We’ve reached the last day of the Party Poker MILLIONS main event, but also the final one of the inaugural Irish Poker Festival. Today the Grand Prix and High Roller events will conclude, along with the main event. There’s also a Monsterstack event and one last PLO 7-Max tournament brings the festival to a close.
| Sunday 5th November Irish Poker Festival Tournament Schedule | |||
| Start Time | Buy-In | Event Name | Guarantee |
| 11:00 | €300 | High Roller Hyper Satellite | |
| 12:00 | €350 | Irish Poker Festival MILLIONS Final Day | €700,000 |
| 14:00 | €550 | Leinster Poker Cup | |
| 14:00 | €2,500 | High Roller Final Day | €100,000 |
| 15:00 | €2,500 | Monsterstack | |
| 19:00 | €400 | PLO 7-Max | |
MILLIONS Day 2 Roundup
A further 34 players entered the MILLIONS main event at the start of day 2, to join the 125 who made it through the day 1s. In total 286 players entered the tournament, to create a total prize pool of €766,838. The attrition rate was fast with 40% of the day 2 players being eliminated during the first two levels of the day and by the first break, just 98 remained. The pace of the exits slowed and the tournament then entered a more serious phase, with players focused on making it to the business end of the poker equation, with the top 29 finishers being paid.
Many fell by the wayside, dreams of becoming the first Irish Festival MILLIONS Champion left in tatters for most. Amongst the fallen were Bart Lybaert, Niall Farrell, Dara O’Kearney, Chris Dowling, Dominik Nitsche, James Mahone, Barry Moore and the very dapper Jose Rafael Mote de Silva. If there had been a competition for best dressed man at the festival, Jose (see main picture) would have been the odds-on jolly to take down that trophy.
By the end of the day’s play just 15 competitors remained and they returned today to resume play at midday. Glenn Keogh, who was the day 1c chip leader, has remained at the top of the pile, with 2,363,000 commanding a lead of over a half a million on his nearest rival, the UK’s Richard Kellett. Tomas MacNamamara in third, Andrew Hedley in 4th and Ankit Ahuja in 5th are the only other players to have broached the 1m mark. Other players in contention include Michal Molenaar, Darren Harbinson and Andy Black.
| Irish Poker Festival MILLIONS Final Day Chip Counts | |
| Player | Chip Count |
| Glenn Keogh | 2,363,000 |
| Richard Kellett | 1,654,000 |
| Tomas McNamara | 1,648,000 |
| Andrew Hedley | 1,369,000 |
| Ankit Ahuja | 1,235,000 |
| Liam Chevalier | 962,000 |
| Padraig O’Neil | 824,000 |
| Barry Carson | 768,000 |
| Ross Coveney | 665,000 |
| Andy Black | 566,000 |
| Michel Molenaar | 556,000 |
| Conor Bergin | 460,000 |
| Sebastian Proulx | 447,000 |
| Pangiotis Mavritsakis | 417,000 |
| Darren Harbinson | 366,000 |
Grand Prix Update
There were two further flights of the Grand Prix yesterday also, with 92 in day 1b and 118 in day 1c for a total field of 267 runners. Just 44 of these runners are still with riders going into day 2 and all are aiming at a share of the €130,160 prize pool and a crack at the €32,000 first place prize. Here are the chip counts of the survivors from both flights.
| Grand Prix Day 1b Survivors | |
| Player | Chip Count |
| Wojciech Szczytkowski | 366,000 |
| David Costello | 329,000 |
| James O’Brien | 229,000 |
| Youness Barakat | 222,000 |
| John Patten | 198,000 |
| Jamie Cunningham | 185,000 |
| David O’Kelly | 185,000 |
| Marc MacDonnell | 182,000 |
| Robert McDowell | 147,000 |
| Shawn Morales | 143,000 |
| Sam Browne | 141,000 |
| Declan O’Hara | 137,000 |
| Larry Ryan | 117,000 |
| Damien Byrne | 110,000 |
| James Groarke | 83,000 |
| Grand Prix Day 1c Survivors | |
| Player | Chip Count |
| Merivan Hassan | 430,000 |
| John Farrell | 341,000 |
| David Costello | 329,000 |
| Aleksandras Nagreckis | 307,000 |
| Dominik Fischer | 235,000 |
| Johnathan Daly | 229,000 |
| Viesturs Baumanis | 206,000 |
| Johnathen McCullagh | 201,000 |
| Micrea Rus | 185,000 |
| Surendre Naidoo | 178,000 |
| Eric Doyle | 150,000 |
| Maximilian Sanders | 145,000 |
| James O’Sullivan | 137,000 |
| James Noonan | 133,000 |
| Knut Berntsen | 119,000 |
| Dylan Sweeney | 115000 |
| Eoin O’Shea | 110000 |
| Peter Toth | 81000 |
| Michal Zimani | 52000 |
| Florian Lohnert | 37000 |
Live updates of the final table are on PokerListings, and there’s a tournament clock which anyone can access with live info of players remaining, in all events.
Jonathan Raab
Irish Poker Festival Media Coordinator
