The final day of the 2024 Irish Open, easily the most spectacular poker festival Ireland has ever known, kicked off today at noon. The Main Event has broken its own record to become the richest poker tournament ever held in Ireland and the €500,000 Mini Irish Open has attracted absolutely bonkers numbers and now holds the record as Ireland’s largest ever tournament.
There are just 11 players left in the Main Event (from the start of day 14) with Finland’s Tero Laurila in the lead on 13,075,000. Spanish PokerStars qualifier David Tous is just a million or so behind on 12,125,000. It’s nice to see that nearly half the remaining field are home-grown. Padraig Parkinson, who started the day in 10th place, bust fairly early, finishing in 13th place for €24,660. Padraig has put in a stellar performance to achieve his best ever Irish Open cash. As PokerStars Team Pro Barny Boatman told us this morning: “Padraig is the Tommy Cooper of Irish Poker. He’ll distract you with a joke, and while you’re wondering which is the bottle and which is the glass, he’ll be raking in your chips.”
With a record-breaking 3,233 entries, the prize pool for the Main Event reached €3,152,175 with 480 paid. All 14 players still in are guaranteed at least €20,560 but will by vying for the mouth-watering €415,615 first prize. More than 800+ players qualified online for the event on PokerStars and Paddy Power as well as in live satellites at the venue and casinos around the world.
Among the 469 players who have already cashed are Kimmo Kurko, Conor Beresford, Tobias Peters, Dara O’Kearney, David Lappin, PokerStars VIP player liaison whizz Brandon Nguyen, this year’s Heads-up Champion – Spanish live stream commentator Alex Romero, Kully Sidhu, Brandon Sheils, WSOP Ladies runner-up Debs “the Destroyer” Worley-Roberts, The Club’s Adam McKola and PokerStars Ambassador Sebastian Huber.
Major congrats to Dublin’s Dermot Harney who qualified for €5 on Paddy Power and left the tourney in 50th place for €7,220. Harney, who only lives 25 minutes away from the RDS, said that – thanks to the 30 minute security delay, he actually had time to get home and watch his own bust-out on TV. Congrats also to Kyle O’Connor who freerolled into a €1 Paddy Power promotion during the Cheltenham Festival to win his seat for nothing at all. He finished 294th in the Main Event for €2,340.