IRISH OPEN: LOESER LEADS BUT BRAT IS IN THE PACK

PICTURE: PADDY POWER POKER

I'm proud to say that Today I had the patience, the desire, the heart, + the commitment to fight my way back into contention!
- Phil Hellmuth (via Twitter, @phil_hellmtuh)

He's never one to run out of words but, after a tough end to the week finishing dead last at the inaugural ISeries Live event, it sure looks like Phil Hellmuth is focused on making waves in Ireland.

After missing a crucial part of the evening during Day 1 play, Phil Hellmuth came roaring back during Day 2 play and remains in contention as the final 49 players are set to return to The Burlington Hotel on Easter Sunday for Day 3 of the Irish Open.

The overnight chip leader - holding a monster stack - is German pro Manig Loeser. Loeser holds a 846K chip stack. Only one man is right behind Loeser, WSOP bracelet winner Andrew Badecker has a litle over 809K in chips.

The two players nearly double what the third place player holds, they seem to have taken complete control of this event, for now.

NOTABLE CHIP STACKS
Manig Loeser 846,000 (Day 2 Chip Leader)
Andrew Badecker 809,500
Byron Kaverman 422,000
Samuel Chartier 417,500 (Day 1 Chip Leader)
James Dempsey 275,000
Freddy Deeb 164,500
Andy Black 135,500
Phil Hellmuth 134,500

NOTABLE DAY 2 ELIMINATIONS
Nick Abou Risk, Matt Perrins, Ken Aldridge, JP Kelly, Shaun Deeb, Victor Ramdin, Ronan Gilligan, Kevin Vandersmissen, Devilfish, Martins Adeniya, Erik Cajelais, Jude Ainsworth, Eoghan O'Dea, Ross Boatman, Seamus Cahill, Donnacha O'Dea, Julian Thew, Xuan Liu, Scott Baumstein, Michael Schuerpf.

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TOP 49 PAYOUTS (EURO) 1st  €420,000 2nd  €225,000 3rd  €158,000 4th  €107,500 5th  €78,000 6th  €59,000 7th  €44,500 8th  €32,700 9th  €23,000 10-12th  €17,850 13-15th  €15,400 16-18th  €13,150 19-27th  €11,200 28-36th  €9,400 37-45th  €8,000 46-49th  €6,900 RELATED POSTS >> NIALL SMYTH WINS IRISH OPEN >> BADECKER WINS BORGATA

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT Paddy Power Poker Irish Open NLH Main Event April 5-9, 2012 The Burlington Hotel | Dublin Buy-in: $4,580 | Prizepool: $2,103,420 Entries: 502 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st position 105 2nd position 65 3rd position 40 4th position 30 5th position 23 6th position 15 7th position 13 8-9th position 10

IRISH OPEN: IRISH EYES WERE SMILING ON NIALL SMYTH

PHOTO/SOURCE: PADDYPOWERPOKERblog.wordpress.com

The marathon is over, after a long heads up battle, Niall Smyth has defeated veteran Surinder Sunar to win the Irish Poker Championship.

Smyth enjoyed a large chip lead three and four handed ... but while in heads up play, Sunar doubled-up and even enjoyed the lead at one point - Smyth then had a double-up of his own - and never looked back.

Pre-final table favorite John Eames struggled early and wasn't able to finish higher than 8th. Eames earned his second PTPR Score of the season, he now has 60 PTPR Points on the year.

Great turn-out and a fantastic event - great job by the folks in Dublin!

Here are the final table payouts for the event (in EUR):
Niall Smyth: 550,000
Surinder Sunar: 290,000
Martin Petri: 180,000
Seamus Cahill: 145,000
Aleksi Savela: 115,000
Karl Rudwall: 85,000
Rob Taylor: 63,000
John Eames: 45,000
Niall McCann: 30,000


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Paddy Power Poker Irish Poker Open
Irish Open NLH Main Event
April 22-25, 2011

The Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland

Buy-in: $4,655
Prizepool: $2,862,259
Entries: 615

Defending Champion: James Mitchell

POINTS AT STAKE
NIALL SMYTH 106
SURINDER SUNAR 66
MARTIN PETRI 41
SEAMUS CAHILL 31
ALEKSI SAVELA 24
KARL RUDWALL 16
ROB TAYLOR 14
JOHN EAMES 11
NIALL MCCANN 11

IRISH OPEN: FINAL TABLE SET, WE HAVE A LOG-JAM UP TOP

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: PADDYPOWERPOKERBLOG.com

We have our final nine players and there is one heck of a log-jam at the top. Six players all within a couple hundred thousand chips ... it's going to be one heck of a final day on Monday.

