It feels like the dawn of a new era here at the Irish Poker Tour and the €100K for €100 festival kicked off in style last night with guests from North, South and further afield. In what promises to be a bumper week for the Irish Poker Tour the players brought the familiar IPT buzz and we got the show on the road in Dublin’s fair city.

€10K Festival Opener Sets the Tone for the Weekend

The opening event of the festival wrapped up late Thursday night as the €10K Festival Opener drew a healthy 77 entries, comfortably surpassing its guarantee to generate a €12,560 prize pool. After just over three and a half hours of play, it was Bogdan Chetrariu who emerged victorious, claiming the €3,180 first prize along with 500 ranking points after navigating a competitive final table.

Ireland’s Mick Graydon (Big Mick G) came within touching distance of the title, finishing runner-up for €2,880, while Armands Markuls secured third place for €1,800 after a strong deep run. By looking at our current leaderboard and the amount of games played this year anyone would think he is vying for the title.

The final table featured a mix of Irish regulars and international visitors, highlighting the festival’s growing appeal. Martin Cassidy finished fourth for €1,300, with Vitalijs Polukejevs rounding out the top five for €1,000. Other players to reach the payouts included Mark Johnston, Jarek Wolczyk, Arturas Stonkus, and Edgaras Jankunas.

Several familiar Irish names also made deep appearances in the event, including Aidan Connolly, Thomas R. Murphy, Dara O’Kearney, and Joey Pyne, ensuring plenty of local interest throughout the evening.

With the festival now officially underway and the first trophy awarded, the momentum continues to build as players turn their attention to the upcoming events across the weekend, with larger fields and bigger prizes expected in the days ahead.

€100K for €100 Main Event 1A

Day 1A of the Monster €100K for €100 Main Event wrapped up in the early hours with 107 unique players generating 164 total entries and a prize pool of €11,966. After a long grind through sixteen levels, the clock was finally stopped with 13 players advancing to Day 2.

Leading the survivors is Jonathan Clarke, who bagged 640,000 chips, narrowly edging Ed Murphy on 631,000. Close behind are Padraigh Cody-Lally (528,000) and Peter Hyland (478,000), both well positioned.Among those advancing are James Redmond, Karl Nolan, Neil Moran, Edmund Sweeney, Kestuitis Beliauskas, Marcus McHale, Paul Hanna, Oleksandr Skomorokha, and Sean Harper (ACR), who also secured a Day 2 seat.

Several notable names fell just short of the bag, including Noah Reiss (14th) and Marcin Wojtunik (15th), who were both eliminated late.

Omaha €5K

The €150 Pot-Limit Omaha proved to be a lively affair on Thursday evening, drawing 39 entries and generating the full €5,000 prize pool. Alas there was no Shane Keary, no Killian Farrell so we could at least crown a new champ and give someone else a shot.

With the unpredictable nature of four-card poker in play, the tournament produced plenty of action before eventually crowning Patrick Eagers as champion after an eight-hour grind.

Eagers navigated a competitive final table that featured a mix of Irish regulars and international challengers. When the dust settled, he stood alone at the top of the chip counts, capturing the €1,900 first-place prize and 300 leaderboard points.Well done to Patrick.

Finishing runner-up was Robertas Gludkinas, who secured €1,300 for second place after a strong showing throughout the final stages. John Eccles rounded out the podium, taking home €900 for third place after battling through a field packed with Omaha specialists.

Lithuania’s Gediminas Bartkus finished just shy of the podium in fourth, collecting €700.

Several familiar Irish Poker Tour names made deep runs, including Pascal Tuite, Ahmed Eydan, and Jimmy Kenny, while James Oliver Byrne also featured among the finishers while representing ACR Poker.

Final Table Results

1. Patrick Eagers – €1,900
2. Robertas Gludkinas – €1,300
3. John Eccles – €900
4. Gediminas Bartkus – €700
5. Aleksandras Nagreckis

Holigames Poker France

Stephan Blasquez arrived late last night as he brings his Holigames (France) Poker club on their latest adventure. We will catch up with Holigames later on today.

ACR Poker

Adam Neal From ACR poker joined us for the €100K for €100 and he’s brought an incredible Main Event promotion with him. ⁠Players who register for any tournament during the €100K for €100 Irish Poker Tour Festival can receive a free $10 to try the ACR platform by signing up using the code “100for100.”⁠  ⁠The last remaining player that has signed up for this promotion and is wearing an ACR patch in the €100K for €100 Main Event will win a $2,650 Venom ticket, redeemable for any Venom event on ACR with no expiration date.

*⁠Players must collect and register for the ACR patch promotion by 22:00 on Saturday night of the festival to be eligible for the Last Longer promotion.

A busy start to the €100K for €100, with another reason to celebrate as Live Poker Updates marks its 3rd birthday this weekend. Let’s see what Day 2 has in store.