Edouardos Stavrakis and Moya Murphy were heads up on a board of J?K?10?7?, with a gigantic amount of 45,000 chips already in the middle. Stavrakis checked out of the small blind and called the subsequent 21,000-chip bet of Murphy.
On the 2? river, Murphy sized up to 30,000 chips. Stavrakis instantly called and Murphy mucked her cards, signaling that she had been caught bluffing. Stavrakis took in the huge pot and ended up with over 300 big blinds in his stack, leading the field.
On the opening day of the Irish Open, legendary commentator Joe Stapleton made the final table of the 6-max event, picking up one of his biggest ever live cashes.
PokerStars Blog caught up with Stapes to find out more about his win and his new role as an official PokerStars ambassador.
Frank Stepuchin and Albert Sapiano were heads up on a completed board of 9?10?J?A?A?. Stepuchin made a large bet of 13,600, around the size of the pot, and Sapiano chucked in a call.
Stepuchin showed J?J? for a full house, leading to Sapiano's cards hitting the muck as the players evened their stacks.
Dan Laidlaw had open-raised from the hijack, after which Wouter Beltz put in a three-bet to 2,500 from the small blind. Laidlaw responded by reraising to 5,500, and Beltz made the call.
On the 5?K?2? flop, Beltz check-called the 2,500 bet Laidlaw put in, after which the Q? turn and J? river were checked down.
Laidlaw showed K?6? for top pair, and Beltz could only nod his head as he relinquished his cards and the pot.
On a completed board of 10?Q?2?3?7?, Aurismas Baksinskas made a bet of 1,100 into the pot of 3,500 from under the gun. Andy Black sat on the button and made a raise to 3,000.
Baksinskas swiftly called and Black tabled 10?7? for two pair. Baksinskas' A?Q? disappeared into the muck and Black raked in a much-needed pot.
Albert Sapiano and Marle Spragg were heads up on a completed board of 2?K?6?3?4?, with around 18,000 chips in the middle. Spragg checked out of the small blind before Sapiano went all in for 10,000 on the button.
Spragg quickly called and Sapiano tabled 5?5? for the rivered straight. Spragg showed A?K? for a no-good top pair and was left with one-third of a starting stack.
"Didn't expect that, did you?" Sapiano quipped. "I put you on ace-king as well," he shared while stacking up his chips.
Tom Waters and Shoib Gulamhussein were looking at a completed board of 6?K?9?8?6?, where Waters made a bet of 3,500 from the big blind into a pot of 10,000.
Gulamhussein then moved in for 17,700 chips and Waters asked for a count. After receiving it, he flicked in a call and a showdown was had.
Gulamhussein tabled J?8? for two pair, eights and sixes, which were outclassed by the rockets of Waters. His A?A? for aces and sixes raked in him the pot while Gulamhussein swiftly vacated the table.
There were 6,500 chips already in the middle on a turn of 5?2?6?Q?. Andy Black checked from the big blind, after which Earle Darren bet 2,200 from the cutoff. Philippe Dotti then raised to 4,400 on the button, which forced Black out of the pot.
Darren tossed in a quick call, however, and did so too when Dotti made a bet of 6,500 on the 4? river. Dotti showed down 2?2? for bottom set, beating the 6?5? of Darren, who had flopped two pair.
The time has come for a new edition of one of Europe's most prolific poker tournaments. Today, players from all over the world gather at the Royal Dublin Society in the Irish capital trying to etch their names in the history books by winning the iconic €1,150 Irish Open Main Event, which is sponsored by PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker for the second year in a row.
The Main Event once again boasts a guaranteed prize pool of €1,000,000, but if last year's numbers are anything to go by, that will be blown out of the water. Back in 2023, David Docherty was the last man standing in a field of 2,491 entries, taking home the lion's share of €365,000 from the €2,428,725 prize pool. Docherty was the strongest on a final table with, among others, Irish poker legend Andy Black and English grinder Carl Shaw, eventually beating the Irish Declan Rice heads up in front of the home crowd.
2023 Irish Open Main Event Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize
1
David Docherty
United Kingdom
€365,000
2
Declan Rice
Ireland
€228,700
3
Panagiotis Mavritsakis
Greece
€161,500
4
Tom Waters
United Kingdom
€124,500
5
Andy Black
Ireland
€95,500
6
Eugeniu Barbaros
Moldova
€73,500
7
Carl Shaw
United Kingdom
€56,500
8
Henri Ojala
Finland
€43,500
David Docherty
Docherty will be back in Dublin this year to defend his title, and he could start his journey today at noon local time when Day 1a begins. Day 1a is the first of four starting flights and is played with 45-minute levels. Each player who registers gets 30,000 chips to start with and blind will commence at 100/100. Late registration will remain open for ten full levels, and a single reentry is available to anyone who makes an early exit.
Meanwhile, Day 1b on Thursday, March 28, and Day 1c on Friday, March 29 know the same structure, while Day 1d is a turbo flight with 20-minute levels instead, being played Friday evening.
Irish Open Main Event Day 1a Structure
Level
Small Blind
Big Blind
Big Blind Ante
Duration
1
100
100
45 min.
2
100
200
45 min.
3
100
200
200
45 min.
Break
20 min.
4
100
300
300
45 min.
5
200
400
400
45 min.
6
200
500
500
45 min.
Break
20 min.
7
300
600
600
45 min.
8
400
800
800
45 min.
9
500
1,000
1,000
45 min.
Dinner Break
60 min.
10
600
1,200
1,200
45 min.
11
800
1,600
1,600
45 min.
12
1,000
2,000
2,000
45 min.
Break
20 min.
13
1,000
2,500
2,500
45 min.
14
1,500
3,000
3,000
45 min.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor in Dublin from the very first hand of Day 1a until the final hand is dealt on Day 4, so stay tuned to not miss any of the poker action straight from the Irish capital.
