Irish Open 2009 Day 1 RecapPaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Open gets Star-Studded Field on Day 1 |
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The PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Open 2009 kicked off yesterday with 701 players all vying for a piece of the €2,240,000 prize pool. Many big names and familiar faces took planes, trains, and automobiles to get to Citywest Hotel and Resort in Dublin for what is known as one of the world’s most prestigious poker events. Dan Harrington, Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, Andy Black, Roland de Wolfe, Jesper Hougaard, Juha Helppi, and last year’s champion Neil Channing were just some of the many pros battling for the €600,000 top prize on day 1.
Many of the day’s star players ended up spending more time at the bar than in the poker room as bust outs were aplenty including Tilly, de Wolfe, and Hougaard. One of the biggest surprises occurred in the very first level, with Brian Townsend (pictured right) seated comfortably at the feature table, ready for a long day. His seat wasn't even warm however when he hit the rail. The Internet sensation had flopped a set of fives, Richard Ashby had flopped a set of his own — aces.
The feature table was unlucky for many others including another ‘set’ disaster for Donnacha O’Dea, who called Dan Harrington’s all-in with a board reading Q
Jx. O’Dea revealed pocket jacks for the middle set, but Harrington pipped him to the post, unveiling pocket queens for top set. Harrington doubled up, and O’Dea was crippled. Needless to say, he didn’t last the day.
Jamie Gold had a great day, finishing up with around 39,100 chips, to the expense of many players along the way. His friend, and Irish poker legend, Liam Flood was one of Gold’s victims. Two other big Irish names, Ciaran O’Leary and Marty Smyth, and Brit Michael Greco also didn’t last the day.
Gold appears to be in flying form for this tournament, he ended the day at the upper end of the leader board, as did Paul Zimbler. There were some larger stacks being counted and bagged at the end of the day, but official chip counts are yet to be released. As day 2 approaches, 311 players prepare for eight levels of swings, misses, lucky rivers, and bad beats, and this can all be followed via Paddy Power Poker’s live stream and blog at IrishPokerOpen.com. The bookie is also offering odds on its Sole Survivor promotion which will see one lucky qualifier from the site win a $100,000 sponsorship package for one year.
