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As the 2010 Irish Poker Open dust begins to settle, the bwin players have all left their hotel rooms at The Burlington, and have most likely made it back to the comfort of their homes. Meanwhile, the Irish Poker Open is another notch in the bwin success belt, and with 5 players taking home €42,100 in prize money, it's hard to see it any differently.

The week has been filled with drama, excitement and emotions that only a grand and prestigious tournament can offer. The players have been treated to some amazing meals at world class restaurants, and exclusive nights out at VIP clubs. There's been smiles from the very beginning right the way up to the very end.

The 2010 Irish Poker Open comes to an end

On behalf of the bwinpokerblog team, I'd once again like to congratulate Chiplieder85 for a remarkable run this week. Collecting €18,300 is another fine accomplishment for the German, and no doubt there's a chance we might see him in the summer at the World Series of Poker 2010!

Chiplieder85 mixing it up on the feature table

But lets not forget our other successful bwin players! manifico66 (40th for €6,900), kripp85 (43rd for €6,900), Bartoo1978 (47th for €5,500) and Real_Jacky (61st for €4,500) all had an amazing tournament, and the bwinpokerblog team salutues you too!

In about 10 weeks, the bwinpokerblog will once more be reporting at the WSOP. Will these players be seen in Las Vegas? More importantly...will you be one of the lucky players we'll reporting on? Try your luck and find out!

If you thought the last post was too much to handle, then you're definitely not going to like this one.

Moving all-in with A♣ J♥, Chiplieder85 is called faster than I can down a pint of Guinness, and his opponent shows A♥ A♠. Things begin to unfold as the board is spread out across the felt in the form of 4♣ 5♥ 8♣ ... K♥ ... 8♥. The German has lost 250,000 from his stack and only has 20,500 left on the table.

Holding off for a hand, the bwin player gets it all-in and has managed to attract another 3 callers. The board is checked to the death and with 5♣ J♥ A♣ ... 6♣ showing, the turn sees the German rise to his feet. But when the river comes out a 9♣ to make a possible flush, the action is checked around and Chiplieder85 takes his seat again. Seconds after this, the table erupts in laughter as the bwin player obviously has a club. Smiling away, he turns over K♣ 2♥ and pulls in the 86,500 pot. Witnessing this alongside fellow bwinpokerblog guru, Batman, the word magician says "He could go on to win this you know!". Unfortunately, the very next hand shoots Batmans brave prediction to pieces.

Chiplieder85 involved again

Sticking his stack in UTG, it's just the Button that makes the call and turns over his A♥ 5♦. Chiplieder85 then gives his T♠ 9♦ some air. Out come your bloggers prayer beads for the 1 millionth time today. This could put the German back in the action fold if he can hit something. But when the flop cracks open 4♦ A♦ Q♥ all hopes are pretty much dashed. He's just a tickle over 8% to win the hand and it's really not looking good for the bwin player. When the turn eventually comes in the form of a 2♣ it's all over. The formality of the river pulls a T♣ to the felt, but it's too late for our man in the Real Madrid football shirt.

Chiplieder85 learns his 2010 Irish Poker Open fate

He's played some great poker today, and even though he might not have gotten the luck in a few coin flips, Chiplieder85 has shown once again that he has the know how to go deep in any live event he attends. After 36 hours of poker, the German will be taking home €18,300 for his 14th place finish (that's about 2,660 pints of Guinness!). Moneywise, that matches his 440th place finish at the WSOP 2009 last summer.

It's been a great Day with 5 players cashing for a total of €42,100! On behalf of the bwinpokerblog team, congratulations to Chiplieder85, manifico66, kripp85, Bartoo1978 and Real_Jacky for cashing in the oldest tournament in Europe.

Results can be found here!

READERS DISCRETION ADVISED: Owners of a weak heart may want to wait for the next post. This one is a nail biter!

We're just about to hit the 01:00 mark here on Day 3, and with just 14 players remaining...it's all getting a little bit scary! Having accumulated a stack of 380,000, Chiplieder85 wasn't going to roll over and wait for the Final Table.

