It shouldn’t come as news to anyone at this stage that the €250 Mini Main Event is one of the most popular tournaments during the 2025 Irish Poker Open. The numbers speak for themselves; last year, the tournament attracted 5,320 entries, and the 2025 edition is on a strong path to tangent those numbers.
The seventh starting flight, Day 1d, did its contribution increasing the numbers, as it ended 17 more players onto Day 2, which is scheduled to be played on Monday 21.
Skills on Display
Day 1d culminated with 334 and was a tangible proof that the Irish Poker Open is growing bigger and bigger by the year; for the first time this year, the RDS-adjoined Shelbourne Hall had to be used to meet the demand. Such, the tournament in question was played “all by itself” in a separate room, creating a soothing and exciting atmosphere.
When late registration closed at the beginning of Level 11, the floor announced that 17 players would move on to Day 2, and that the top 47 would be in the money.
47 would prove to become 48, as the bubble burst in dramatic fashion, resulting in two players sharing the min-cash, walking away with €195 each. After all contestants were promised some profit, aggression amped up; this didn’t come as a surprise, as we’ve seen similar tendencies during the previous Day 1 flights. One needs to be bold, fighting for a big stack, in order to have good presumptions going deep during Day 2.
Yesterday’s runner-up of the €350 NLH 6-Max Championship, Corne Scheel, realised this and wasn’t afraid to get his stack in the middle. His moves would pay off as he advanced from Day 1g as the fourth biggest stack. Bagging most today, though, was Giuseppe Dedoni. The Italian is having a great week in Dublin, as he kicked off the week by shipping the €1,150 8-Handed NLH for €66,500.
The Show Must Go On
The Mini Main Event is closing in on 2,000 entries in total, and you’d better believe the number will increase a lot during the upcoming weekend. There are still five more Day 1 flights to go, and it’s not a tournament players want to miss out on.
Tomorrow, cards will be flying again as Day 1h is set to commence at 18:00. Make sure to tune in for the live coverage!
