Final 18 Return to Crown New IPF Main Event Champion in Dublin
The final day of the 2024 Irish Poker Festival Main Event is here, with just 18 players left out of the 285 who started. Each of them which will be hoping to lift the trophy and take home the €177,000 first-place prize from the impressive €753,330 prize pool.
Holding a commanding chip lead with 2,113,000, and is the only play to surpass the two-million-chip barrier, is Joni Rantamaki of Finland. Second place on the chip counts with a respectable 1,520,000 goes to Conor O'Rourke of Ireland, while Mark Buckley takes the third spot with a stack of 1,350,000.
Day 3 Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip count | Big blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joni Rantamaki | Finland | 2,113,000 | 106 |
| 2 | Conor O'Rourke | Ireland | 1,520,000 | 76 |
| 3 | Mark Buckley | Ireland | 1,350,000 | 68 |
| 4 | Sean Hegarty | United States | 1,232,000 | 62 |
| 5 | Leo Worthington-Leese | United Kingdom | 1,098,000 | 55 |
| 6 | Jonathan Proudfoot | Ireland | 1,000,000 | 50 |
| 7 | Niall Farrell | Scotland | 972,000 | 49 |
| 8 | Vasilijus Piskunovas | Lithuania | 810,000 | 41 |
| 9 | Rafael Golka | Germany | 663,000 | 33 |
| 10 | Alec Torelli | United States | 638,000 | 32 |
Sean Hegarty (1,320,000), Leo Worthington-Leese (1,098,000), and Jonathan Proudfoot (1,000,000) are the only players boasting seven-figure stacks so far. Meanwhile, recent television star Niall Farrell is sat comfortably in seventh with 972,000 chips. Farrell, with nearly $7,000,000 in live tournament earnings and a track record of cashes worldwide since 2010, is sure to be among the favorites to lift the trophy once play resumes at the Intercontinental Hotel in Dublin, Ireland.
Scraping into the top ten list with a stack of 638,000 is Alec Torelli, one of the most recognizable players left in the tournament. The American has accumulated multiple millions in live tournament earnings, but this will mark his first cash on Irish soil.
One player who has quietly made his way to the final day is the United Kingdom’s Richard Ashby. Though he currently sits near the bottom of the pack with 450,000 chips, he still has over 20 big blinds to work with. Ashby, once a regular in the nosebleed online cash games, has also found success on the tournament scene worldwide. This past summer, he claimed his second bracelet in Las Vegas and boasts cashes dating back to 2001. If Ashby can build some momentum, he’s certainly a player to watch as the day unfolds.
Remaining Payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €177,000 | 10 | €17,500 |
| 2 | €113,000 | 11 | €15,000 |
| 3 | €70,000 | 12 | €13,000 |
| 4 | €50,000 | 13 | €11,580 |
| 5 | €38,000 | 14 | €10,750 |
| 6 | €31,500 | 15 - 16 | €10,000 |
| 7 | €27,500 | 17-18 | €9,500 |
| 8 | €24,000 | ||
| 9 | €20,500 |
Play is set to get underway at 1.p.m local time. The tournament will resume on Level 22, which features 10.000/20,000 blinds with a big blind ante of 20,000. Level lengths will remain at 60 minutes in length, and the plan is to play down until there is a champion.
Be sure to follow along to PokerNews' live coverage as we bring you all the most recent updates direct from the tournament floor.