We are down to three in the Irish Open. All the chips went in the centre pre/flop with Neil Channing holding Q/6 and Tim Blake holding K/J. The board came good for Channing 9/A/Q/5/Q and the galient Tim Blake has been eliminated in forth place for €220,000.
Double up for Tim Blake. Moving all-in with AA, he was called by Donal Norton who showed K/9. The board came safe for Blake 2/4/J/7/2 and the shortest stack on the table has doubled up.
Stacks:
Neil Channing 3,470,000
Donal Norton 2,370,000
Thomas Dunwoodie 388,000
Tim Blake 410,000
Latest stacks from the final table:
Neil Channing 3,260,000
Donal Norton 2,604,000
Thomas Dunwoodie 494,000
Tim Blake 284,000
Donal Norton raises from the button to 200,000. Neil Channing 3-bets from the small blind to 600,000. Norton quickly calls. Flop comes 5/10/6. Channing checks and Norton moves all-in and Channing sharply passes much to the crowd’s delight.
Norton takes down a pot of 1,300,000.
It seems that nobody can stop Neil Channing on his quest to become the 2008 Irish Poker Open champion.
Raising from the button as usual the table bully found a caller in Kai Paulsen.
The flop came 
and both players cauitiously checked. The turn brought 
into the equation and this time Paulsen lead out into Channing. As he has done continuously Channing bumped it up, putting Paulsen to a tough decision. As Paulsen tanked and tanked Channing held his head in his hands….then heard the words “All-in” and immediately called.
Talk about running good - Channing’s 
meant he had turned the nut straight and the unfortunate Paulsen was drawing completely dead with 
for top pair.
Paulsen will leave the Citywest Hotel with an extra E175,000 to his name so don’t feel too bad for him. Meanwhile, who could bet against Neil Channing now? With over half the chips in play and hitting cards like this he is the odds-on favourite for the title.
Thomas Dunwoodie has just doubled up. Pushing all-in with A/J his bet of just over 300,000 was called by Donal Norton who held A/10. The board came J/8/K/10/9 meaning Dunwoodie has doubled up to over 700,000.
Donal is down to 1,450,000.
1) Neil Channing 2,645,000
2) Tim Blake 686,000
3) Kai Danilo Paulsen 1,170,000
4) Donal Norton 1,807,000
5) Thomas Dunwoodie 338,000
Player down already in only the third hand of our final table. Edwin Tournier has been eliminated holding K/7 against Donal Norton’s J/10. All the money went in on the river with the board showing of J/J/7/Q/K, the J/10 was enough for Donal and Tournier is our 6th place finisher. He earns €135,000 for his result.
Meanwhile Donal Norton’s stack has increased to 1,600,000
The cards have been shuffled and the dealing has begun for the final table of this years paddypowerpoker.com Irish Open. May the best man win!
Fans are gathering around the TV set as the final table of the Irish Open prepares to get under way.
Having battled their way through one of the toughest fields in world poker, six great players remain… stay tuned to see which one will replace Marty Smyth as the Irish Open Champion!