Markus Heikkila was all in for the last 135,000 and Keith Brennan called.
Heikkila showed the 
and Brennan also had a suited ace in 
. The board came 
to provide help for Brennan and send Heikkila out in 22nd place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
770,000
220,000
|
220,000 |
|
Busted |
Down to just 79,000, Jari Hurri was all in from early position and Paul Jux Holderness called on the button.
Jari Hurri: 
Paul Jux Holderness:
The Brit flopped top set on 
, leaving Hurri to four nines in the deck. Neither the 
turn nor the 
river provided any help and Hurri was eliminated in 23rd place for €3,350.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
600,000
-50,000
|
-50,000 |
|
Busted |
A big stack not long ago, Elias Vaaraniemi has suddenly been eliminated in 24th place after running horrendously since the redraw took place.
In yet another all in showdown, he had Sean Foley on the ropes with 
versus 
and even turned top pair only for Foley to river a straight in unlikely fashion on the board 
.
Then, Vaaraniemi was all ion with 
soon after and Patrick Clarke took the flip with 
. This time, the board came 
and the king on the river spelled the end for Vaaraniemi.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
660,000
120,000
|
120,000 |
|
||
|
475,000
225,000
|
225,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Feature Table
Benny Glaser moved all in from the cutoff and Rory De Vos did so from the button with the superior stack.
Benny Glaser: 
Rory de Vos:
The Brit found no help on a board of 
and departed in 25th place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
370,000
210,000
|
210,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
David Lappin was the last Team Unibet ambassador and the last few hours had not been as kind to him. Over on the feature table, his stack had tumbled down to just 58,000 and he jammed on the button, Benny Glaser called in the big blind.
David Lappin:
Benny Glaser:
The 
flop gave Glaser a gutshot and the 
turn changed nothing just yet. However, the fell on the river and that ended the dream of Lappin to win a Unibet Open Main Event title on home soil.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
216,000
56,000
|
56,000 |
|
|
||
|
Busted | |
|
||
Julien Kron made it 18,000 to go on the button and Ricardo Klassen three-bet to 41,000 in the big blind, Kron came along and they headed to the 
flop. Klassen continued for 35,000 and Kron raised it up to 102,000, which prompted the shove of Klassen for 300,000.
Kron snap-called for a reason and Klassen was in dire shape.
Ricardo Klassen:
Julien Kron: 
The 
turn and river brought no miracle for the Dutchman and he was sent to the rail in the last hand before the dinner break.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
710,000
280,000
|
280,000 |
|
Busted |
The action started with a raise to 17,000 by Joseph Ellis and Thomas Fitzgerald made it 40,000 to go on the button. Chris Dowling four-bet all in for around 180,000 in the big blind and Ellis jammed over the top. Fitzgerald asked for a count, but once it was deemed to be for 275,000, he quickly folded.
Chris Dowling:
Joseph Ellis: 
"Did you fold an ace?" Dowling asked and Fitzgerald shook his head. The board came 
and Dowling was sent to the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
590,000
60,000
|
60,000 |
|
500,000
245,000
|
245,000 |
|
Busted |
Quentin Lecomte was no longer in his seat and the UnibetPoker.fr ambassador was spotted with Alexandre Reard and the French media, explaining how he had busted.
According to Lecomte, Mick McCloskey defended his big blind and check-called three barrels on a board of 
for 16,000 on the flop, 30,000 on the turn and 142,000 on the river. Lecomte was caught bluffing with 
and McCloskey had 
for top pair.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
530,000
200,000
|
200,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
Kasper Mellanen busted over on the feature table and when Barry McMahon ran with into the of Thomas Fitzgerald, finding no help on a board of 
, the dealers were instructed to stop after their current hand.
There was one further showdown and Raiko Vannas failed to improve with ace-queen against the of Robert Franks, reducing the field from 50 to 47 hopefuls and letting the bubble burst without the need to play hand-for-hand.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
530,000
205,000
|
205,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted | |
|
Busted |
There is an interesting saying that is often (ab)used to explain how we as humans are creatures of habit. For most of us, those habits remain the same throughout our life and it may be very difficult to learn new skills and change habits, patterns and our character.
