Defying those that said it couldn’t happen, the money bubble popped during Day Two action at the 2012 Irish Poker Open as the field continues on to crowning its champion on Monday.
277 players returned for play on Saturday at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin with the audacious task of bringing the field to a reasonable level for Easter Sunday’s play. At the start of play, Canada’s Samuel Chartier held the lead over Kevin Vandersmissen and Arnaud Mattern, with such notables as Phil Hellmuth, Freddy Deeb, James Dempsey, Erik Cajelais and David “Devilfish” Ulliott in hot pursuit.
From the start of play, several of the short stacks remaining in the field attempted to make a stand and get back into the fray, but those efforts for many were thwarted. One of those players, Paco “El Tren” Torres, got his chips to the center against Vandersmissen, only to see that he was drawing to a worse flush draw than the Belgian. Although Torres had an open ended straight draw to hold the possibly of beating Vandersmissen, the river instead completed the duo’s flush draws, giving the hand to Vandersmissen and eliminating Torres from the tournament.
Others who would be knocked out during the early stages on Saturday included 2011 World Series of Poker Championship Event final tablist Eoghan O’Dea, soccer star Teddy Sheringham, the Boatman Brothers (Barny and Ross), Victor Ramdin and Ulliott, who put his final chips in against Dempsey and was eliminated just prior to the bubble.
With 61 players remaining, there were still several top pros in contention for the title. Along with Dempsey, Hellmuth and Deeb, Michael “SirWatts” Watson continued to drive deep in the event alongside JP Kelly, Matt Perrins, Scott Shelley and Andrew Badecker, all WSOP bracelet holders. Kelly and Perrins would be eliminated as the player number crept closer to the bubble and the others would make it to the minimum payday of €6900.
During the approach to the bubble, a new leader took over the chip roster. Manig Loeser had been acquiring chips rapidly through the Day Two action, including taking the final chips of Perrins, to push his stack skyward to 820,000. After an agonizing period, the money bubble finally burst when Craig Burke’s pocket Aces were cruelly cracked by Mark Shepherd’s pocket eights.
After Burke’s elimination, the short stacks began to slip out the door. Loeser maintained his lead as the hands clicked down on the evening before action was called for the night with 49 players remaining. Hellmuth would survive the Day Two play, moving his stack up to 134,500 in chips, while Deeb eclipsed him with 164,500. Another notable, Irish pro Andy Black, also will be in action on Day Three with around 135K.
When play begins on Easter Sunday, Loeser will hold the biggest stack in the Burlington Hotel, stacked with 846,000 in chips. Right behind him is Badecker, who begins play with around 809K and Byron Kaverman in third, albeit dwarfed by the first two men with his 422K in chips. Day One chip leader Samuel Chartier is still in the mix as well with his 417,500 in chips.
The plan for Sunday is for the remaining 49 players to work their way down to the final table. The first player eliminated on Sunday will be guaranteed the minimum payday of €6900, with the jump to the next pay level at 45th place (€8000). The players all have their eyes on the final table, however, where the top four places are guaranteed a six figure cash and first place will emerge with the Terry Rogers Memorial Trophy and the €420,000 prize.
