€175 Main Event - Road to PSPC Day 1bc | Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020 - Dublin

11-23-2019 12:03 UTC

Two More Flights in Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020 Dublin

Will Shillibier

Players will have just two more chances to join the 68 players in Day 2 of Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020 Dublin with the second day of flights here at the Bonnington Hotel.

Day 1b gets underway at 1pm local time with 14 half-hour levels scheduled. There are 20-minute breaks after Levels 4 and 12, and a 60-minute dinner break after Level 8. Later this evenign there is a Turbo Day 1c at 8pm where the levels are halved.

Yesterday 301 players entered on a bumper Day 1a, with just 68 players advancing. Drew Dwyer bagged the chip lead with just over 400,000 in chips after picking up Aces in one of the final hands of the night to eliminate a player and soar into the chip lead ahead of Darren Carroll and Gary Stokes.

Further down the counts - at the bottom in fact - sits PokerStars Ambassador Chris Moneymaker who told us yesterday that he will return today in order to try and bag a bigger stack for Day 2.

It promises to be another busy day here in the Irish capital, so stay tuned to PokerNews for all the information, live updates and more!

11-23-2019 13:50 UTC

Follow the Road to PSPC 2020 Livestream!

Will Shillibier

Level 2 : 100/100, 100 ante

Over the next three days a rotating cast of commentators including PokerStars Ambassadors Fintan 'EasyWithAces' Hand and Georgina 'GJReggie' James will be on hand to broadcast coverage of Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020 from the Bonnington Hotel, Dublin.

Stay up to date by following PokerStars on Twitch and YouTube to find the link for each day's coverage.

11-23-2019 14:11 UTC

Former Platinum Pass Winner Millar in the Field

Will Shillibier

Level 3 : 100/200, 200 ante

The 2018 PokerStars Mammoth attracted a field of 1,415 entries and eventually, it was won by Darren Millar for €14,970 plus a PSPC Platinum Pass. Millar was helped by a guardian angel, of sorts, in the shape of a small round transparent stone with a guardian angel inside, a gift to him from his wife’s mother before she passed away.

Millar keeps it on him when he plays poker to bring him luck - he won his first seven sessions after discovering it - and now the angel sits atop his chip stack whenever he plays.

He's joined Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020 at the start of the third level of the day.

Player	Chips	Progress
Darren Millar	30,000

Tags: Darren Millar

11-23-2019 14:55 UTC

Platinum Pass Profile: Valdir Cordeiro dos Santos

Will Shillibier

Level 4 : 100/300, 300 ante

Valdir Cordeiro dos Santos won his Platinum Pass at Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020 at Aspers Casino Stratford after defeating a field of 753 players to win £11,200 in prize money and a coveted Platinum Pass.

"I'm very happy," Santos told PokerNews after securing victory. "With three people left, I called my nephew and said, 'I am going to win.'

"When I doubled heads up I was100 percent - I will win."

When asked about the PSPC 2020 in Barcelona in August, he had only one thing to say: "I will try to win again."

Best of luck to Santos next year, but stay tuned to see who from the Dublin leg of Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020.

Tags: Valdir Cordeiro dos Santos Valdir Santos

11-23-2019 15:49 UTC

How Many Irish Platinum Pass Winners Will There Be in 2020?

Will Shillibier

Level 5 : 200/400, 400 ante

Last year, figures showed that Ireland sent more Platinum Pass winners to the PSPC per capita than any other country. They sent 13 players including Fintan Gavin, Sven McDermott, Darren Millar and Gary Thompson.

Proportionally speaking, if the United States sent as many players as Ireland did there would have been 720 American Platinum Pass winners!

PokerStars Platinum Pass Player Liaison Willie Elliot said that last year the Irish poker community really engaged in the concept of the PSPC.

"Seven passes were won here live and a further six were dished out at other events and online, said Elliot. "It just goes to show the appetite for poker here and the desire of the players to satellite into such a huge and prestigious event.

"It's such a close-knit and friendly poker community in Ireland; most of the players get to know each other by playing at the same events, and the community spirit here is unlike anywhere else in the world.

"13 Passes from a population of five million is remarkable. Scotland has a similar population and just won two, so there really was a higher level of engagement in Ireland than anywhere else in the world."

