John Ward Aiming to Follow Up Gort Win in Galway Poker Festival Main Event
The €600 Galway Poker Festival Main Event's fourth starting flight attracted a total of 188 entries, with 44 players managing to find a bag for Day 2.
Among them is John Ward (385,000), who will be aiming to follow up his victory in the Irish Poker Tour event in Gort in November 2023 with another deep run here.
Bram Kuppens led the way from Day 1d, amassing an impressive stack of 535,000, although Kuppens is still some way behind overall chip leader James O'Sullivan (734,000).
Kuppens was closely followed by Huy Hang (479,000) and Jamie Whyte (416,000).
End of Day 1d Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bram Kuppens | Netherlands | 535000 | 69 |
| 2 | Huy Hang | Ireland | 479,000 | 59 |
| 3 | Jamie Whyte | United Kingdom | 416,000 | 52 |
| 4 | Kieran O'Riordan | Ireland | 410,000 | 51 |
| 5 | Jamie Cunningham | Ireland | 400,000 | 50 |
| 6 | John Ward | Ireland | 385,000 | 48 |
| 7 | Douglas Culligan | Ireland | 363,000 | 45 |
| 8 | Luke Byrne | Ireland | 335,000 | 42 |
| 9 | Robert Fairhurst | Ireland | 323,000 | 40 |
| 10 | Glenn Keogh | Ireland | 287,000 | 34 |
Other notable names who qualified for Day 2 include Mitchell Hynam (225,000), Bostjan Mozic (181,000), Trevor Dineen (108,000) and Irish Poker Tour Pro Robbie Bryant (88,000).
Padraig Parkinson, Conal Prendergast and Nicholas Newport didn't make the cut and will have to fire another bullet if they wish to advance to Day 2.
Late registration in Day 1e is already closed so the final opportunity for players to find a bag for Day 2 will be Day 1f, which commences at 10 p.m. tonight.
Players will have to navigate fifteen 15-minute levels to progress to Day 2. Each player will have a 50,000 starting stack with blinds starting at 100/100 with a 100 big blind ante.
Day 2 commences tomorrow at noon local time, with the remaining players returning to battle for the lion's share of the monster prize pool, which currently stands at €398,642.
Be sure to tune into PokerNews for all the coverage of what is certain to be a day of thrills and spills.