Award-winning The Chip Race podcaster David Lappin is the current leader in the Firaldo Irish Open Leaderboard after racking up €10,150 in prize money and bumping Ferdia O’Connell down into second place.
The Firaldo Irish Open Leaderboard – a unique combo of poker tournaments and three NON-poker events – is the first time that anyone has ever attempted to combine the entertainment elements of the Irish Open and the actual poker in a competitive format. Working out the points every night has exhausted Firaldo so much that he’s having to catch up on his sleep during tournaments. He’s actually cashed twice so far but can’t remember which events they were and, in any case, he didn’t enter the leaderboard to avoid any “controversy”.
Canadian rec.poker representative Jim Reid is still in third place with Grosvenor’s Jamie Nixon in fourth. A deep run in the America’s Cup has brought the Hendon Mob’s Roland Boothby into the fray along with Nixon’s team-mate Katie Swift.
There’s just one event left – tonight’s €550 NLH Mystery Bounty – to see which four players go into Saturday’s gripping non-poker final. The overall winner gets a fab trophy AND a PokerStars Silver Power Pass worth $2,500 PLUS the chance to either win two hours’ coaching (poker presumably) from Firaldo OR get your Sunday bar tab covered PLUS you get the Leaderboard named after you for Irish Open 2025. Also-rans may also get prizes as Firaldo has been running around the venue scrounging swag from event sponsors.
Saturday’s finalists will be facing new challenges in The Craic Den – drinking Guinness (see T&Cs*), betting on a horse race and getting judged/panned in Saturday night’s karaoke.
* Split the G – without looking, drink part of a pint of Guinness down to the top of the spur on the capital letter G.
Firaldo is updating standings nightly on Twitter/X. Videos, pictures and other content from contestants will be on his Instagram feed.
David Lappin €10,150
Ferdia O’Connell €7,940
Jim Reid €4,720
Jamie Nixon €1,720
Glen Keogh €1,510
Roland Boothby €1,455
Kevin O’Donnell €570
Katie Swift €545
Oliver Braddock €495
Siddharth Sudunagunta €430
Marc Roovers €375
Dan Turner €375
Jonty Willis €770
