Card Player Poker Tour: Dave Pollock Leads Irish Open Unofficial Final Table

After three days of poker at the 2014 Card Player Poker Tour Paddy Power Irish Open, the unofficial final table is set and Dave Pollock is the chip leader heading into the final day of play (Note: A final table of nine is customary in the U.S., but most official final tables in Europe are eight-handed). Pollock ended the day with 1,700,000 in chips, but is followed closely behind by Liam Chevalier, who bagged 1,655,000.

When the day started, breaking the money bubble was the first thing on everbody’s mind. 59 players showed up to start the penultimate day of the event, but only 47 would leave the tournament with a live cash to their resume.

Just under two hours into the day, Konstantinos Tsikopoulos was eliminated on the bubble when his AK couldn’t hold up against Barry Donovan’s 108 and he was eliminated on the bubble in 48th place.

Donovan, who comes to the unofficial final table third in chips with 1,565,000, was very close to being out of the tournament. Donovan was all in with 14 players remaining with A-4 against Chevalier’s A-10 for his tournament life. The board ran out 5-5-3-K-Q and neither the dealer, Chevalier, or Donovan realized that the pot should be chopped. The supervisor came over, handed Donovan his 14th place payout ticket, and Donovan was escorted to the cage.

After the hand, Thomas O’Shea and Jonathan Lundy made a comment to the dealer that they thought the hand should have been chopped. The rest of the table agreed and the tournament staff was called back over to the table. After confirming the two hands and the board, the staff went back and got Donovan from the cage, recreated the pot, chopped it, and put him back in the tournament.

That not only kept Donovan alive in the tournament, but also in the Sole Survivor competition.

The competition is for anybody who satellites into the event through Paddy Power. Those people are kept track of throughout the tournament and the final six of the Sole Survivors cash in the competition. Second through sixth place win a free entry into the 2015 Irish Open and first place earns €50,000.

The Donovan “elimination” would have sent him home in seventh place in the Sole Survivor competition and burst the bubble. Instead, he locks up at least a complimentary entry into the 2015 Irish Open, along with whatever prize money he wins on top of it.

Joining Donovan for the final day, are four other Sole Survivors, which means that the race for €50,000 will end at the final table. Pollock, Donovan, Patrick Clarke, Jonathan Lundy, and Michael Gilligan are the players still alive in the competition.

At the start of the day, there were quite a few well-known players alive for the title. Pratyush Buddiga was eliminated shy of the money, while Samantha Cohen and David Masters both earned themselves a cash in the event finishing in 26th and 19th place, respectively.

Jesse May, who is more well-known for his commentary work which earned him a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2012 European Poker Awards, also came into the day very healthy on chips and looking to make a deep run. May fell short of the final table, finishing in 17th place for €7,599.

The final nine players will return to the tournament area on Monday afternoon at 2 pm local time to play down to a winner. Each player is guaranteed €13,350, but everybody has their eyes set on the first place prize of €200,000 and the title.

Here is a look at the chip counts heading into the final day:

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