The Irish Poker Tour Heads Back to Cork

Macau Casino Venue for Latest Round in €55k+ Leaderboard Race

The Irish Poker Tour returns once again to the banks of my own lovely Lee and to the luxuriously appointed Macau Casino from Friday 29^th to Saturday 30^th November. Connie O’Sullivan and his team will welcome all-comers as they chase the €15k guaranteed pool in the main event and precious points in the Paddy Power Poker backed Leaderboard.

With just the Cork stop, the Galway Winter Festival in The Eglinton, and €25k in a Day Claremorris left as counting events in this year’s Leaderboard everything has closed up in the race for the Top 3 money positions and the Top 16 Playoff positions. When the race finishes in Claremorris on December 21^st the top three finishers will win cash prizes adding up to 25% of the over €55,000 prizepool and the top 16 finishers will qualify for a playoff at the IPT Final in the Green Isle in late December where the remaining 75% will be up for grabs.

Hugh Smyth has been way out in front since early in the year but Shane Keary’s brilliant third place finish in the massive Dublin Winter Festival Main Event has seen him get back within 840 points. One big victory or a couple of podium finishes could see Shane pip Hugh at the death. Meanwhile, Steven ‘Stork’ Bartley is clinging on to the final cash position just ahead of Killian Farrell, Derek Baker and last year’s champ, Paul Carr.

Anyone in the top 30 or so could leapfrog into the top 16 with a good run. Expect Cork based Ian O’Flynn and John Enright to feature in the Macau but also expect to see some players that haven’t travelled to the Southern Capital in quite a while to suddenly appear on Saturday morning.