Main Event
Day 1a Completed
Main Event
Day 1a Completed
Day 1a of the €300,000 guaranteed partypoker Grand Prix Killarney €340 Main Event at at Ireland’s National Event Centre (INEC) and Gleneagle Hotel was a big success with 100 entrants joining the field to create a total field size of 295 when taking into account the 195 entrants that have entered online opening days.
A total of 24 players bagged chips from the Day 1e field making it a total of 69 players thus far that have advanced to Day 2 with three more opening days to be played on Friday and Saturday.
Local Irish poker player Thomas Gallagher led the way in today's action after bagging 243,000 chips. Gallagher was on top or near the top of the board the entire second half of the day after he eliminated fellow Irishman Mortimer O'Shea in a hand where both players flopped a set. O'Shea who had trip queens, re-entered the tournament after his hand was no match for Gallagher's trip kings.
Other players finishing Day 1a with big stacks included two other players from Ireland in Gerry Farrell (second - 215,200) and John Power (third - 176,000).

Partypoker Ambassador Padraig Parkinson was among the players that were unable to advance in today's field. He was eliminated on both his initial entry and a re-entry before the first break. The tournament hasn't seen the last of the Irish poker legend as he plans to give the tournament another go on at least one of the other three remaining opening days.
Also unable to advance on Day 1a were the top three finishers in last year's event in Richie Lawlor, Alan Kelleher and Raymond Masters. While Raymond Masters was unable to advance, his son Graham Masters, whom was on the same table with him for a few blind levels, bagged a stack of 102,200 which was around the average of the players remaining.
Day 1b of the Main Event will kick off at 2 p.m. local time tomorrow and a turbo Day 1c will begin later in the day at 7:30 p.m. local time. As was the case today, the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor to provide complete coverage for both these opening days and the turbo Day 1d kicking off at 10 a.m. local time a few hours before Day 2 begins.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
243,000
103,000
|
103,000 |
|
|
215,200
155,200
|
155,200 |
|
|
176,000
96,000
|
96,000 |
|
|
163,300
16,700
|
16,700 |
|
|
139,100
139,100
|
139,100 |
|
|
127,100
127,100
|
127,100 |
|
|
126,400
6,400
|
6,400 |
|
|
119,400
40,600
|
40,600 |
|
|
116,100
116,100
|
116,100 |
|
|
106,400
106,400
|
106,400 |
|
|
102,200
67,200
|
67,200 |
|
|
99,800
99,800
|
99,800 |
|
|
88,000
88,000
|
88,000 |
|
|
86,300
64,300
|
64,300 |
|
|
86,000
21,000
|
21,000 |
|
|
79,000
11,000
|
11,000 |
|
|
71,300
71,300
|
71,300 |
|
|
68,700
33,700
|
33,700 |
|
|
64,500
64,500
|
64,500 |
|
|
64,200
64,200
|
64,200 |
|
|
52,000
34,000
|
34,000 |
|
|
51,300
51,300
|
51,300 |
|
|
41,200
48,800
|
48,800 |
|
|
27,400
6,100
|
6,100 |
All three tables have finished their last 5 hands and 24 players are currently bagging up chips.
Stay tuned for a recap of the day's events and a full chip count.
The tournament clock has been paused with 10 minutes remaining and each table will play 5 more hands before the close of play.
James O'Connor limped from early position. David Fitzgerald called behind from mid-position before Gerry Farrell raised to 11,000 from the big blind. Both O'Connor and Fitzgerald called.
Farrell jammed all in for 37,000 after the flop came ![]()
![]()
and was called by both of his opponents. Both O'Connor and Fitzgerald checked when the 6d appeared on the turn.
O'Connor jammed for an amount that more than covered Fitzgerald's remaining stack of 26,000 and got a fold.
Farrell with ![]()
and O'Connor with ![]()
chop the pot with a straight while Fitzgerald before he mucked his cards, showed the table he held ![]()
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
90,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
|
|
60,000 | |
|
|
26,000
14,000
|
14,000 |
Alex T opened for 4,500 and got one call in John O’Donaghue from the big blind.
The flop was ![]()
![]()
and O’Donaghue led out for 4,000 which Alex T called.
The turn was the
and O’Donaghue continued the story with a 7,100 bet. Once more Alex T called.
The river was the
and O’Donaghue had little hesitation in moving all in. To his dismay Alex T was not far behind with the call.
“I don’t have a heart.” O’Donaghue said with a tinge of dismay.
Alex T did and showed him ![]()
for the ace high flush to felt O’Donaghue with barely 30 minutes left on the clock.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
160,000
100,000
|
100,000 |
|
|
Busted |
The final blind level of Day 1a has just begun. The clock will stop when there are 10 minutes remaining at which point the number of hands each table will still play will be randomly drawn.
Level: 12
Blinds: 1,000/2,000
Ante: 300
Alan Campbell opened from late position before Peter Cahill three-bet to 11,000.
Campbell called and the flop came ![]()
![]()
. Cahill fired out a continuation bet of 13,500 and Campbell called.
Cahill then went all-in for about 35,000 after the
appeared on the turn and Campbell gave up on the hand.
After the hand was over and the cards were in the muck, he shared with the table that he had pocket aces. He then switched it up and said instead he had pocket queens. Whether he had either hand is still up for debate.
One of the other players on the table not involved in the hand, Niall Smyth, gave a different take on the table and said, "He had pocket aces but flopped a set of queens."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
90,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
|
78,000
43,000
|
43,000 |