James O'Sullivan Leads 198 Hopefuls into Final Day of Galway Poker Festival Main Event
Over the course of no less than six starting flights, 833 entries were made in the €600 Galway Poker Festival Main Event. The original €300,000 guaranteed prize pool was easily surpassed by the huge turnout, creating a €434,075 prize pool instead. An extra €10,000 is up for grabs for the longest lasting Paddy Power Poker online qualifier, of which 35 remain.
They are part of the 198 total players who obtained a seat for Day 2, which kicks off today at noon local time. The seat with the most chips in front of it belongs to James O'Sullivan, who took the very first chance he got and decimated the Day 1a field to end up with 797,000 chips, good for nearly 100 big blinds at the start of play. O'Sullivan has known several deep runs in Irish Poker Tour events, the latest of which saw him being crowned the champion of the Winter Festival in Dublin back in November, which netted him €39,000 for his efforts.
Looking to get his second IPT title in Galway today, O'Sullivan will be challenged by many others. His closest competitor is Cathal Shine, who bagged 604,000 chips on Day 1b. With total live poker earnings nearing $700,000 according to The Hendon Mob, Shine is no stranger to the live poker tables and will be a formidable opponent for O'Sullivan. Completing the top three is Kevin Hayes (554,000), who appears to play mostly low-stakes tournaments and is looking for his biggest-ever live cash.
Meanwhile, Day 1d chip leader Bram Kuppens (535,000) and Day 1c chip leader Stephen Henderson (520,000) will also bring more than half a million chips to Day 2, and Day 1e chip leader Brennan Hulbert finds himself in the top ten as well with his stack of 482,000 chips.
Start of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James O'Sullivan | United Kingdom | 797,000 | 100 |
| 2 | Cathal Shine | Ireland | 604,000 | 76 |
| 3 | Kevin Hayes | Ireland | 554,000 | 69 |
| 4 | Bram Kuppens | Belgium | 535,000 | 67 |
| 5 | Stephen Henderson | Ireland | 520,000 | 65 |
| 6 | Tadhg Conway | Ireland | 510,000 | 64 |
| 7 | Yue Wang | China | 496,000 | 62 |
| 8 | Brennan Hulbert | Ireland | 482,000 | 60 |
| 9 | Shean Lai | Ireland | 480,000 | 60 |
| 10 | Huy Hang | Ireland | 479,000 | 60 |
Other notables appearing at the start are Day 1f chip leader Sarbjit Kular (392,000), PokerNews' Lukas Robinson (161,000), and poker streamer Gary "GazzyB123" Blackwood (76,000). Meanwhile, the Irish pride will be defended by the likes of Irish all-time money leader and Irish Poker Tour Ambassador Andy Black (282,000), his colleague and poker author Dara O'Kearney (64,000), and previous Galway champion Liam McVeigh (215,000).
When play resumes at noon local time, the blinds will be at 4,000/8,000 with an 8,000 big blind ante. All levels will last for 40 minutes, with breaks scheduled after every three of them, and the field will have a long day ahead of them as the tournament plays down to a winner. The exact payouts are not known at the time of writing but will be posted once they are announced.
PokerNews will be there from start to finish, providing updates on all the key hands, sick coolers, and of course who will become the eventual champion. So stay tuned to not miss a single bit of poker action from Ireland.