Day 1b of Galway Poker Festival Main Event Due to Commence
Welcome to Day 3 of the Irish Poker Tour’s opening event of 2024, the Paddy Power Poker partnered Galway Poker Festival. A busy day is expected, with Day 1b of the €600 Main Event kicking off at noon local time at The Galmont Hotel & Spa.
The Main Event features a massive €300,000 guaranteed prize pool, with Day 1b players required to navigate fifteen 30-minute levels in order to return for Day 2 on January 7.
Each player has a starting stack of 50,000 with blinds starting at 100/100 and a 100 big blind ante. Late registration is open until the end of Level Nine, with each player permitted a single reentry per flight.
Day 1c also takes place today at 5 p.m, following the same structure as Day 1b.
The final three opening flights of the Main Event will take place on January 6 at noon, 5 p.m., and 8 p.m. (featuring 30-minute, 25-minute and 15-minute blind levels respectively), but otherwise following the same structure as previous flights.
Day 1a took place yesterday and attracted a total of 71 entries, with 15 players bagging up for Day 2.
James O'Sullivan accrued an impressive stack of 734,000 to top the chip counts and streak ahead of the rest of the field, with Matthew Greig (362,000) and Stephen Kehoe (290,000) his closest challengers.
Irish poker legend Andy Black (282,000) also acquired a leading stack. The top ten chip stacks are detailed below.
End of Day 1a Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James O'Sullivan | United Kingdom | 734,000 | 92 |
| 2 | Matthew Greig | United Kingdom | 362,000 | 45 |
| 3 | Stephen Kehoe | Ireland | 290,000 | 36 |
| 4 | Andy Black | Ireland | 282,000 | 35 |
| 5 | Francis Onwuka | Ireland | 242,000 | 30 |
| 6 | Daniel Smyth | Ireland | 234,000 | 29 |
| 7 | Colm Chan | Ireland | 168,000 | 21 |
| 8 | Lander Dejonghe | Belgium | 160,000 | 20 |
| 9 | Jamie Flynn | Ireland | 159,000 | 20 |
| 10 | Nicolas Sievers | Germany | 155,000 | 19 |
Some notable names such as Mark Buckley, Conal Prendergast and defending champion Liam McVeigh did not manage to qualify for Day 2 and will be hoping for better luck in one of the remaining flights.
PokerNews will be reporting live throughout the Main Event, so stay tuned to keep up to date with all the action!