O'Kearney Leads UKIPT IOM
Friday, 1 November 2013
Eight levels of play on the opening day of the inaugural UKIPT Isle of Man Main Event saw 113 players take to the felt but only 54 survive the session.
Despite fears the tournament might see a drop in numbers, the makeshift poker room inside Villa Marina was bustling yesterday as the likes of Mickey Petersen (check out his new documentary here), Andre Coimbraand Dara O'Kearney mixed with a wave of PokerStars employees.
Although members of the company aren't usually allowed to play PokerStars
run events, an exception was made this time around since the tournament was taking place just a short walk from their headquarters.
Decked out in unmistakable PokerStars outfits, the office workers and poker enthusiasts did their best to hang with the pros but by the end of the day it was O'Kearney who secured the chip lead. Thanks to a surge of pots towards the end of the day the Irishman was able to rake in 112,100 chips to finish ahead of Jamie O'Connor (105,900) and Chris Straghalis (102,300).
Also through to Day 2 with a healthy stack was the likes of Sam Razavi (61,600), Dominik Nitsche(48,800) and the aforementioned Petersen with 46,200 chips.
Today's session is expected to welcome more PokerStars pro in the form of Jake Cody, Daniel Negreanu and Liv Boereeand expectations are that the at least 387 will take to the felt and help meet the event's £500,000 guarantee.
The Day 1a chip leaders are as follows:
Dara O`Kearney, Ireland, PokerStars Qualifier, 112,100
Jamie O'Connor, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 105,900
Chris Straghalis, United States, Rational Group Staff, 102,300
Alexander Schilt, Switzerland, PokerStars Qualifier, 101,400
Caleb Sheridan, United States, Rational Group Staff, 90,300
Robbie Bull, United Kingdom, PokerStars Qualifier, 87,700
Karl-Fredrik Stromberg, Isle of Man, Rational Group Staff, 81,600
Matthew McKenzie, United Kingdom, 76,300
Niall Farrell, United Kingdom, PokerStars Player, 73,600
Tim Michels, Germany, PokerStars Qualifier, 68,100