza Nasir | United Kingdom | 617,000 | 103 |
| 6 | Ian Simpson | United Kingdom | 554,000 | 92 |
| 7 | Gavin Sardini | South Africa | 544,000 | 91 |
| 8 | Thomas Waters | United Kingdom | 532,000 | 89 |
| 9 | Pierre Basely | France | 530,000 | 88 |
| 10 | Danilo Donnini | Italy | 527,000 | 88 |
Day 1c will follow the same structure as Day 1a and Day 1b, meaning 15 40-minute levels will be played today. Each entry will receive a fresh stack of 50,000 chips, and the Main Event will start very deep-stacked, with the first level having blinds of 100/100 with a 100 big blind ante.
A 50-minute dinner break is scheduled around 7:20 p.m. local time, following Level 10. Late registration remains open until after dinner, when blinds reach 1,000/2,000 (2,000), and single reentry is permitted per starting flight. Day 1c will conclude when Level 15: 2,000/5,000 (5,000) has been completed, which will be around midnight.
Day 1c Structure
| Level | Length (min) | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 2 | 40 | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| 3 | 40 | 100 | 300 | 300 |
| 4 | 40 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 5 | 40 | 200 | 500 | 500 |
| 6 | 40 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 7 | 40 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 8 | 40 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 9 | 40 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| 10 | 40 | 800 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| Dinner Break | 50 | |||
| 11 | 40 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| 12 | 40 | 1,000 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| 13 | 40 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 14 | 40 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| 15 | 40 | 2,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
PokerNews will be live reporting Day 1c from start to finish, so stay tuned as the action will get underway in Dublin shortly.