After an eight-year hiatus, the EPT has returned to Dublin with a thrilling poker festival. Its highlight tournament – the €5,300 Main Event – is coming to a close with 16 remaining hopefuls after the completion of Day 4.
The event attracted a total of 605 entries and generated a prize pool of €3,025,000. Organizers announced that the top 87 finishers would receive a portion of the money, with the eventual champion taking the lion’s share of €561,900.
On Day 4 of the tournament, there were 45 players returning to the tables at the Royal Dublin Society, led by Englishman Alex Goulder. However, some accomplished and well-known players could not survive through the day. For instance, Team PokerStars Pro Luca Pagano, PokerStars Team Online member Jaime Staples, who used to be a frequent participant in EPT Dublin events, WSOP November Niners James Akenhead, Antoine Saout, and Pierre Neuville were among those to hit the rail. All in all, the field was slashed to just 16 players within three 90-minute levels.
Day 5 of the Main Event is set to start today at noon local time. Although EPT final tables are traditionally eight-handed, the remaining players will play down to the 6 finalists who will be returning for the tournament’s final day.
Irishman Patrick Clarke is leading the final 16 into Day 5 of the event. The player has accumulated a stack of 2,950,000 in chips so far. Clarke is a former Irish Poker Open Main Event winner. The player captured the title in April 2014, scooping €200,000 for his performance. Another notable career achievement was his 4th place in the 2015 UKIPT Season 5 Nottingham £1,100 Main Event for £58,100. Overall Clarke’s live tournament winnings now amount to a little less than $400,000.
There are two players among the 16 survivors who have been particularly successful over the past several seasons of the EPT. Day 5 of the €5,300 Main Event will be headlined by Dzmitry Urbanovich from Poland, who won the EPT Season 11 Malta €25,000 High Roller and finished runner-up in two EPT Super High Roller events, and Adrian Mateos from Spain, who took down the EPT Season 11 Grand Final and the WSOP Europe Main Event back in 2013.
