Oliver Freitag, another member if the increasingly interesting Table 2, just knocked out Mikka Suleva in an unfortunate manner. Freitag raised one from the CO to 1600, and Suleva moved in from the BB for 5425 total. Freitag made the call, saying “you have the best hand”, and the cards went on their backs:

Freitag:

Suleva:

Suleva was in good shape to survive and double up, but Lady Luck had something to say about that.

Flop:

…giving Freitag a leading pair of Kings, leaving Suleva with just the two remaining Queens to get himself out of jail. The turn and river came:

leaving Suleva’s Queens beaten by the flopped King of Oliver Freitag.

One of the Vic’s favourite cash game heroes, ‘Bad Beat’ Neil Channing is still going strong in this event with a solid 29k as we near day’s end. He just got involved in a dramatic check-raise all-in on a board of

Burying his head in his hands for a full three minutes whilst his opponent (who had him nearly covered) mulled it over, Neil leapt up with delight when he heard the word “fold”! The cocky Cockney is still slicing and dicing his way through Dublin for now…

As the blinds reach their final level of 300/600 (25 Ante) players are dropping like boxers at a Mike Tyson circa 1986 fight. All I ever hear is dealers shouting “Player gone!” while I rush over to find out the details.

We currently have 165 of our initial 365 runners from today left and just the 1hr of play remaining until Doyle and co. show up for Round Two in the morning.

Conor Tate is the amongst the chip leaders in the tournament and sits on 71,000. With a proven record in tournament poker he should be one to watch over the weekend.

As I was finishing my last post, I heard a roar from the nearby Table 2, and rushed over to investigate. Dave Masters had just won a 48k pot from a mystery opponent, with all the money flying in before the flop.

Masters:

Opponent:

Board:

The pot gave Dave a stack of 48k, he tells me, so he’s in great shape to become a real force in the Irish Poker Open.

We talked about Knut Rysstad as one to watch earlier and he just won a massive 66k pot to put him as Day 1B’s new chip leader.

Knut raised it up to 1100 from late position, only for the Button to push all-in for 6500 total. Then the small blind Oliver Freitag with a massive 40k to his name overcalls, putting Knut in a precarious spot. After taking off his oversized headphones and straightening his tie and waistcoat combo, he announced “All in!”, at which point Freitag snap-called.

“Please not Aces, please not Aces” Rysstad said as he turned over . Nope, it wasn’t Aces, just a lowly !

And then the Button rolled over a very strange to leave Rystaad a big favourite.

A board of meant that the best hand held up and, barring disaster, Knut Rystaad will go into Day 2 tomorrow as one of the early frontrunners for the title of 2008 Irish Poker Open Champion.

Kerryman Connie O’Sullivan has been eliminated from the 2008 Irish Poker Open. I’m unsure of the action, but from what I hear, all the money went in on a flop, with O’Sullivan’s going up against his opponent’s . An unfortunate on the turn sent Connie to the rail, taking away with him some of Munster’s hopes of taking away the title of Irish poker champion.

…I’m truly, deeply, sorry for that title. Nonetheless, we have an Irish double-up to report. I missed the specific pre-flop action, but all the money was in the middle before the flop, for a pot of approximately 10,000.

Sylvester Geoghegan:

Opponent:

Sylvester, in excellent spirits, despite being a 4-1 underdog in the hand, started calling for an eight. The flop didn’t appease that wish:

No help for Sylvester there, but the on the turn drew a roar from the Mullingar man. A harmless on the turn, and Geoghegan doubles up to around 10k.

Some popular Irish chip counts from the floor:

Liam Flood 21,400

Collette Murphy 38,000

Nicky Power 7,300

Dave Masters 24,800

Fran Egan 39,000

Martin O Rafferty 3,300

Rory Liffey 28,000

Rob Taylor 19,800

Willie Clancy 27,100

JP McCann 13,400

John Swarbrigg 23,000

Jude Ainsworth 3,700

Marty Smyth 14,200

Adam Fallon 29,000

Sean Fagan OUT

Sylvester Geoghagan 8,700

Possible chip leader in the tournament is Eric Larcheveque on 51,000

We’re in the final quarter of Day 1B of the paddypowerpoker.com Irish Poker Open 2008, and here’s where the situation stands:

Players remaining: 193 out of 365 starters.

Average chips: 18,900

Current blinds: 44 minutes remaining in the 200-400 (25) level.

We’re going to play down to the end of the 300-600 (25) level, and then call it a night, to prepare for the survivors of Day 1A and Day 1B to combine in the form the Day 2 field.

On a side note, our apologies to the people whose requests we haven’t been able to help with in the comments section. Once tables start to get broken, it becomes very difficult to locate players whom we can’t recognise.