It was moving day in the PokerStars Festival Dublin Main Event, and by the time the 10 levels of play were done and dusted, Gary McGinty had a mountain of chips in front of him and was the clear chip leader.
The 29-year-old Irishman, who works in waste energy management, was the first player to break the million chip barrier and by the time play ended, his bag was bulging with a stack of 2.835 million, that’s some spin up from his start of day 42,300. At this stage of the tournamemnt McGinty has a mammoth stack and he’s well clear of a chasing pack that includes: Mick Graydon (1.631 million), Florian Duta (1.586 million) and Andrew Grimason (1.568 million). Just 16 players of the 199 players who started the day survived and the full counts can be seen below:
| Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| Gary McGinty | Ireland | 2,835,000 |
| Mick Graydon | Ireland | 1,631,000 |
| Florian Duta | Romania | 1,586,000 |
| Andrew Grimason | Ireland | 1,568,000 |
| Sean Prendiville | Ireland | 1,030,000 |
| Declan Connolly | Ireland | 980,000 |
| Padhraic Mulligan | Ireland | 978,000 |
| James O’Callaghan | Ireland | 976,000 |
| Antonio Merone | Italy | 969,000 |
| Ivan Tononi | Italy | 850,000 |
| Alexander Bretherton | United Kingdom | 767,000 |
| Noel McMahon | Ireland | 582,000 |
| Sean Bradley | Ireland | 422,000 |
| Sacha Lebreton | Ireland | 400,000 |
| Edoardo Poggiali | Italy | 372,000 |
| Virgilio Dicicco | Italy | 317,000 |
The 199 players who started the day came back to news that the €679,000 prize pool would be spilit 79 ways, that a min-cash was worth €2,310 and that first prize was €130,410. You can find the full prize breakdown here.
It took almost five hours of play to reach the bubble and by that point the likes of Chris Moneymaker, Niall Farrell and Chris Dowling had been sent on their way. There was no messing with this bubble though as Paul Carr ran pocket kings into the pocket aces of Sacha Lebreton and just like that the remaining players were in the money.
Those players included Stephen Hendry, the seven-time World Snooker Champion described getting his first major cash as “stressful but brilliant.” Hendry managed one pay jump but was elimianted in 56th place in a nasty set over set situation. Other notables who made the money include: Deborah Worley-Roberts (18th, €5,500), Daniel Wilson (26th, €4,140), Kerry Jane Craigie (29th, €3,600), Asif Warris (36th, €3,190), Patrick Clark (39th, €3,190), David Penly (44th, €2,780), Emmett Mullin (62nd, €2,510), Dan Jones (65th, €2,510), Paul Leckey (69th, €2,510) and Kevin Killeen (72nd, €2,310).
We’ll be back tomorrow to follow the Main Event every step of the way to the end. Play restarts at noon. See you then.
