Day 1f of the IPO Main Event has wrapped up, bringing in 57 entries, with 20 players bagging their stacks for Day 2, and it was Stewart Samuels who bagged the biggest stack with 170,000.
This brings the total Main Event entries to 909, with 167 players advancing to today's action, which will begin very soon.
After six starting flights over the past four days at the International Poker Open, the remaining field finally combines for Day 2 of the €250,000 guaranteed Main Event, getting underway at 1 p.m. local time. inside the magnificent Bonnington Dublin Hotel.
The hyper-turbo flight is still running and will finish just before cards are dealt for Day 2, so the current number of players starting today is yet to be determined. However, the total number of entrants for the IPO Main Event is 909, which has smashed last year's field of 794 players!
A total of 148 players qualified for Day 2 through the first five opening flights, but because Joe Ward qualified twice, only his largest stack will be brought through, meaning the current number stands at 147 before the Day 1e qualifiers are added to the field.
Leading the pack heading into Day 2 is Bolivia’s Rodrigo Diaz with an enormous stack of 452,000, which he accumulated during Day 1c. Hot on his heels is Aidan Quinlan with 444,000, while Paul Carr rounds out the top three positions with a stack of 420,000.
Day 1a - 1e Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
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
John Vogelaar
Ireland
410,000
82
5
Audrius Daugvilavicius
Lithuania
392,000
78
6
Steven Frew
United Kingdom
378,000
76
7
Veaceslav Jumir
Moldova
350,000
70
8
Daire Burke
Ireland
345,000
69
9
Paudie Cusack
Ireland
336,000
67
10
Gary Hanley
Ireland
323,000
65
Plenty of other notables are still scattered around the chip counts, including 2021 IPO Main Event runer-up Raymond Bryant (321,000), Luke Walsh (302,000), Stephen Leahy (206,000), Dara O'Kearney (194,000), Leo Worthington-Leese (175,000), the fifth-place finisher of the 2023 IPO Main Event Richard O'Neill (144,000), and the IPO Founder Stephen Mclean (125,000).
Richard O'Neill
Play is scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. local time and will start on Level 16, which features 2,000/5,000 blinds with a 5,000 big blind ante. Level lengths will be increased to 50 minutes each, and the schedule for Day 2 will be determined as the day progresses.
Shortly after play has started, the official prize pool will be announced, and with roughly 12.5% of the field being paid, the money bubble will be quickly upon those that remain.
IPO Main Event Entrant Numbers
Flight
Entrants
Qualifiers
Day 1a
80
12
Day 1b
160
22
Day 1c
219
34
Day 1d
268
52
Day 1e
125
28
Day 1f
57
TBD
Along with following PokerNews' live coverage straight from the tournament floor, you can also tune into the cards-up live stream, which will be airing later today on Twitch with a slight delay.