The Irish Open got off to a flyer yesterday with big names at the top and a €1m prize pool – don’t miss the action today!
A total of 321 runners made up the field for Day 1 of the €3,200 + €300 buy-in 2015 PaddyPower Poker Irish Open Main Event yesterday, generating a prize pool of €1,027,200. At the end of play, 2013 champion Ian Simpson topped the chip counts on 143,425, with 235 players left going into Day 2.
It was an incredible performance again from Simpson, who clearly loves the tournament – he finished 4th in 2012, picking up the Sole Survivor bonus as well, and then came back in 2013 and won it. Could he do it again in 2015?
There are plenty of big names for him to get past first though. The 2015 Irish Open welcomed poker luminaries such as Dan Harrington, Jake Cody, Mike Sexton and former Irish Open champions Neil Channing and Patrick Clarke, as well as PaddyPower Poker Madchester festival winner Shah Athar, who won his seat to this event as part of his prize package. Channing, Harrington and Clarke are all out but the top of the leaderboard is stacked.
In second place behind Simpson on 122,200 is EPT winner Rupert Elder; EPT Grand Final champion Steve O’Dwyer is in third place on 111,975. Other notable players still in the running include Jake Cody, Andy Black, and father and son team Donnacha and Eoghan O’Dea. Full chip counts, which are updated live throughout the day, are available along with the live stream on our website now. The tournament reconvenes at noon today and will attempt to play down to the money, or as close to it as possible.
For the craic
It is often said that the real action at the Irish Open takes place at the bar, and among yesterday’s entertainments were opportunities to flip for free drinks, and also a sumo suit wrestling contest, which garnered a bigger and considerably more raucous rail than the Main Event. These events, along with beer pong, will continue throughout the weekend if you’re in the vicinity.
There’s a tinge of sadness in the air as well though. This is the first year that the Irish Open has been missing the legendary Liam Flood, and in his honour the side events kick off today with the Liam Flood Memorial tournament, a €1,000 + €125 NLH event starting at 6.30pm. At 8pm there will also be a €200 + €25 Turbo Win the Button event, and other side events and shenanigans will continue throughout the long weekend. Click here to view the full schedule.
We’ll be continuing to live stream the action from our feature table all weekend – click here for the live stream from noon every day, and for full chip counts, updated regularly.