Tags: Darren Millar Fintan Gavin Gary Thompson Sven McDermott Willie Elliot

11-23-2019 17:17 UTC

Platinum Pass Winner Parsons Eliminated

Will Shillibier

Level 8 : 400/800, 800 ante

Yesterday, Tom Parsons failed to make it through Day 1a. The Platinum Pass winner, who punched his ticket to Barcelona earlier this year at Lex Live is looking to accrue as much live poker experience as possible before playing in the biggest poker tournament of his life.

Therefore, he was back in the fray today playing in Day 1b. However, his seat has been vacated and will have to ponder firing a third time either before registration closes or in Day 1c later.

"I can't win another one," said Parsons on first break of Day 1a. "But live experience is always a good thing, especially with me looking forward to going to Barcelona. But it's also about meeting up with people again. It's really nice to have a little break, especially in the middle of my term time."

Player	Chips	Progress
Tom Parsons	Busted

Tags: Tom Parsons

11-23-2019 19:39 UTC

Wilhelmine Connolly Eyes a Platinum Pass

Will Shillibier

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Wilhelmine Connolly is in the field and she is well-known among the Irish poker community. Her mother final-tabled the Irish Open three times between 1994 and 2001, winning in 2001 for around $31,000.

Connolly has built up a poker pedigree of her own, cashing in events around her native Ireland, but also in Spain, the United States and the Czech Republic.

Although she sits with around starting stack, she'll have plenty of support from her friends, family and members of the Irish poker community.

Player	Chips	Progress
Wilhelmine Connolly	30,000 30,000	30,000

11-23-2019 20:29 UTC

O'Kearney Eliminates a Player

Will Shillibier

Level 12 : 1,000/2,000, 2,000 ante

Dara O'Kearney held and had an opponent holding at risk for their last 40,000 or so chips.

O'Kearney flopped top pair on the board and top pair held on the runout and he sent his opponent to the rail.

He now sits on 140,000 which is around double average.

Player	Chips	Progress
Dara O'Kearney	140,000 75,000	75,000

Tags: Dara O'Kearney

11-23-2019 21:13 UTC

Moneymaker Eliminated

Will Shillibier

Level 13 : 1,000/2,500, 2,500 ante

Yesterday Chris Moneymaker bagged the shortest stack of just over 40,000 in chips and opted to come back to day in pursuit of an even bigger stack for Day 2.

Unfortunately, things haven't gone his way today and he has just been eliminated. He'll be back tomorrow hoping to spin up his small stack to bigger and better things.

Player	Chips	Progress
Chris Moneymaker	Busted

Tags: Chris Moneymaker

11-23-2019 22:14 UTC

2019 PSPC Bubble Boy Leckey Bags Healthy Stack in Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020

Will Shillibier

Level 14 : 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante

Another flight is complete here at Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020 and a total of 84 players have advanced to Day 2 from a field of 354.

That brings the total number of entries in the event to 655 with late registration still open in Day 1c. It looks like it's Thomas Gallagher (405,000) who is leading the survivors with exactly the same chip stack as Drew Dwyer from Day 1a. Behind him comes Colum Higgins (396,000) and Paul Leckey (250,000).

Leckey is out to prove a point after satelliting into this year's PSPC only to stone bubble with pocket kings pocket aces.

Other well-known Irish players Padraig Parkinson (170,000) and Dara O'Kearney (160,000).

"It should have been 300,000" bemoaned O'Kearney. "It's not a bad beat story, but it is a bad chop story." He explained how he held ace-king and called a shove pre-flop from an opponent with ace-five. The board double-paired and O'Kearney had to settle for a chop. However, his stack is still good enough for above-average ahead of Day 2.

Players to bust on Day 1b included Chris Moneymaker, but he is already through to Day 2, albeit with the shortest stack from Day 1a. He will have to run it up if he is to feature at the business end of the tournament.

Other players who failed to advance include Tom Parsons, Richard Robinson, Janos Jeszek, Edgar Fic, Dan Williams, Dan Lewis, Carmine Carlone and Robert Campbell.

Stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you the conclusion of Moneymaker's Road to PSPC 2020 tomorrow as we play down to a winner!

Tags: Chris Moneymaker Dan Williams Dara O'Kearney Drew Dwyer Edgar Fic Janos Jeszek Padraig Parkinson Paul Leckey Richard Robinson Robert Campbell Thomas Gallagher Tom Parsons