UTG spices the pot a little, closely followed by a raise up to about 80,000 from UTG+1. Chiplieder85 then announces "All-in" and your blogger does his impression of a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car. Small and Big Blind get out of the way, closely followed by the original bettor. UTG+1 goes deep into the tank and it looks like my silent muttering of "fold...fold...fold" has worked. Then reality shatters my hopes as I hear "Call". The frenzy on the tournament floor is directed to the feature table as the action is about to unfold.

Chiplieder85 under some pressure

The cards get some air with Chiplieder85 showing A♦ K♥ against his opponents 4♠ 4♣ and the flop brings T♣ 9♠ 7♦. The German is needing a little help now and as the turn spits out a 3♥ it's all down to the river. The pot is worth half a million in chips and with 6 outs, your blogger is holding his breath in the hope that one of them is hiding under the burn card. The crucial moment is here and it's a case of "No Dice" as the river churns a Q♣ on to the board. The German has now dropped to a dangerous amount of 130,000.

As Day 3 draws on, the chips are constantly being passed around from player to player at the speed of light. In fact, if this post was a TV production of the Irish Poker Open, then I'd be bound by government laws to stick a disclaimer for epilepsy at the front of it!

Level 21 is a level like many others today...with the exception that it costs 26,000 an orbit. Blinds of 6,000/12,000 and antes of 1,000 have the ability to punish the slightest of mistakes, and at this late stage of the tournament, it could deal a crippling blow to any players Final Table hopes. Every time Chiplieder85 reaches for his chips, time slows...

Chiplieder85 - 200,000

Within the last 15 minutes or so, Chiplieder85 has been all-in 3 times with each push gathering no callers. He's under the 20BB mark, so it really is about pushing at the right time and hoping to catch. Average stack is now at a table-leg bending 372,600!!

Chip lovers click here!

Moments ago, Chiplieder85 got his chips into the middle and let the table know he's here to take down the 2010 Irish Poker Open title.

All-in pre-flop with A♦ Q♦ against the A♥ 5♠ of Francisco Torres of Spain. Chiplieder wasn't in too much danger as he'd still have something of a stack left, but if this doesn't go in the Germans favour, he would be serisouly hindered for the remainder of the day. The flop churned out A♠ 9♦ 4♦ and the bwin players lead stretched out nicely. A 4♠ on the turn all but sealed the fate of Torres, and with the river quickly punching out an 8♦, the bwin player took down a nice pot. A quick exhale and a drop of the shoulders was allowed...then Chiplieder85 started stacking his newly acquired chips up.

Chiplieder85 - 350,000

There's 23 players left in the melting pot of Day 3 making the average stack 307,800. There's about an hour left to go with the blinds at 5,000/10,000 with antes of 1,000. Chiplieder now has about 350,000 sitting in front of him and has the look about him. You know, the one that says "You're all in trouble...".

"It's about the numbers and dollars!"

The dinner break has now ended and the remaining 26 players are heading back to their seats to continue with Day 3 of the 2010 Irish Poker Open. There's 32 minutes left of level 19 where the blinds sit at 4,000/8,000 with antes of 500 demanded.

Chiplieder85 has now been moved to the televised table and will surely be aware of every move he makes. Not only are the Germans opponents watching every action and facial expression, but with him being on the big screen, it's now there for all to see. He's looking confident though and is sitting close enough to the comfort zone in regards to his chip stack. The average count is now up to a mammoth 272,000 and the German is sitting with 240,000.

Chiplieder85 - 240,000

No real decision has been made yet regarding when todays play will come to a halt, but I'm putting my money on making it to the Final Table before midnight. Chip counts and Irish Poker Open ITM finishes here!

Level 18 is seconds from ending, and with 32 players still fighting it out to be one of the lucky 8 returning tomorrow, you can hear "All-in and a call!" bellowing out from the tournament staff from every table.

It's good news for our last remaining player, Chiplieder85, who is now guaranteed to take €9,800 back home with him to Germany. For the first time in a long time though, he's dropped under the average stack. With the blinds so high and the action intesifying with every passing minute, the stacks are constantly changing hands. All this drama is making your blogger a little on the nervous side!

