Ciaran Taggart was chip leader going into the final day of the 2010 Ladbrokes.com Irish Poker Festival.
After an enthralling opening day of the 2010 Ladbrokes.com Irish Poker Festival, 297 of Europe’s most respected players returned to the tables with a view to taking down the lion’s share of a whopping prizepool boasting a €75,000 first prize.
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A quiet morning in the tournament area of the INEC was very much the calm before the storm as horse racing followers gathered in the Chestnut Bar to hear Racing Post tipster James Willoughby’s tips for the day’s racing in England and France. The small matter of Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weeked at Longchamp only enforced the fact that there was plenty to be doing over the weekend and with the Ryder Cup being streamed live on the big screen in the tournament area, even the greatest poker player would have been easily distracted.
Saturday’s instalment of action in Killarney was dominated by young Irishman Ciaran Taggart, the proud owner of an astonishing 745,000 chips by the end of the day’s play. Some fantastic play by Taggart left the bookies scratching their heads and he was soon 6/1 favourite to win the tournament and make it two-one to Ireland against England in the Irish Poker Festival champion’s race.
Ladbrokes pro Jon Kalmar finished the day’s play on over 280,000 chips and he was soon well-backed into 14/1, with the WSOP fifth admitting to CrunchPoker journalists that he was playing some of the best poker he had played for a long time.
The tournament slowed rapidly as the cut-off point for prize money loomed large and there was plenty of relief amongst the tables as Robert Boon became the final person to miss out on over €300,000 worth of well-earned cash.
Ladbrokes were quick to sponsor Boon into next year’s tournament but he will still be disappointed as the likes of Taggart and Kalmar marched confidently into day three of the tournament and day four of the 2010 Ladbrokes.com Irish Poker Festival.
2010 Ladbrokes.com Irish Poker Festival - Day Three