It was a record-breaking day at the 2024 Irish Open, sponsored by PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker. The �1,150 Main Event had its final two starting flights, and Day 1c attracted the most entries out of any of them. The 1,459 entries that were made at the Royal Dublin Society were by far the most ever in a single starting flight at the Irish Open, and this flight alone would have been the biggest number of Main Event entries up until 2018.
However, Day 1c was one of four starting flights, so the records did not stop there. In total, 3,233 entries were made, a massive increase over the previous record of 2,491 set in 2023. This created a prize pool of �3,152,175, again by far the most money ever distributed at the Irish Open.
Among the many players hoping to get a piece of that pie are PokerStars' Georgina James and Sebastian Huber. The two streamers found themselves among the 319 players bagging up at the end of Day 1c, with mixed game advocate James proving her prowess with two cards, bringing an above-average stack of 173,500 into Day 2, 43 big blinds at the start of play. Huber, on the other hand, will have to make do with 85,000 chips when play resumes.
Meanwhile, Dutch player Henk Pol secured the chip lead with 426,500 chips, while Ireland's very own Simon Maher sits in second place with 415,000 chips. Samuel Goodman (411,500) was the final player to bag over 400,000 chips and rounds out the top three, while Konstantinos Vatseris (389,000) and Michael Khan (388,500) complete the top five.
End of Day 1c Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Day 2 Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Henk Pol | Netherlands | 426,500 | 107 |
| 2 | Simon Maher | Ireland | 415,000 | 104 |
| 3 | Samuel Goodman | United Kingdom | 411,500 | 103 |
| 4 | Konstantinos Vatseris | Greece | 389,000 | 97 |
| 5 | Michael Khan | Canada | 388,500 | 97 |
| 6 | Kevin Sheerin | Ireland | 378,500 | 95 |
| 7 | Gary McMahon | Ireland | 363,500 | 91 |
| 8 | Alan Trueick | United Kingdom | 360,000 | 90 |
| 9 | Luke Walsh | Ireland | 355,500 | 89 |
| 10 | Georgios Tsouloftas | Cyprus | 354,500 | 89 |
Other notables to survive the onslaught include 2023 Irish Open third-place finisher Panagiotis Mavritsakis (320,000), English grinder Leo Worthington-Leese (178,000), bracelet winner Sokratis Linaras (157,000), and PCA winner Maria Lampropulos (79,000).
Among the fallen of Day 1c were defending champion David Docherty, four-time bracelet winner Dominik Nitsche, triple crown winner Roberto Romanello, PokerStars Ambassadors Felix Schneiders and Parker Talbot, EPT Prague champion Padraig O'Neill, and podcast host Rory Jennings.
In total, 743 players have booked a seat on Day 2 of the Main Event, and they will restart tomorrow, Saturday, March 30 at noon local time. Blinds will restart at 2,000/4,000 with a big blind ante of 4,000, and the level duration will increase to 60 minutes each.
Tune back in to PokerNews at that to find out who will reach the money in the biggest-ever Irish Open Main Event.