Shockingly, JP Kelly - who was one of the chip leaders coming into Sunday play - was ousted a little after the mid-way point today - he took one really bad hit from John Eames and that seemed to lead to his demise.

Eames (pictured) is amongst the pack at the top, so is veteran Surinder Sunar. Andy Black was our bubble boy, finishing tenth in the event.

The final table participants are: Niall Smyth, Sunar, Aleksi Savela, Martin Petri, Eames, John Rudwall, Seamus Cahill, Robert Taylor and Niall Mccann

Here are the final table payouts for the event (in EUR):
1st: 550,000
2nd: 290,000
3rd: 180,000
4th: 145,000
5th: 115,000
6th: 85,000
7th: 63,000
8th: 45,000
9th: 30,000


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Paddy Power Poker Irish Poker Open
Irish Open NLH Main Event
April 22-25, 2011

The Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland

Buy-in: $4,655
Prizepool: $2,862,259
Entries: 615

Defending Champion: James Mitchell

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 106
2nd position 66
3rd position 41
4th position 31
5th position 24
6th position 16
7th position 14
8th position 11
9th position 11

IRISH OPEN: KELLY, EAMES, OTHER BIG NAMES STILL ALIVE AFTER DAY 2

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: PADDYPOWERPOKER.com

Down to 55 players at the Irish Poker Open in Dublin.

Julian Herold is the chip leader, he has a very small chip lead over popular pros JP Kelly (pictured) and John Eames.

Eames has 49 PTPR Points this season, he is looking to add to that. Noel Furlong and PTPR Top 10 Player Michael Tureniec are also right there in contention.

Here are the notable chip stacks heading into Day 3:
669,500 – Julian Herold
620,500 – JP Kelly
564,000 – John Eames
475,000 – Noel Furlong
293,500 – Michael Tureniec
286,000 – Jude Ainsworth
267,000 – Surinder Sunar
217,000 – Marty Smyth
177,000 – Andy Black


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Paddy Power Poker Irish Poker Open
Irish Open NLH Main Event
April 22-25, 2011

The Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland

Buy-in: $4,655
Prizepool: $2,862,259
Entries: 615

Defending Champion: James Mitchell

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 106
2nd position 66
3rd position 41
4th position 31
5th position 24
6th position 16
7th position 14
8th position 11
9th position 11

PTS AT STAKE: OVER 600 PLAYERS INVADE DUBLIN FOR IRISH POKER OPEN

PHOTO CREDIT: PADDYPOWERPOKER.com
SOURCE: PADDYPOWERPOKERBLOG.com

We had 615 runners show up for the start of the Irish Poker Open - about 100 less players compared to the 2010 event but, still very impressive numbers nonetheless.

We lost over 300 players on Day 1 ... players eliminated included Julian Gardner, Ross Boatman, Barney Boatman, Roberto Romanello, James Aikenhead, Andrew Teng, Yann Dion and Padraig Parkinson.

Here are the payouts for the event:
1st: 550,000
2nd: 290,000
3rd: 180,000
4th: 145,000
5th: 115,000
6th: 85,000
7th: 63,000
8th: 45,000
9th: 30,000
10th – 12th: 19,400
13th – 16th: 15,100
17th – 24th: 11,700
25th – 32nd: 9,400
33rd – 40th: 7,500
41st – 48th: 5,900
49th – 56th: 4,700
57th – 64th: 4,100


PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Paddy Power Poker Irish Poker Open
Irish Open NLH Main Event
April 22-25, 2011

The Burlington Hotel
Dublin, Ireland

Buy-in: $4,655
Prizepool: $2,862,259
Entries: 615

Defending Champion: James Mitchell

POINTS AT STAKE
1st position 106
2nd position 66
3rd position 41
4th position 31
5th position 24
6th position 16
7th position 14
8th position 11
9th position 11