Finland's Tero Laurila rode a late surge to the overnight lead in the Irish Poker Open main event on Sunday, topping 14 survivors of an extended Day 3 in the record-setting event. Laurila enjoyed a huge final level to top the remaining field with a 13,075,000 stack, less than a million chips ahead of Spain's David Tous entering Monday's Day 4 finale at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin's Ballsbridge district.
Laurila (pictured above) and Tous climbed the highest on a day when 109 Day 2 survivors arrived with hopes of reaching the final table. Thirteen hours of play later, that final table still remained elusive, and the last 14 players bagged their chips to return on Monday.
The huge turnout made the pre-event prospect of reaching a final table unlikely from the start. The 2024 Irish Poker main event, sponsored by PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker, established a new record for turnout with 3,233 entries, making it Ireland's largest-ever poker tournament. Laurila has the inside track on the tourney's €415,615 first-place payout, the largest share of a record €3,152,175 prize pool.
Parkinson still in the title hunt
Day 2 chip leader Konstantinos Vatseris, from Greece, was among those who survived Day 3's crush of bustouts, wrapping up the long session in fifth. One of the day's primary storyline's however, was the continued strong effort of Irish poker legend Padraig Parkinson, who will return on Day 4 in tenth position. Parkinson is one of six Irish players seeking home-country glory in this tournament, with third-place Ninh Van Hiep topping the six.
Among those to bust on Day 3 were PokerStars Team Pro PokerStars Sebastian Huber, Ankit Ahuja, "The Chip Race" co-hosts Dara O'Kearney and David Lappin, Deborah Worley-Roberts, Tobias Peters, Simon Wilson, and Conor Beresford.
The final 14 players entering Day 4 of the 2024 Irish Poker Open main event are as follows:
1 Tero Laurila (Finland) - 13,075,000
2 David Tous (Spain) - 12,125,000
3 Ninh Van Hiep (Ireland) - 9,700,000
4 Stephen Groom (United Kingdom) - 9,050,000
5 Konstantinos Vatseris (Greece) - 8,875,000
6 Brian Moore (United States) - 8,000,000
7 Mark Johnston (United Kingdom) - 6,950,000
8 Oliver Boyce (Ireland) - 6,400,000
9 Georgios Tsouloftas (Cyprus) - 6,100,000
10 Padraig Parkinson (Ireland) - 4,800,000
11 Vidmantas Beliauskas (Lithuania) - 4,600,000
12 Robert Shanley (Ireland) - 3,300,000
13 Adrian Thorne (Ireland) - 3,050,000
14 Aidan Quinlan (Ireland) - 1,425,000
Feature image courtesy Danny Maxwell / Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd / Irish Poker Open
