Card Player Poker Tour: Ville Sissonen Leads Irish Open After Two DaysJesse May Emerged as One of the Chip Leaders After Day 2 |
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Ville Sissonen bagged the chiplead with 522,000 on day 2 of the Card Player Poker Tour Paddy Power Poker Irish Open. It was a fitting end after nine levels of play as Sissonen had emerged as the chipleader early on and kept a steady presence near the top of the field throughout day 2.
Right behind Sissonen is Yoni Kissous with 477,500. Next on the leaderboard is Jesse May, known as the “voice of poker,” who instead let his actions do the talking for him. May ended the night with an impressive 454,500 in chips.
Day 2 was a day full of eliminations, seeing a steady line through the exit that never seemed to slow down.
Of the 411 entrants, only 253 returned for day 2 and when the final hand was dealt for the night a mere 59 remained. But despite the unfortunate day it was for more than about ¾ of the returning field a few players were just happy to hang on long enough for another day. Eldon Orr (54,500), Conor Fennell (65,500) and Pratyush Budigga (68,500) ended the night with the shortest stacks in play, but will be back and looking to rebuild on day 3.
The third day of the Irish Open will begin at 1 pm Irish Standard Time April 20 and when the number of players has been whittled down to the final 47, payouts from the €822,000 prize pool will begin.
Day 2 determined that a brand new winner will be declared this year. Defending champion Ian Simpson and 2012 winner Kevin Vandermissen both made day 2, but were subsequently eliminated.
Simpson’s end to what could have been a three-year run of impressive performances began in a hand with Sissonen. Simpson raised to 2,500 from the hijack seat and Sissonen three-bet to 6,300 from the cutoff. Action folded back around to the reigning champ, who made it 17,100 to go. Sissonen moved all-in for about 50,000 and Simpson called with A
K. Sissonen showed Q
10 and Simpson stayed ahead after a flop of 75
2
. The 10 on the turn gave Sissonen a pair and Simpson never regained the lead when the 7 fell on the river.
After the hand Simpson was down to about 20,000 in chips and made his exit a short while later. Vandersmissen was eliminated a short time after the dinner break.
Other eliminations included Andy Black, one of the most recognizable names in Irish poker, who has more than $4.4 million in live tournament winnings, multiple career titles and even more final table appearances. A few of his accomplishments include a fifth place finish in the 2005 World Series of Poker main event, a third place finish in the 2007 Aussie Millions main event and five European Poker Tour cashes.
Black also bubbled the 2011 Irish Open final table and finished eighth in 2012, but being added to the list of winners in Europe’s longest running poker tournament will have to wait at least another year. Black was eliminated about halfway through day 2.
Eoghan and Donnacha O’Dea might hold the distinction of being the only father and son duo to make appearances at the WSOP main event final table – Donnacha in 1983 and 1991 and Eoghan in 2011 – but they will not be adding the Irish Open to their list of identical main events. The two began day 2 side-by-side at the same table but were quickly moved as their table was one of the first to break. The younger O’Dea was eliminated just shy of the dinner break and the elder O’Dea made his exit on the last hand of the night.
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Top Ten Chip Counts
1. Ville Sissonen – 522,000
2. Yoni Kissous – 475,500
3. Jesse May – 454,500
4. Dave Pollack – 454,000
5. Patrick Clarke – 420,500
6. Chris Dowling – 402,500
7. Marco Sabatini – 393,000
8. Colin Quarry – 381,000
9. David Masters – 333.000
10. Konstantinos Tsirakidis – 332,500
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