Sinead Davenport and her husband Matthew Davenport were just two of the 1,065 entries on Day 1c of the 2026 Irish Open €1,150 Main Event. However, when only 253 players remained at the Royal Dublin Society at the end of the night, they were not only both still in, but they found themselves among the top stacks in the room.
Matthew Davenport was grinding steadily throughout the day, capturing the chip lead in the final break but losing a few chips during the final two levels of the night, finishing in 11th place on the leaderboard with 477,000 chips, good for nearly 80 big blinds at the start of Day 2. In contrast, Sinead Davenport really started to heat up at the day's apotheosis, scoring a double knockout on her way to bagging 497,000 chips, landing her in eighth position.
Meanwhile, the chip lead is in the hands of Alexander Rizvi, who soared up the rankings at the end of the night and amassed a stack of 748,000 in the process. Rizvi is closely followed by UK regular Alex Todd, who gathered 746,000 on his chase for a fourth cash in a row in the Irish Open Main Event. Ronan Sweeney was Ireland's best performer, clinching third place with 627,000 in chips.
Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexander Rizvi | United Kingdom | 748,000 | 125 |
| 2 | Alex Todd | United Kingdom | 746,000 | 124 |
| 3 | Ronan Sweeney | Ireland | 627,000 | 105 |
| 4 | Yan Birg | Belgium | 618,000 | 103 |
| 5 | Karl Nolan | Ireland | 557,000 | 93 |
| 6 | Steven Lee | Ireland | 557,000 | 93 |
| 7 | Stribor Gruicic | Croatia | 499,000 | 83 |
| 8 | Sinead Davenport | United Kingdom | 497,000 | 83 |
| 9 | Ravi Sheth | United Kingdom | 483,000 | 81 |
| 10 | Adrian Vogt | Switzerland | 480,000 | 80 |
Popular poker streamer Parker Talbot led the field heading into dinner break but swung down during the remainder of the night, bagging 187,000 when all was said and done. Other notable names to make it through include Thomas Clack (335,000), Nikolay Ponomarev (284,000), Manuel Ferrari (279,000), Ali Abdulzahra (267,000), Jack Hardcastle (240,000), Barny Boatman (200,000), and Brandon Harris (187,000).
Three Irish Open champions showed up on Day 1c, but neither David Docherty, Simon Wilson, nor Marty Smyth was able to secure a bag. Julien Dupre was the sole representative of Team PokerStars on Day 1c, but was eliminated shortly before the end of the night after an uneventful day. Bracelet winners Mitchell Hynam, Albert Hoekendijk, Hector Berry, and Ranno Sootla were also eliminated throughout the day, as were WPT champions Frank Stepuchin and Scott Margereson.
With 2,241 total entries combined thus far, the Irish Open Main Event is set to crush its €2,500,000 guaranteed prize pool on the final flights, Day 1d and Day 1e, which both take place tomorrow, Friday, April 3. Day 1d will start at noon local time and will follow the same structure as the previous three starting days, with 15 40-minute levels to be played. Day 1e is a turbo flight with 20-minute levels and begins at 8 p.m. local time.
The 2026 Irish Open Main Event is on pace to beat last year's attendance record of 4,562 entries, so tune back in to PokerNews tomorrow as the massive Day 1d will be reported live from start to finish.
