*groan* @ title!

No sign of Thomas Finneran in the Main Event area. His table was moved to the feature table and an empty seat makes it look like he’s busted. Unlucky, and great effort!

Play is due to finish at the end of the next level. The Irish are still hanging in there with Donnacha O’Dea just about in the chase, but the real story is adopted Irish player Willie Tann who is up there with the chip leaders.

Day 2B takes place tomorrow and the bubble should be broken the day after with the first out in the money getting double their buyin thanks to a new friendlier payout structure.

Tournament of Kings at Excalibur was fun. We ate a whole chicken with our bare hands, cheered on knights and maidens and howled laughing at the whole ‘Vegasness’ of it all. Almost time to hit the poker room for the night!

But always spinning and spinning…… Thanks to the boys over at Antesup. I can report that Thomas was motoring and up to 52k in chips but has since gone on somewhat of a rollercoaster ride. Down to 33k, down to just 15k…….then a triple up to 45k!!

Blinds are 800/1600 with a 200 ante.

Everything crossed.

Thomas Finneran has just been dealt his first hand in Day 2A of the WSOP Main Event. 900 players are in the room today to give Harrah’s some room for some side event reg fees.

He’s feeling happy, on 39k and the blinds are starting at 500/1000 with a 100 ante so he’ll need to get busy soon.

Other Irish notables speckle the room. Father and son, Donnacha and Eoghan O’Dea both with healthy stacks. George McKeever, 1999 final tablist, and 2007 omaha side event bracelet winner Alan Smurfit are looking to take down the $8.5ml first prize!
It’s slightly cloudy today for the first time since I touched down, reason enough to go outside now that it’s bearable.

A warning to all, don’t drink the tap water in Vegas. Trust me on this one.

Go Thomas Go!

Good, if delayed news from Day 1B of the WSOP Main Event. Irish Open final tablist Thomas Finneran bagged up 39,000 in chips at the end of a very long first day at the Rio. blinds will be 500/1000 on his return, with his quest for fame and fortune continuing on Tuesday. I’ll be there, unless I’m layed up with flu again…..Vegas is not a good place to have flu…

Hard luck to our other qualifers who’s efforts failed to get them through the typically massive field since I last posted.
Reggie Corrigan lastest until midnight, no mean feat in itself. He said he enjoyed the experience completely….now he’s off to Florida to recover!

Anthony Donohoe’s AK were no use against JJ with only 1 hour to go until the end of the day in the wee hours!

Noel Byrne nursed a short stack to Donnacha O’Dea’s right for most of the day before being eliminated.

Not much poker for me besides the cash game i’m sniffling myself through right now over in Paris Casino (currently back over in Bally’s after they just fixed the internet connection). The one upside of not having the internet in you room here is to catch the sight of an American cable guy. Let me just say they make the hotel corridors very very wide here for a reason.

Back to the action for me, hopefully for a couple of hours. Early sessions have been mixed and I think i’m down a few hundred overall. Plenty of time to correct that though. Another ten days of grinding should bring some results!

Night Night / Morning Morning!

Sad news from the Amazon room, it seems Mario Pavlou has left the building, or at least his seat. He had his aces cracked after a cruel tournament which saw him survive after running KK into AA in the very first hand!

Alan Kelleher is MIA and presumed busted, he has been hovering around 5k for a long time today.

Thomas Finneran is the best of Team Paddy and is motoring on 35k in chips!

Reggie Corrigan is in great form. Says he’s feeling good and is back above starting stack on 23k.

Anthony Donohoe is more than comfortable on about 22k.

Noel Byrne seemed stressed in the middle of a big hand when i went to check on him a few minutes ago. He’s on 13k but I couldn’t watch the actioin as Harrahs are being typically difficult about access to tables and are alsop trying to limit ‘non-official’ media sources from doing anything more than 1 post an hour!

Good to see the 4 lads still motoring. It’s a hell of a stretch during day 1 and fingers crossed I can report on them surviving the cut, which will occur in the wee hours of the morning. Play finished last night at close to 4am so we can expect similar with a larger field!

Mario Pavlou 12k

Anthony Donohoe 14k

Reggie 14k

Noel 17k

Alan Kelleher - found him again but he’s on the ropes with 5k

Thomas Finneran 18k

Blinds are up to 200/400 next level which doesn’t leave a tonne of room to manoeuvre!

Some chip counts correct as of 1hr from kickoff:
Anthony Donohoe 16.5k

Thomas Finneran 18k

Regi Corrigan 19.8k

Noel Byrne near starting stack with Donnacha O’Dea to his left.

Alan Kelleher MIA

Mario with Cardplayer Boss Barry Shulman on his left. Sitting on 10k after getting KK against AA very first hand. Great achievement not to go broke!
And some more of the irish with thanks to the lads at AntesUp.com
Pat O’Callaghan 21k
Rob Taylor 18.3k
Nicky Power 19.5k
Donnacha O’Dea 20.5k
Dave Murray 24k
Eoghan O’Dea 27k
Derek Murray 17.5k
Derek Williams 23k
George McKeever 32k

Family time is now over and it’s down to the serious business. Myself and Ken are looking forward to tearing up the cash tables over the next 2 weeks but a much more important game is taking place just down the corridor here at the Rio.

Thousands of them….

It’s now Day 1 B and all of our beloved PPP qualifiers start their shot at the biggest bracelet of them all today. Sadly qualifier James Wood isn’t among them, unable to travel due to family illness. We would all like to pass on our best wishes to him and his father. Hope to see you next time James!

The players are in their seats with 20k in chips so slow and steady is the order of the day. Here’s the PPP lineup:

Thomas Finneran - 2007 Irish Open Main Event 7th place finisher

Alan Kelleher

Noel Byrne

Anthony Donohoe - recently grabbed 3rd place finish at WPS Cruise!

Irish and Leinster Rugby legend Reg Corrigan!

Mario Pavlou

Team Paddy are all set for ‘The Big Dance’. The WSOP $10,000 Main Event is only 2 weeks away and our beloved online qualifiers are looking to take it by storm. Early estimates put the size of the field at up to 7000, making the first prize of almost $10 million well worth a few days sitting at a table!

Here’s the lineup so far:

Noel Byrne
James Wood
Anthony Donohoe
Thomas Finneran
Alan Kelleher
Mario Pavlou
Reg Corrigan

The action begins with many pints in The Tilted Kilt at on the Rio Casino on the 5th July.

Can’t see the attraction of the place for the life of me…