Deborah Worley-Roberts Leads After PokerStars Festival Dublin Main Event Day 1B
Day 1B attracted a total of 259 entrants creating a combined field of 496 players from both Day 1A and 1B of the PokerStars Festival Dublin Main Event. With one flight still to come, all remaining players will be looking forward to hopefully securing a slice of the €700,000 guarantee when Day 2 gets underway tomorrow.
Someone who will be casting their eye ever upwards is Day 1B chip leader Deborah Worley-Roberts who absolutely dominated to not just eclipse 200,000 (no-one achieved that feat yesterday) but 300,000, eventually finishing with 317,600.
Worley-Roberts took a huge step towards securing the overnight chip lead when she called with a set of sixes on a Broadway-card heavy flop after her opponent over-bet river.
Worley-Roberts had a bit of a late night last night and admits she loves the social side of poker and has a wide circle of friends in the game but had to struggle all day with a hangover.
“I wouldn’t advise it, I am a bit the worse for wear.”
Worley-Roberts made several impressive river calls on the way to the chip lead and she explained that she uses “live tells and betting patterns. When you play for a long time you have a lot of swings in your style.”
At the WSOP in Las Vegas this year, Worley-Roberts finished second in the Ladies Championship for $83,459 but it was the worst day of her poker career.
“I’ve never cried so much. I knew I was going to win it, but the cards beat me. I’ve never been so gutted.”
It did boost her confidence in her ability at the poker tables though, and she is looking forward to Day 2 tomorrow.
Asked if she would be getting an early night now to rest up for tomorrow Worley-Roberts shook her head.
“I don’t know about that. Let’s not get carried away. But I’m not going to drink anything that has the word 'bomb' in it.”
Other big stacks advancing are Emmett Mullin (311,700), Daniel Jones (203,700), Andrew Grimason (263,000) and Sean Prendiville (260,000).
Today saw a bigger field than yesterday, attracting some top names. Team PokerStars Pro Jake Cody entered but busted early on, as did Will Kassouf. Joining the pair in failing to make it through to Day 2 were Wayne Bridge and Michael Duberry who both said they enjoyed their time in the Main Event, only to fall some way short. Bridge himself said that some of the players he had battled with were on a completely different level than his.
However, former world champion snooker player Stephen Hendry, sporting the PokerStars patch, had a see-saw day before bagging up 75,200.
"It's been a long day," said Hendry at the end of the day's play. "I lost half my stack queens against sevens, but then I got moved and doubled up with aces. The last two levels were stressful!
"I'm pleased to be the last one standing. My stack isn't great but alright."
Others joining Hendry in Day 2 are Jason Wheeler (83,900), Niall Farrell (93,000), Dermot Blain (96,000), Andrew Christoforou (97,100), Tomas Soderstrom (107,100), and Tom Hall (87,300).
There is a special turbo Day 1C with 20-minute levels kicking off shortly, available only to players who played and busted in one of the first two flights. Those advancing from that particular flight will join the remaining players from Days 1A and 1B in Day 2 which gets underway at 12:00 p.m. tomorrow.
Stay tuned to PokerNews who will bring you all the live updates from the Regency Hotel as we get closer to crowning a winner here in Dublin.