Joni Rantamaki Leads Final 18 of Irish Poker Festival Main Event
Out of a total of 285 entrants, only 18 players remain in contention for the title after successfully qualifying for Day 3 of the Irish Poker Festival €3,000 Main Event at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dublin, Ireland.
Tomorrow, Sunday, November 3, one of them will be crowned the winner and take home the first-place prize of €177,000. After Day 2, Finland’s Joni Rantamaki is closest to the trophy, finishing as the chip leader with 2,113,000 chips. He holds a substantial lead over Conor O’Rourke (1,520,000) and Mark Buckley (1,350,000), while only six players bagged over one million chips.
2024 Irish Poker Festival €3,000 Main Event Day 2 Top Ten
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip count | Big blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joni Rantamaki | Finland | 2,113,000 | 106 |
| 2 | Conor O'Rourke | Ireland | 1,520,000 | 76 |
| 3 | Mark Buckley | Ireland | 1,350,000 | 68 |
| 4 | Sean Hegarty | United States | 1,232,000 | 62 |
| 5 | Leo Worthington-Leese | United Kingdom | 1,098,000 | 55 |
| 6 | Jonathan Proudfoot | Ireland | 1,000,000 | 50 |
| 7 | Niall Farrell | United Kingdom | 972,000 | 49 |
| 8 | Vasilijus Piskunovas | Lithuania | 810,000 | 41 |
| 9 | Rafael Golka | Germany | 663,000 | 33 |
| 10 | Alec Torelli | United States | 638,000 | 32 |
Day 2's Action
A total of 121 players bagged chips after all four Day 1s and gathered for Day 2 at 1:00 p.m. However, late registration remained open for two levels, allowing new players to join or previously eliminated players to reenter after losing their chips the first time today. This was the case for Kuljinder Sidhu and Maria Lampropulos, but both were eliminated definitively shortly after the payouts were announced.
Last year’s winner of this Irish Poker Festival Main Event, Michel Molenaar, looked poised for a back-to-back victory as he led the tournament's chip lead during the earlier dinner break. He maintained one of the top stacks through the following levels—until the money bubble approached. After several pot losses, he ran into Richard Ashby’s kings and was left with less than 10 big blinds. He then went all-in with ace-jack but faced ace-queen, becoming this year’s bubble-boy.
Liam Chevalier, Keith Cummins, and Dara O’Kearney were the first players to be eliminated in the money, each securing a minimum cash prize of €8,000. The goal was to reach the end of Level 21 or the final three tables. It seemed like an easy task for Joni Rantamaki, who became the first player to reach 2,000,000 chips. He lost a big pot to Mark Buckley during the last minutes of the day, but still managed to bag the chip lead.
The day went smoothly as well for Leo Worthington-Leese, who started as second in chips and ended with 1,098,000 chips. After the three-table redraw, he eliminated Raul Martinez (22nd - €9,000) and Duane McDonnell (21st - €9,000) within a few hands, before battling with Alec Torelli. Torelli managed to qualify with 638,000 chips. At the same table, two-time WSOP bracelet winner Richard Ashby bagged 450,000 chips.
At other tables, Niall Farrell reached 972,000 chips, followed by Vasilijus Piskunovas (810,000), Rafael Golka (663,000), and Florian Fuchs (570,000). Eoghan O’Dea (310,000) also secured his place in Day 3, while Sam Dobbins lost almost all his chips in a flip on the last hand of the day. He will return on Day 3 with 51,000, the starting stack.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €177,000 | 10 | €17,500 |
| 2 | €113,000 | 11 | €15,000 |
| 3 | €70,000 | 12 | €13,000 |
| 4 | €50,000 | 13 | €11,580 |
| 5 | €38,000 | 14 | €10,750 |
| 6 | €31,500 | 15 - 16 | €10,000 |
| 7 | €27,500 | 17-18 | €9,500 |
| 8 | €24,000 | ||
| 9 | €20,500 |
Day 3 was originally scheduled to restart at noon, but the players voted to move it to 1 p.m.. They will be back at the tables later with blinds of 10,000/20,000 and a big blind ante of 60,000. The plan is to play down until a champion is crowned.
That concludes coverage of Day 2 of the Irish Poker Festival Main Event, be sure to tune back in to PokerNews tomorrow for all the action, directly from the tournament floor.