In the last two days, the marquee event of the 2024 Irish Open has already ensured that the €1,000,000 guarantee has been surpassed. The entire room was buzzing with chips getting riffled, banter flowing back and forth and delicious Guinness being savoured at the Royal Dublin Society. But the largest starting flight is certainly expected today at the 2024 Irish Open €1,150 Main Event, powered by PokerStars and Paddy Power.
Day 1a drew a field of 379 entries and 72 players advanced. The Irish were so kind to let eight foreigners into the top ten of the leaderboard with just Simon Wilson (303,500) and Patrick Larkin (301,500) holding the fort, both accumulating more than ten times the starting stack. Pascal Baumgartner topped the leaderboard with 329,500 while the PokerStars sponsored duo of Fintan Hand (252,000) and Adam McKola (229,500) both bagged up healthy stacks as well.
The second of four starting days then ballooned to massive 833 entries, a figure that will likely be surpassed before the first break on Day 1c. Glenn Keogh became the new overall chip leader as the Irishman put 393,000 into his bag, closely followed by James Wickens (384,000) and Firat Baltaci (370,000).
Former PokerStars employee Ankit Ahuja bagged big with 280,000, while many of the new kids may not even remember the iconic Ilari Sahamies (209,500) and Luca Pagano (172,500) anymore. And then there is Triple Crown winner Niall Farrell, who is running a special leaderboard of poker and craic during the 2024 Irish Open. He advanced from Day 1b with 142,500 in chips and can now take a day off to prepare for the upcoming shenanigans away from the tables.
All those taking their seats today will aim to join these big name pros on Day 2 and there are two starting days available. Day 1c kicks off at noon with a total of 14 levels of 45 minutes each scheduled. As many levels will also be played in the turbo heat 1d as of 8pm local time albeit at a reduced level duration of 20 minutes each. One re-entry is allowed in case the starting stack of 30,000 chips vanishes entirely. The two flights are joined on the schedule by three milestone satellites, giving poker enthusiasts from near and far the opportunity to earn the entry at a bargain.
The chances of the 2024 Irish Open Main Event of attracting another record field in the longest running live poker event in Europe are pretty high. Both Day 1a and 1b set surpassed the previous-biggest fields as 1,212 entries across the first two flights already guaranteed at least €1,395,225 in the prize pool.
One year ago, a total of 2,491 entries emerged and David Docherty took it down for €365,000. The Scotsman has already been active during the series and most notably finished as the runner-up in the €350 Heads-Up Championship.
More than 800 players won their seats via PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker, and a very busy day is expected. The live-stream action also kicks off today on the PokerStars YouTube and Twitch channels and all the updates for the marquee event can be found on PokerNews.