Rodrigo Diaz Soars to the Top of the Counts For Day 1c of the IPO Main Event
Day 1c of the €250,000 Guaranteed International Poker Open is in the books. It was another exciting day of action with a total of 219 hopefuls making their way to the Bonnington Dublin Hotel with the goal of finding a bag at the end of play. After the clock was stopped, just 34 punched their ticket into Sunday’s Day 2.
So far, the Main Event has attracted 459 entries across three flights, and 67 players have already secured their spots for Day 2. With three more flights still to come, that number is expected to grow when the biggest anticipated flight starts tomorrow
Of the 34 qualifiers, Bolivia's Rodrigo Diaz emerged at the top of the counts with an enormous stack of 452,000, which currently places him as the chip leader for Day 2. Diaz boasts over $30,000 in live tournament earnings and could potentially more than double that if he can navigate his way to the final table of this event.
End of Day 1c Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rodrigo Diaz | Bolivia | 452,000 | 90 |
| 2 | Aidan Quinlan | Ireland | 444,000 | 89 |
| 3 | Paul Carr | Ireland | 420,000 | 84 |
| 4 | Vaidas Budrys | Lithuania | 287,000 | 57 |
| 5 | Tom Dunne | Ireland | 285,000 | 57 |
| 6 | Marc Forde | Ireland | 272,000 | 54 |
| 7 | Vytautas Krasauskas | Lithuania | 267,000 | 53 |
| 8 | Stephen Henderson | Ireland | 254,000 | 51 |
| 9 | Kevin Duffy | Ireland | 248,000 | 50 |
| 10 | Toby Bradford | United Kingdom | 234,000 | 47 |
Right behind Diaz is Aidan Quinlan, with a stack of 444,000. The only other player to break the 400,000 mark is Paul Carr, who bagged up 420,000. Finishing just outside the top ten in eleventh place is Joe Ward from Ireland with a healthy stack of 226,000. Ward already secured his spot for Day 2 after qualifying on Day 1a with 147,000. Since he qualified twice, only his biggest stack will carry over to Day 2. Still, he’s shown he definitely deserves to be there on Sunday after making it through both the largest and smallest flights so far.
Another player to keep an eye on for Day 2 is local legend Dara O'Kearney, who ended the day with 194,000. O'Kearney has been around the poker scene for decades, with cashes dating back to 2008. In that time, he’s racked up nearly $1,400,000 in live tournament earnings and scored nine first-place finishes right here in Ireland.
Tomorrow, both Day 1d and Day 1e will take place. Day 1d will start at an earlier time 1 p.m. and follow the same structure as previous flights, with players competing in fifteen 40-minute levels. The later flight, Day 1e, will start at 8 p.m. While it will also run for fifteen levels, the structure will be adjusted to a turbo format, with each level lasting 20 minutes.
As with all six flights of the €350 buy-in IPO Main Event, players are allowed one reentry per flight. If a player qualifies twice in different flights, only their largest stack will carry over to Day 2 on Sunday, October 27.
That's a wrap for today's flight, but be sure to return tomorrow, as PokerNews brings you all the action from Day 1c of the IPO Main Event.