A Dublin man has claimed a prize of $1.7 million (€1.3 million) after coming sixth out of a starting field of 6,865 players in the world’s richest poker tournament.
Eoghan O’Dea (26), a professional poker player from Dalkey, was eliminated from the main event of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas yesterday.
Play continues in the tournament tonight with Pius Heinz from Germany holding the lead over American Ben Lamb and Czech player Martin Staszko.
The eventual winner will take home $8.7 million, with the second and third place players guaranteed $5.4 million and $4 million respectively.
The competition began back in July when the field of 6,685 was whittled down to nine players over the course of 12 days of play at the Rio Hotel and Casino.
Members of the “November Nine” were then given time to practice their game, generate publicity for the event and sponsorship for themselves before play resumed on Sunday.
O’Dea, who followed in the footsteps of his father Donnacha in reaching the final table of the competition, went into Sunday’s action in second place with some 33.9 million chips.
Each player either pays $10,000 to enter or wins their way into the competition through satellite events. They begin the competition with 30,000 chips.
O’Dea lost a large chunk of his chips when he was caught bluffing with just an ace by Heinz who held a pair of queens. His chances ultimately ended when his ace and nine later failed to hold up against Lamb’s holding of a queen and an eight.
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