Main Event
Day 1a Started
2017 PokerStars Festival Dublin
Main Event
Day: 1a
Welcome to the PokerStars Festival Dublin Main Event Day 1A
We'd like to extend a warm welcome to our coverage of the PokerStars Festival Dublin Main Event. Today is the first of three starting flights of the Main Event, which comes with a generous €700,000 guarantee.
This is the first visit to Dublin since February 2016, when Dzmitry Urbanovich continued on his meteoric rise to the top by taking down the EPT 12 Main Event stop held at the Royal Dublin Society for €561,900, but PokerStars has a long and storied history with the Irish capital.
| Season | Date | Field Size | Prize Pool | Winner | Country | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPT 1 | Oct 2004 | 163 | €244,500 | Ram Vaswani | United Kingdom | €93,000 |
| EPT 2 | Oct 2005 | 248 | €992,000 | Mats Gavatin | Sweden | €317,000 |
| EPT 3 | Oct 2006 | 389 | €1,847,750 | Roland de Wolfe | United Kingdom | €554,300 |
| EPT 4 | Oct-Nov 2007 | 221 | €1,701,700 | Reuben Peters | United States | €532,620 |
| UKIPT 1 | Sept 2010 | 590 | €295,000 | Max Silver | United Kingdom | €72,000 |
| UKIPT 2 | Sept 2011 | 718 | €348,230 | Joeri Zandvliet | Netherlands | €83,500 |
| UKIPT 3 | May 2012 | 597 | €417,900 | Richard Evans | Wales | €75,500 |
| UKIPT 4 | Feb-Mar 2014 | 682 | €463,078 | Kevin Killeen | Ireland | €87,700 |
| UKIPT 5 | Feb 2016 | 1,002 | €971,940 | Vladas Tamasauskas | Lithuania | €176,900 |
| EPT 12 | Feb 2016 | 605 | €3,025,000 | Dzmitry Urbanovich | Poland | €561,900 |
This year's festival is already off to a rip-roaring start with the PokerStars Megastack, a €50,000 guarantee for just a €170 buy-in attracting 465 players, smashing the guarantee by almost €20,000. The organisers will have high hopes then for the rest of the festival as well as the PSF Main Event.
There are a total of three starting flights for the Main Event. Day 1A and 1B start today and tomorrow at 12:00 local time, while the third and final starting flight commences at 21:30 on Friday, September 29th. This flight will be a special turbo flight available for re-entering players only, where the levels are reduced to 20 minutes in length as opposed to 45 minutes in Day 1A and 1B. Levels increase to 60 minutes in length for Day 2 onwards.
Players receive 30,000 in chips for their buy-in and there will be 12 levels of play on Day 1s, with Day 1A and 1B scheduled to finish at around 21:45 each day.
Here is the structure for today:
| Level | Length | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 45 | 50 | 100 | 0 |
| 2 | 45 | 75 | 150 | 0 |
| 3 | 45 | 100 | 200 | 25 |
| 4 | 45 | 250 | 300 | 50 |
| 5 | 45 | 200 | 400 | 50 |
| 6 | 45 | 250 | 500 | 75 |
| 7 | 45 | 300 | 600 | 100 |
| 8 | 45 | 400 | 800 | 100 |
| 9 | 45 | 500 | 1,000 | 100 |
| 10 | 45 | 600 | 1,200 | 200 |
| 11 | 45 | 800 | 1,600 | 200 |
| 12 | 45 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 300 |
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the updates throughout the Main Event
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Cards Are In the Air!
![[user252447]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Team PokerStars Pro Chris Moneymaker has issued the "Shuffle up and deal!" here at the Regency Hotel in “Sunny Dublin” and play is underway on Day 1a.
Moneymaker will be playing Day 1a and had an auspicious start to his Dublin trip last night at the €1/2 cash tables where he hit his third ever Royal Flush. No one called his river bet but when he was called out on a flush he said, “One better than that,” and rolled it over.
Re-Entry Policy
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
With play underway, we'd like to clarify the re-entry policy to this tournament. If a player busts on Day 1A they cannot play Day 1B. If a player busts on Day 1A or 1B their only option is to play the turbo Day 1C which is for re-entry players only.
Therefore the maximum number of bullets a player can fire in this tournament is two.
Good luck to all players!
Xiacheng Chen Wins with Rivered House
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Uday Bansal raised to 350 and Victor Ilyhukin called. Xiacheng Chen then three-bet to 900. Joseph Lalor then four-bet to 3,500 out of the blinds and Bansal and Ilyhukin folded. Chen called and the flop came 
.
Both players checked and the turn was the 
. Again both players checked. Lalor checked the 
river and Chen bet 3,500. Lalor called and mucked when Chen showed 
for a rivered full house.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
38,000 | |
|
22,000 |
Early Action With Terry Jordon
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Terry Jordon is one of the more well-known faces sat at the tables so far. He has a reputation for an ultra-aggressive style that sees him taking a lot of flops and putting pressure on his opponents. More often than not, this leads to Jordon accumulating a large stack early on or an early exit.
In an early hand though, Jordon displayed a more cautious approach.
Greame Evans opened for 250 and picked up a call from Gastao Teixeira on the button with Jordon defending his big blind.
The flop was 
and Teixeira bet 700 when it was checked to him. Jordon threw his cards in but Evans called.
They both checked the 
turn and 
river where Teixeira showed the winning 
.
A while later Edvinas Gruzdas opened for 350 and Jordon called from the button this time with the big blind making it three ways to a flop of 
.
Gruzdas continued for 700 and Jordon called. The turn was the and a check from Gruzdas saw a bet of 1,725 from Jordon.
Gruzdas let his hand go and Jordon showed his 
.
“Ten four,” was Gruzdas’ guess.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
31,000 | 31,000 |
|
30,000 | 30,000 |
|
29,000 | 29,000 |
|
22,000 | 22,000 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
Thomas Dunwoodie Takes Pot From Matthias De Meulder
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Matthias De Meulder opened form early position and got a call from Thomas Dunwoodie in the big blind.
A flop of 
was checked around and the 
hit the turn.
A check from Dunwoodie saw De Meulder make a delayed continuation bet of 1,500 and Dunwoodie called.
The river was the 
and Dunwoodie changed tack, leading out with a bet of 3,000. De Meulder wasted no time folding.
“I didn’t want that club,” Dunwoodie said as he dragged the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
33,000 | 33,000 |
|
28,000 | -2,000 |
Early Risers
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Both Christoph Neuerer and Audrius Daugvilavicius must have eaten their porridge this morning, because they're already well up over starting stack midway through the second level of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
52,000 | 52,000 |
|
51,000 | 51,000 |