Bjorn Gravlien Leads the Pack After Day 1a of the 2023 Irish Open Main Event
It was a busy day during Day 1a of the €1,150 Main Event at the 2023 Irish Open here at the Royal Dublin Society A total of 324 entries were made, making the tournament well underway to surpass its €1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. After the last hand was dealt, there were 126 players advancing to Day 2 on Saturday, April 8.
In the end, it was Norway's Bjorn Gravlien who gathered the most chips out of the field. With a stack of 244,400 he can comfortably look forward to the start of Day 2. Gravlien is a regular at the previously combined Norwegian Championships and Irish Open, and finished 44th in the 2022 Irish Open Main Event. He is surely looking to best that score in 2023, and made good strides to do so today.
Top 10 Leaderboard from Day 1a
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bjorn Gravlien | Norway | 244,400 | 204 |
| 2 | Nils Mazeaud | France | 238,400 | 199 |
| 3 | Rob Hendrikx | Netherlands | 200,900 | 167 |
| 4 | Roth Wendal | Germany | 187,000 | 156 |
| 5 | Aleksandrs Zenkovs | Latvia | 181,000 | 151 |
| 6 | Frank Stepuchin | United States | 176,400 | 147 |
| 7 | Michael Weis | United States | 172,000 | 143 |
| 8 | Ulf Hakan Delin | Sweden | 152,500 | 127 |
| 9 | Sergejs Korobovs | Latvia | 148,300 | 124 |
| 10 | Scott Margereson | United Kingdom | 146,000 | 122 |
Hometown heroes who made it through today include Andy Black (121,600), Irish Open Ambassador Chris Dowling (46,300), and bracelet winner Toby Joyce (78,100).
Tomorrow, April 6, there is another Day 1 on the schedule, with Day 1b being scheduled to start at noon local time. It will be a new chance to make Day 2 for players who did not make it through today, or players who have just arrived in Dublin. The field will play the same structure as today, with ten 60-minute levels being played.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor for all of the days until the Main Event reaches its conclusion, so be sure to check in regularly to see get the latest updates and interesting hand histories.