Konstantinos Vatseris had four-bet Cosmin Nica to 500,000, after which Nica jammed all in for 1,600,000, an average stack. Vatseris went deep into the tank but eventually made the call to put Nica at risk.
Cosmin Nica: A♠A♣
Konstantinos Vatseris: J♦J♣
Nica had Vatseris dominated in the huge pot, but the 6♦J♠2♥ flop brought Vatseris a set to reverse the enormous lead. Neither the 10♦ turn nor K♥ river brought an ace, resulting in Nica's unfortunate elimination.
Vatseris, meanwhile, raked in the huge pot and ascended back to the chip lead, playing nearly 150 big blinds.
Picking up the action on a turn of 8♥8♦A♦8♠, Paul Corrway checked out of the big blind to Vidmantas Beliauskas in early position. Beliauskas made a bet of 225,000, after which Corrway jammed all in.
Beliauskas quickly tossed in his stack of 725,000 chips to risk his tournament life.
Vidmantas Beliauskas: J♥J♦
Paul Corrway: A♣5♠
"If you have an ace, you win," Beliauskas claimed before the showdown. However, that turned out to be a lie as the J♣ river gave the Lithuanian a better full house.
He raked in a lucky double-up and thanked his lucky stars as he sat back down.
Alejandro Romero had raised from middle position and Boris Chong-Sit three-bet from the big blind. Romero made the call and a flop of 6♦J♠2♠ fanned out.
Chong-Sit continued for 175,000 chips, which Romero called. Chong-Sit then checked blind before the K♣ turn fell, and Romero checked behind after seeing the card.
On the A♣ river, Chong-Sit pushed forward 275,000 chips, to which Romero quickly folded.
Chong-Sit tabled his 9♣4♣ for nine-high, which got a smile out of Romero.
Alexander Davies had three-bet an earlier open to 150,000 from the cutoff before Ankit Ahuja jammed all in from the small blind. The initial raiser folded and Davies was sent into the tank.
Eventually, he put in a call to put his near-average stack of 805,000 at risk.
Alexander Davies: A♦K♠
Ankit Ahuja: A♥10♦
Davies was the only one who paired on the 3♥Q♣4♠7♠K♦ board, resulting in a big double-up. Ahuja, meanwhile, was left with less than 20 big blinds.
Daniel Rudd jammed all in for 160,000 from the cutoff and Simon Wilson asked for a count in the big blind. After thinking it over for a bit, Wilson made the call to put his opponent at risk.
Daniel Rudd: A♦4♠
Simon Wilson: 8♦7♦
Rudd was slightly ahead, but the 2♥6♠5♦ flop gave Wilson more outs to hit. The 9♦ turn made Wilson a straight and locked up the pot, and Rudd said his goodbyes as the 5♥ river completed the board.
On other tables, Francisco Fernandez and Shane Holohan also booked an early exit.
Day 3 of the 2024 €1,150 Irish Open Main Event, sponsored by PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker, has arrived and 109 players will come back to the Royal Dublin Society at noon local time, all of which are well into the money. They are the survivors of a record-breaking field of 3,233 entries, who created a prize pool of €3,152,175, of which each returning player will receive at least €4,720.
However, all eyes are on the top prize of €415,615 which the eventual champion will receive alongside their trophy. Sitting in a prime position to reach the big bucks is Greek player Konstantinos Vatseris, who bagged the chip lead on Day 2 with a stack of 3,215,000, good for 129 big blinds at the start of play today. Vatseris first recorded live cash stems from less than a year ago, but he has already made several final tables since then and is looking to add another one to his resume at the Irish Open.
Irish grinder Simon Wilson was the only other player who ended Day 2 with more than 100 big blinds, taking 2,710,000 chips into Day 3. Meanwhile, Wilson's fellow countrymen Aidan Quinlan and Robert Shanley also bagged big, coming back with 2,340,000 and 1,840,000 chips respectively. Also in the top ten chip counts at the start of Day 3 is Conor Beresford (1,990,000). The Brit is mostly known for his online poker accomplishments as "1_conor_b_1", but is no slouch in the live field either, winning a $50,000 buy-in tournament at PCA 2023 as his best-ever result.
Conor Beresford
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Konstantinos Vatseris
Greece
3,215,000
129
2
Simon Wilson
Ireland
2,710,000
108
3
Georgios Tsouloftas
Cyprus
2,400,000
96
4
Aidan Quinlan
Ireland
2,340,000
94
5
Conor Beresford
England
1,990,000
80
6
Narcis Nedelcu
Romania
1,950,000
78
7
Robert Shanley
Ireland
1,840,000
74
8
Nicklas Dehli
Denmark
1,690,000
68
9
Ravi Sheth
United Kingdom
1,650,000
66
10
Kimmo Kurko
Finland
1,645,000
66
Other notables who secured a seat on Day 3 include PokerStars AmbassadorSebastian Huber (480,000), recent bracelet winner Tobias Peters (1,185,000), former PokerStars employee turned tournament crusher Ankit Ahuja (1,075,000), and PokerStars Live Event VIP Specialist Brandon Nguyen (1,465,000). Ireland, meanwhile, still has plenty of irons in the fire, with the likes of Padraig Parkinson (1,300,000), Paul Carr (870,000) and David Lappin (400,000) still in the mix.
When play resumes at noon local time, the blinds will be at 10,000/25,000 with a 25,000 big blind ante. All levels are 60 minutes in length, and eight of them are scheduled to be played, subject to change depending on how many players will be left at that point. The action will also be streamed live, with a cards-up feature table over at the PokerStars' Twitch and YouTube channels, operating at a 30-minute delay.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor in Dublin to provide all of the information and interesting hands from the outer tables, so stay tuned to not miss any of the Irish Open Main Event.
