2023 partypoker MILLIONS Ireland Day 1B

After a run of nice spots and well-made plays, WSOPC ring holder Luke Martinelli leads a strong pack of players who took bags from Day 1B of the partypoker MILLIONS Irish Festival Main Event.

Martinelli showed his class but also found a spell of run good which saw him cooler a few opponents and take a bag of 325k (162bb).

Joshua Stewart bagged a healthy 90k (45bb), despite his stack hitting close to 150k at one point. He managed to manoeuvre a tough few table in the last few levels and moves on to Day 2.

High-stakes MTT crusher Ami Barer joined Michael Molenaar, Bruno Desimoni and 20 more players into Day 2, whilst Niall Farrell fell just short in this flight.

Michael Molenaar is finding much more success on his Day 1B bullet, and has chipped up well past the 100k mark now.

After opening to 3.2k (2bb) in the BU, Arnuad Enselme shoved his 45k (28bb) and was snap-called by Molenaar.

Molenaar’s Q Q were in good shape v Enselme’s 5 5 , and after a flop of Q 7 10 , a void turn and river sent Enselme to the rail and Molenaar in good shape approaching the final level of the day.

After hearing about seat 8 having a good spell of premiums, the action found them again just minutes later.

At the 600/1200 level, Ami Barer opened to 2.5k (2bb) and faced a 3-bet from Jakub Wojtas in the BU to 8k (6.6bb), before Luke Martinelli made it 20k (16bb), Barer folded but Wojtas found the call.

Wojtas had 38k (31bb) behind as the effective stack on 9 9 5 , so when Martinelli continued with the aggression to the tune of 13k (11bb) his choice to pile it in was more than acceptable.

Wojtas showed J J , which was drawing thin against Martinelli’s Q Q – and after a turn 2 and river 6 , Martinelli scooped the pot.

“You can make a comment that Paul Carr says this guy is a lucky f**k” commented Paul Carr, with a grin, after the hand.

An interesting hand developed between two of the deeper stacks on Table 26. At the 500/1k/1k level, Bruno Desimonilimped off 67k (67bb) and Ferran Canelamade it 3.5k (3.5bb), Desimoni called.

A flop of K 8 2 peeled off, Desimoni check/called a continuation bet for 2k (2bb).

The turn 8 brought in many hands with the players having such wide ranges, and after a check Canela went uber small for just 3k (3bb) into a 12.5k (12.5bb) pot.

On the river 9 , even more hands get there. A check from Desimoni led to a much polarizing bet from Canela, who tanked before sliding out 12k (12bb). Desimoni flicked in a 1k call chip and was shown the bad news when Canela showed K K and his hand quickly went into the muck.

Manfred Gonda flatted the BU after a CO open to 1,600 (2.5bb) and found himself facing a jam from Farid Fawzi in the BB for 13,500 (22.5bb) and with his 15,000 (25bb) stack barely covering, decided to gamble and flick in the call with Q J

He was up against Fawzi’s 7 7 , and the flop of 10 6 6 brought relief, until the 9 turn gave Gonda a huge amount of juice. The 5 river was a brick and Fawzi found a much needed double-up, while Gonda is left with crumbs.

There’s a host of familiar faces and tough poker players in the Day 1B flight.

We’ve seen Joshua Stewart enter, a talented poker player in a variety of styles whether it’s tournaments, cash games, Texas Hold’em or Pot-Limit Omaha. Stewart has notched over eight live cashes in a month, and will be looking to boost his live tournament earnings to over $200,000.

Another entrant who has been in hot form is Simon Wilson, a regular face amongst the Irish live poker community. Wilson recently saw a huge score when he ran deep in the GGPoker WSOP Main Event Online, finishing ninth from over 6,000 entrants for a huge $251,073.

The strong players does not end there, with a name familiar to high-stakes online tournament fans in the mix. Ami Barer is battling in today’s flight, with the Canadian super pro regularly firing the biggest online tournaments $10,000 and upward. In 2020, Barer even won three GGPoker High Rollers in one day!

Michael Molenaar, Scott Margerson and Niall Farrell re-fire with other notable faces like Andrew Hedley and Igor Pihela.

We’re underway of Day 1B of the headline event, after a Day 1A saw many notable and formidable players take healthy stacks over to Day 2.

Ankhit Ahuja took over 173,100 (87bb), a strong display after his recent incredible score in the EUREKA Main Event where he scooped $362,365 after outlasting 2,658 opponents.

David Docherty is one of the top Scottish poker players around, and showed his class by bagging up 175,000 (88bb) and takes a healthy stack over to Day 2. Docherty has been all over the UK live poker scene as of late, with an strong run in the Edinburgh UKIPT Main Event and even better showing in the Malta Summer Festival where he scored 4th for €52,660.

Bart Lybaert will be looking to ascend up the Belgium all-time money list as he currently sits 6th with his $3.9m in cashes, and he has every chance to do that taking across a 125,000 (63bb).

Ryan O’Donnell takes a strong 80,000 (40bb) over to Day 2 after manoeuvring a short stack for most of the day. The Spin & Go and short-handed tournament expert is a coach for PokerCoaching and caught attention when he has a mesmerizing run in the World Series of Poker $25,000 High Roller bracelet, coming second to Ike Haxton and bagging a cool $1,049,577.

Conor Bergin was part of a group of strong players who did not manage to manouvre a stack over to Day 2, which includes the legend Andy Black, Niall Farrell and Arnaud Enselme. He is already back in the mix for Day 1B.

Don’t forget that there are satellites running both live here at the Intercontinental Hotel and online at partypoker for this event – you can also buy in to Day 2 directly at 1k/2k levels and have 25bb, a fantastic structure!