Irish Open Main Is Event Will Be Huge; Haxton and Leonard Shine

Day 1A of the Irish Open Main Event exceeded all expectations. The €1,100 buy-in tournament has a €1 million guarantee, and we have already collected €822,000 of that sum thanks to a bumper turnout on Day 1A. Two more flights remain, meaning we could beat last year’s attendance of 2,945.

Day 1A took place on March 28 and saw 822 players buy in. This impressive figure was helped by the fact 116 partypoker players won their seat in the Mega Satellite, also on March 28. The next 100x €1,100 seat Mega Sat shuffles up and deals at 15:30 BST on April 4, do not miss it!

Two from the Team partypoker roster shone brightly on the first of the three Irish Open Main Event flights. Isaac Haxton finished the opening flight with 4,203,053 chips in his stack, enough for fifth-place from the 123 players who made it through.

Teammate Patrick Leonard enjoyed himself on Day 1A, bagging up 3,435,635 chips at the close of play, which are enough for eighth-place right now.

Belarusian Artsion Prostak finished Day 1A with a tournament-leading stack of 5,749,839 chips. That impressive total is going to take some beating, especially when you consider Justin Ouimette finished the night in second place with 4,560,575 chips. Ouimette won the recent MILLIONS Online Mini Main Event for $184,507, so he is full of confidence.

Plenty of other household names made it through to Day 2 at the first attempt. Dylan Linde (3,008,209), Thomas Muehloecker (2,119,538), Mike Watson (1,127,330), Sam Greenwood (774,126), Team Online’s Louise Butler (461,441), and Team partpoker’s Carl Froch (372,891) being just a handful of stars to look out for on Day 1B.

Irish Open Main Event Day 1A Top 10 Chip Counts

Place | Player | Country | Chips
1 | Artsion Prostak | Belarus | 5,749,839
2 | Justin Ouimette | Canada | 4,560,575
3 | Morten Pedersen | Denmark | 4,506,934
4 | Viktor Zsemlye | Austria | 4,410,026
5 | Isaac Haxton | Canada | 4,203,053
6 | Alexandru Bucur | United Kingdom | 3,694,932
7 | Jan Steicher | Germany | 3,656,367
8 | Patrick Leonard | United Kingdom | 3,435,635
9 | Claas Stoob | Austria | 3,397,487
10 | Alxandru Baron | Canada | 3,139,691

Day 1B starts at 19:05 BST on April 4 with Day 1C, which has a 10-minute turbo blind structure, running from 15:05 BST on April 5. Check out the plethora of satellites currently available in the partypoker lobby.

Irish Open Opener Final Table Results

Place | Player | Country | Prize | Bounties
1 | Klas Lofberg | Sweden | €23,322 | €23,817
2 | Daniel Budin | Czech Republic | €23,288 | €7,690
3 | Philipp Hofbauer | Austria | €15,738 | €3,789
4 | Niklas Astedt | Sweden | €10,417 | €9,798
5 | Johannes Straver | Austria | €6,952 | €2,289
6 | Fernando Borges | Brazil | €5,331 | €3,386
7 | David Llacer | United Kingdom | €3,752 | €2,023

The Opener PKO smashed its €250,000 guarantee thanks to 683 players buying in for €530 and creating a €341,500 prize pool.

Dozens of top poker talent were among the 102 players who reached Day 2, all of whom cashed in this event. Irish trio Daniel Smyth, Marc Macdonnell and Dara O’Kearney, Manig Loeser, Chris Moorman, and Team partypoker’s Kristen Bicknell all padded their bankrolls. Bicknell narrowly missed out on a final table appearance, falling in 12th for a combined prize worth €1,969.

WPT500 Knockout runner-up David Lopez Llacer was the first of the seven finalists to bust. Fernando Borges, Johannes Straver, and the Swedish legend Niklas Astedt joined Llacer on the rail.

Denmark’s Philipp Hofbauer crashed out in third, leaving Daniel Budin and Klas Lofberg heads-up for the title. Budin fell at the final hurdle and had to make do with a €30,978 consolation prize. Lofberg, on the other hand, walked away with a cool €47,139 thanks, in part, to locking up €23,817 worth of bounties on his way to an impressive victory.

Other Irish Open Results

Kirill Shugay – first-place in the €530 Omaha High Roller for €13,566

Alan Takehara – first-place in the €265 6-Max Hyper for €10,025

Jan Strazisar – first-place in the €162 7-Max Turbo Knockout for €8,670*

John Dwyer – first-place in the €162 6-Max Turbo for €6,880

Stefan Schuuring – first-place in the €55 Mini Omaha High Roller for €2,808

includes bounty payments

Irish Open Events Running on March 29

Four more Irish Open tournaments take place on March 29, giving you more opportunities to win big online at partypoker.

19:05 BST sees the €265 Dublin Deepstack, and its €27 buy-in Mini Dublin Deepstack cousin shuffle up and deal. Then there is a Day 1B of the Grand Prix Ireland where €250,000 is guaranteed for only a €55 buy-in.

Rounding off the day’s action is the eagerly anticipated Liam Flood 6-Max Turbo. This €265 buy-in €30,000 guaranteed affair bears the name of the late Irish legend Liam Flood and is one of the staple tournaments of the live edition of the Irish Open.

Time (BST) | Tournament | Buy-in
19:05 | Irish Open #08 Dublin Deepstack: €50K Gtd | €265
19:05 | Irish Open #08 Mini Dublin Deepstack: €15K Gtd | €27
20:05 | Irish Open #06 Grand Prix Ireland Day 1B: €250K Gtd | €55
21:15 | Irish Open #09 Liam Flood 6-Max Turbo: €30K Gtd | €265