Sunday the 20th was set to be an action-packed day at the 2025 Irish Poker Open. Day 3 of the Main Event and other side events aside, there were not one, not two, but three Day 1 flights for the €250 Mini Main Event.
Day 1k was the first one out of these three, and cards were in the air by 11:00. Considering all players wants to bag a good stack for Day 2, it’s no surprise that the number of the last couple of flights have surpassed those from the beginning of the event. For example, Day 1a had 178 entries, and today’s initial flight had 579. This meant that €121,590 was collected towards the prize pool in the eleventh flight.
Taking a Shot
Familiar players like Leo Worthington Leese, Dragan Zaric, and Steven Buckner were among the players on Day 1k. This flight had somewhat faster levels compared to the previous flights, which translated to many players having fewer big blinds at somewhat earlier stages, and there were a lot of all-ins pre-flop.
Such, players were busting left and right, and it became evident that one had to show controlled aggression in order to accumulate a large amount of chips. Like always, a fair share of lady luck was also required if one wanted to make a deep run. The said lady was on Stephen Docherty’s side; he “only” bagged 128,000 for Day 2, but at an earlier stage of the tournament, he was down to half a small blind. Quite a comeback!
87 players were in the money, and play would continue until only 5 % of the field remained. That meant that 28 players would be lucky enough to bag their chips.
When the “second bubble” stage of the tournament was reached—i.e., hand-for-hand was played with 29 players left—there were two all-ins at the same time, resulting in two players busting and missing out on the Day 2 ticket.
Topping the chip count from Day 1k is Jeevan Lobo. The Brit bagged 2,135,000 and has earned himself great presumptions for a deep run in tomorrow’s Day 2 finale.
Day 2 is set to commence at 12:00. The total prize pool and field size have yet to be determined, as the last two initial flights are still going on at the RDS. One thing’s for sure: we’ll see some Rock ‘n’ Roll poker tomorrow.
