Neil Channing 2.1 (adopt Jerry Yang voice) Millllllllllllion!
Tim Blake 900,000
Carsten Joh 325,000
Eric Larchevec 400,000
John Keown 320,000
Kai Danilo Paulsen 480,000
Edwin Tournier 800,000
Donal Norton 720,000
Thomas Dunwoodie 340,000

Carsten Joh just doubled up through our monster chip leader Neil Channing (who, from a quick look at this stack, appears to have around 2 million of the 6.7 million in play). The money went in before the flop with the following hands:

Joh:

Channing:

A safe board of:

gives Joh the pot worth about 420,000, which is barely a flesh wound for Channing. Blinds currently stand at 15,000-30,000 (3,000).

We’ve just lost our 10th place finisher in the most dramatic way imaginable! Mark Spellman was all-in for 378,000 after a 100,000 raise from Neil Channing. The cards went on their backs, and Spellman was in great shape:

Channing:

Spellman:

The flop was perfect for Spellman:

…giving Spellman a flush draw, as well as having Channing’s Fives dominated. The turn was harmless:

…leaving Channing with one lone out, the Five of Clubs, to knock Spellman out of the tournament.

River:

The room explodes! Channing hits a miracle one-outer to eliminate Mark Spellman on the final table bubble. Spellman took the beat graciously, and with a smile, and will take home €32,500, along with some great memories, from the 2008 Irish Poker Open.

EDIT: In case you were wondering, we’re taking a quick break here, so that the final table of 9 players can be consolidated into one table, and when we get down to 8 players, there’ll be another short break, so that all remaining players can be moved to the TV table. Once we’re down to 6, we’ll finish up for the night. Remaining payouts are as follows:

1st: €801,400
2nd: €420,000
3rd: €275,000
4th: €220,000
5th: €175,000
6th: €135,000
7th: €100,000
8th: €75,000
9th: €50,000

I don’t want to draw anybody’s attention away from the thrilling Main Event but here is just a quick, quick update on the
E1,500 No Limit Hold Em event. They are down to just 14 players, with WPT superstar Christer Johansson in a great position.

Elsewhere the Pot Limit Omaha event attracted some star names and with just 34 remaining notables such as Teddy Sheringham and Andy Black are still going strong.

Anyway, back to the Main Event! Wait until you read Darragh’s next post - ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Neil Channing is taking charge of the TV table, and while it’s difficult to get an accurate count, I think he’s probably broken the one million chip count.

On a flop of:

…Carsten Joh bets 100,000, and Channing calls. The turn comes down:

…and Carsten decides to slow down, and checks to Channing, who quickly moves all-in, easily covering Carsten. Carsten eventually folds, and Channing takes even more chips off Carsten after swiping 240,000 from his stack in an earlier bet-raise-all in confrontation on a flop.

Pete Linton, one of today’s constant chip leaders couldn’t mount a comeback from a few big dropped pots earlier and found an unwelcome caller after pushing with . Edwin Tournier found in the big blind and couldn’t call fast enough.

The flop brought a gutshot straight draw down for Linton but that was as close as he would get to survival.
Edwin Tournier has been fairly quiet all day, picking his spots carefully here and there to stay above the blinds. After that big pot though he is ready to make his name known as we approach the next increase in blinds.

Incidentally, Jon Kalmar just informed us that Tim Blake, in the middle of last hand’s action, actually folded and would have flopped a Full House, giving him over a third of the whole chips in play!!! Just don’t watch the flop next time Tim….

After getting a walk with Aces and doubling up John Keown, Carsten Joh finally delivers the knockout blow to one of his opponents, in the form of Hassan Mohammed. The money went in before the flop, and Mohammed was in terrible shape:

Mohammed:

Carsten:

No miracles on a board of:

…and Hassan Mohammed is sent home in 12th place, with €32,500.

Dual misfortune for Carsten Joh, as first he gets a walk in his BB with pocket Aces, and then he doubles up John Keown. Keown moved in before the flop for 183,000, and was called by Carsten in the BB.

Carsten:

Keown:

Keown gets a lot of help on a flop of:

…giving him a pair of Fours and the nut flush draw. The turn and river of:

…are of no danger to Keown, and he doubles up.

Andy Grimason is eliminated after an ill-timed blind steal. Shoving with , he was called by Kai Danilo Paulsen’s . No Snowman came down and Grimason has left us in 12th place.

Just 5 more players will be eliminated until we have our 2008 final table.
At this rate, that will take a while though so get the coffee in, put your feet up on the couch and keep pressing refresh refresh refresh every few minutes to find out how your boys are doing.

It had to happen eventually. The two big stacks in the tournament finally collided in a fascinating duel.
Pete Linton raised to 56k in position and was called from the small blind by Tim Blake. Bear in mind that both held stacks of over 700,000 at the start of the hand.

The flop was and Blake lead into the raiser for 70,000. After some deliberation he got a call.

The turn of went check, check.

The river of put a backdoor flush on board and Blake decided to check again. This time Linton bet 120,000. A quick call by Blake as both showed their hands;

for Linton’s two pair

for Blake’s higher two-pair

Great play by new chip leader Blake once again and a fascinating pot that thankfully didn’t involve the words “Race” or “Coinflip”!