Irish Open Ambassador Chris Dowling is through to Day 2 of the WSOP $3k NLH tournament (Event 68) after knocking out former WSOP champion Jamie Gold.
Gold, who was already bruised after an earlier run-in with Thierry Morel, was feeling “steamed up” (as he put it) when he found himself in a hand with Dowling in the late afternoon on Wednesday (June 25).
Gold, who won $12 million when he took down the WSOP Main Event in 2006, raised to 5,000 from under the gun and found a call from Dowling in the big blind.
The flop came 5♥6♣4♥, and Gold flipped out another 5,000 bet which Dowling called. The 9♥ dropped on the turn, and Gold bet out for 15,000 only to see Dowling move all in, and he had Gold covered.
“I have aces!” exclaimed Gold, not massively liking the call but pushing in his remaining chips anyway, only to discover that Dowling, with pocket nines, had hit a set on the turn.
“Oh wow, great hand,” complimented Gold when he saw Dowling’s cards. The 5♦ on the river gave Dowling full house and eliminated Gold.
Despite everything, Gold, who has Irish heritage, told Dowling he might well come to next year’s Irish Open!
Dowling, who was third in the Irish Open Main Event in 2017 and became an Irish Open Ambassador in 2022, was a trophy winner at this year’s festival after taking down the Big O Championship. His live tournament winnings now total over $1.4 million.
He starts Day 2 of the WSOP £3k with 176,000 – well above the average stack of 120,000. There are some 641 players left of the 1,882 who started the event but, with late registration open for the first two levels, payout details are yet to come. Suffice to say that the total prize pool will be well over $5.4 million.