Chiplieder85 sitting with 150,000

The Dinner break is just 15 minutes away, and level 19 will be costing the players 16,000 a lap. That's 4,000/8,000 with 500 antes! Average stack is now at the dizzy heights of 221,300. Chiplieder85 still has quite a usable stack, so don't expect the German to hang around too long waiting for Bullets.

Day 3 of the 2010 Irish Poker Open is well underway now, but brace yourselves...more bad news is on the way, and I don't mean the elimination of Day 3 chip leader, Liam Flood.

kripp85 has just been eliminated. In a battle of the blinds, his opponet fired out with a bet that the Hungarian sensed as weak. Shifting his stack all-in, his opponent reluctantly calls with a low pair. Unfortunately for the bwin player the turn and river refused to hand out any help, and kripp85 hits the rail. It's been a great tournament for the Hungarian and he looks fairly content with his week here in Dublin. He'll be taking €6,900 back home with him, so that might explain his smiles.

43rd position - kripp85

We're not done with the bad news just yet. Our surprise addition to the mornings play, manifico66, has also just gone. Needing chips, the Czech Republic player makes a move on the button with 5♥ 2♣. The Big Blind fancies some of this and calls with J♣ 3♠. The board bricks out from flop to river and manifico66 leaves us in 40th position. He will however drive back to the Czech Republic, €6,900 better off!

40th position - manifico66

About 45 minutes remain in level 18 and with 38 players still in the chase for that Final Table tomorrow, the average stack continues to rise. I know that's a bit like stating the obvious, but at 186,300, that's quite an average stack. It's ok though, as you can see on the Chip counts & Results page, Chiplieder85 is still quite a bit above that.

We're well into level 17 now and with the average stack up to 144,500, a sense of urgency is looming in the air.

Unfortunately, Bartoo1978 has just hit the rail. After losing half of his stack with Big Slick against Cowboys, the order of the day was then find an Ace and push. Unfortunately, when the Pole found his Ace, his opponent had found pocket Tens.

Speaking to Bartoo1978 after his elimination, the solid Polish player says he's had a great experience here at the Irish poker Open, and he's enjoyed every minute of it. The bwin player is smiling from ear to ear, and having just cashed for €5,500, you can see why. Amazingly, this is only his second live event ever and has followed up his great result in the Aussie Millions with another here in Dublin. Seeing an opportunity to show just how versatile the bwinpokerblog team is, I've challenged Barto1978 to a game of chess! Being the nice gentleman I am, I've given the Polish Grandmaster of chess until Vegas to practice. So, something you you all to look forward to!

Bartoo1978 gets another great result!

Level 18 is now in play and we're up to 3,000/6,000 blinds with antes of 500. kripp85 is pretty short as you can see here, and with the blinds so expensive, he'll have to get involved pretty soon to stay in with a shout of making it to the Final Table.

Chiplieder85 has been using his stack wisely and just moments ago, the German broke the 200k barrier thanks to his set of cowboys against his opponents A♣ 3♠. It's quite a stack infront of the bwin player and he's looking pretty dangerous today.

manifico66 has just doubled up, and it's not a moment too soon. The Czech Republic player has managed to increase his stack up to 46,000 and lets hope that trend continues. Looking back to yesterday, I don't think he had more than 20 BB's all day, so you never know, he might just make the Final Table!

Bartoo1978 hasn't had the best of starts to Day 3 of the 2010 Irish Poker Open. The Polish chess Grandmaster has lost about half of his stack and has dropped to about 70k. I'm not sweating yet, as he's proved his worth at the Aussie Millions. Last night as we were leaving the tournament area, big stacked player Jen Mason, came by and informed us that "This poker player on the right of me is impossible to read. No emotions, no talk...it's just impossible to get information from him"...that's our man Bartoo1978!

kripp85 grinding it out

kripp85 has started steady and as level 16 draws to an end, the blinds don't seemed to have bothered the Hungarian one bit. In about 10 minutes the blinds go to level 17, and every player in the room will be paying 2,500/5,000 with antes of 500. That's 11,500 an orbit...getting a bit expensive now eh? Average stack is a whopping 131,100. Nice Numbers Here!