Oliver James Fabian opened for 1,500, Matthew Willis called and the blinds folded so we saw a two way flop of . Fabian continued the show of strength with a bet of 2,100. Willis called.
The turn was . Fabian bet 3,000 and was met with a raise to 13,000. Puzzled, Fabian called.
The river was the and both players checked it down. Willis showed for the straight and a frustrated Fabian showed
Patrick Griffin raised to 1,200 in middle position before Lewis Barber made it 4,000 behind him. Griffin responded with a four-bet to 8,200 but Barber then five-bet to 19,000 with only 22,000 back. Griffin moved all in and Barber sighed, thought for 30 seconds and called.
Griffin:
Barber:
The board came and Barber doubled up to nearly 85,000 while Griffin was left with just 9,000.
Prior to the break we took the opportunity to spend an orbit with Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, who is taking a break from the high-stakes online games to try his luck here in Galway. Here's what we saw in the nine hands we spent with the Swede.
Hand #1 (Button): Action folded to the cutoff, who raised to 800. Blom folded.
Hand #2 (Cutoff): Action folded to Blom and he opened for 800, which Paul Quinn called from the big blind. When the flop came down , Quinn checked and then folded when Blom bet 1,000.
Hand #3 (Hijack): Facing a raise in front of him, Blom sent his cards to the muck.
Hand #4 (Middle Position): Zsolt Vasvenszki moved all in under the gun and Blom folded.
Hand #5 (Middle Position): Bruno Bressan opened for 800 under the gun and another player limped. Blom then called, as did the hijack and small blind, and then Zsolt Vasvenszki shoved all in from the big for 7,350. Bressan isolated with a four-bet to 14,500 and the rest of the players folded.
Bressan:
Vasvenszki:
The board ran out and that was all she wrote for Vasvenszki.
Hand #6 (UTG +1): Ness Kourdourli, the girlfriend of Timothy Reilly, shoved all in for 4,475 under the gun, Blom folded and then Bruno Bressan called from the big blind. Kourdourli tabled the and was racing against Bressan's . Unfortunately for Kourdourli, it was a race she wouldn't win as the board ran out to give Bressan a winning pair of queens.
It started when Jerry Koob went all-in from early position for his last 5,100. Ciarian Cooney called the bet as did the big stack at the table, Deborah Worley-Roberts. Mark Kenny in the big blind had a decision to make. He decided to move all-in over the top with a bet of 14,475.
Cooney folded, leaving his chips behind. Worley-Roberts asked for a count and said, “I know I’m a dog but I’ve got to call.” and so she did.
The cards were on their backs. Koob, first to go in showed . Worley-Roberts was happy with that and tabled Kenny though had
The board ran out and Kenny scooped a massive pot of over 40,000
After Rory Brennan opened for 900 under the gun, Keith Brennan called from middle position and a short-stacked David "Devilfish" Ulliott defended from the big. Two checks on the flop saw Keith bet 1,500 and the Devilfish thought for a minute before moving all in for 3,500. Rory Brennan then called and Keith got out of the way.
Ulliott:
Brennan:
"I knew he didn't have anything," Ulliott said while pointing at Keith. What he didn't expect was for Brennan to wake up with the best hand. The turn gave Ulliott, who was by this time standing, some more outs, but the river would miss them all. "Cheers mate," Ulliott said sincerely. "Well done."
There's a particularly tricky looking table in the top left corner of the poker room. It's got Trevor Dinneen, winner of the Irish Poker Championships, former WSOP Main Event finalist Jon Kalmar and High Stakes PLO player Dave Callaghan.
We hoped for fireworks on an flop where Kalmar bet 1,200 and Callaghan was the only caller but on the turn, the former quickly check-folded to a 2,000 bet from the Irishman.