The atmosphere is crackling here at the Royal Dublin Society, as the 46th Irish Open heads into its first weekend, with the €250 APAT Championship trophy due to be awarded today.
Only 28 players return for the final day, which gets underway at noon. Matas Kacinskas of Lithuania (1,020,000) topped the standings when the dust settled in Day 1, being the only player to bag a seven-figure stack. He has a healthy lead over Peter Banke of Denmark (800,000), while Patrick Schratz of Germany (700,000) completes the podium places.
Northern Ireland’s Mark Johnston (300,000), who finished third in the 2024 Irish Open Main Event, is still in the mix, as is poker content creator Liam Hind (345,000).
The tournament attracted a total of 366 entries, creating a €76,329 prize pool. The bubble was broken in Day 1, with 55 places being paid, and a minimum cash worth €370. Players such as Tim Chung, Thiago Narvarez and Alexis Morel all secured payouts, but failed to make the Day 2 cut, while Darragh Flynn was the unfortunate player to bubble.
All remaining players have secured a €490 payday, while €15,200 awaits the champion.
€250 APAT Championship Day 2 Top Ten Counts
| Name | Country | Chips |
| Matas Kacinskas | Lithuania | 1,020,000 |
| Peter Banke | Denmark | 800,000 |
| Patrick Schratz | Germany | 700,000 |
| Sean Foley | Ireland | 685,000 |
| Tudor Neacsu | Romania | 675,000 |
| Christopher Tsang | England | 610,000 |
| Michael Healy | Ireland | 585,000 |
| Wang Kwan Chan | Ireland | 550,500 |
| Alexandru Tudor | Romania | 455,000 |
| Robert Wiechers | Netherlands | 395,000 |
Full chip counts and payout details can be found in the PLAYERS and PAYOUTS tabs above.
The players will return to 25-minute levels at Level 19, with blinds of 10,000/20,000, with a 20,000 big blind ante.
Here’s APAT’s Live Events Operations Manager Tom Brady with his thoughts on this year’s event.
We’ll be on the floor from cards in the air until a champion is crowned, so stay tuned for all your coverage of the APAT Championship final day.