“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
I’d love to be a dog, especially one with a caring family that gets treats regularly, has a nice garden to fool around and an interesting neighborhood to explore. The life of a dog is much less complicated than the one of a human.
Some 12 years ago, an “old Irish dog” decided to learn how to play poker and has since earned more than $1 million on the live circuit. Online he is an even bigger beast with more close to $2 million in cashes, well-known as one of the undisputed masters of satellite tournaments.
Who am I talking about? Former Irish international ultra runner Dara O’Kearney, known to most players in Ireland and the UK as “Doke” only. Now in his fifties, the Irishman can easily take on the younger generation when it comes to running and playing cards.
O'Kearney started playing poker in 2007 when he was already 43 years old. “I played a little bit of draw poker in my childhood, but then didn't play for another 25 years and really only took it up late on. I was a recreational marathon runner for years, originally I just took up running to gain a bit of fitness and lose a bit of weight. I got more into it over time.”
In his thirties he was a “pretty serious recreational runner”, O'Kearney then ran an ultra marathon when he turned 40 as an experiment and ended up winning that race in New York.
“For the next two years, I was a top class ultra runner, representing Ireland in several races, setting Irish records. But actually, my professional running career only lasted two years.”
What followed was a different kind of endurance challenge for the Irishman, who has since become well-known not just on the live poker tables but also the virtual felt. O'Kearney has become a satellite crusher, giving lessons to poker enthusiasts with regards to the perfect strategy, and his Pocket Fives profile boasts several Triple Crowns.
O'Kearney admitted that he became very good very quickly in the first few years of the current decade, mostly in satellites with a new format.
“I think there was one year on Stars where I played 500 tournaments and they were all satellites. My profit for the year was six figures and I had an insane hourly and ROI. In the middle part of the decade things started drying up and got tougher, I moved away from satellites and concentrated on regular MTT's.”
With new softwares developing, giving far more players access to a lot of information, it wasn't as easy to crush the online tables. However, O'Kearney worked very hard on his game and has since racked up more than $2 million in cashes at the virtual felt.
Apart from the online tables, his success at the live tables kick-started in the year 2015 after he made a deep run during the World Series of Poker and finished runner-up to Upeshka De Silva in Event #45 $1,500 No Limit Hold'em for $262,502. Back then, the unique opportunity may not have hit O'Kearney entirely, but he received a ton of messages with encouragement while it unfolded.
“No, I didn't, I really didn't. It was very bizarre to me. In Vegas you are in your own bubble, I knew it was a big deal just from the number of people that sent me messages and so on. But it was only until I got home until people told me that in poker clubs all over Ireland it was shown on the screens and people stopped to watch it.”
It took almost a full year for O'Kearney to realize how big of a deal it really was, as the Irishman recalled in the interview. For almost a decade, no Irishman had won a bracelet and O'Kearney came so close, not any of the new rising stars or big names.
“I think it was a month before the following trip to Vegas, I was on one of my weekly long runs. I was just running around the park and then it suddenly kind of hit me. Oh my god, I could have won a bracelet there. If I had won the last flip, I would have been right back in it.”
De Silva even went as far to haunt O'Kearney on his home soil in the current year, after he randomly appeared at the Irish Poker Masters in September 2018. The festival took place at the Gleneagle Hotel and you can guess three times who battled in heads-up for the title in the €2,200 High Roller. Sadly, there was no happy end this time either and De Silva grabbed the top prize of €30,000 to further build his status of nemesis.
On Day 2 of the 2018 Unibet Open Dublin €1,100 Main Event, O'Kearney has once again proven his ability to grind with a below-average stack and remains in contention with 50 players remaining and 47 spots paid. After the second break, he will move to the feature table and you can watch “the master in action,” as fellow countryman and Unibet Poker ambassador David Lappin added.
