Lawlor Leads Final Fourteen into WPT National Ireland Final Day

After a superb day at the felt, the 89 players who began Day 2 of the WPT National Ireland Main Event have been whittled down to just 14 players.

Our chip leader heading into the final day is Irish player Richard Lawlor, who bagged up a mammoth stack of 1,283,000 thanks in no small part to eliminating Paul Delaney. Lawlor had pocket tens and Delaney pocket queens in the hand that mattered. All the chips in that pot went in pre-flop, only for Lawlor to hit a ten on the flop e a  turn to prove ‘Death by Quads’ can be fun….for the man on the right side of the cooler.  Lawlor has a very big lead,over half a million chips clear of the field.

Among the fantastic fourteen are Irish poker legends such as Dara O’Kearney and Jason Tompkins, both of whom qualified online at partypoker, as well as Larry Ryan and Daniel Tighe. While we lost Irish poker heroes such as Andy Black and Declan Connolly, who busted before Richard Whiteside became the unfortunate ‘bubble boy’, others thrived. Both partypoker pros and ambassadors Tony Dunst (268,000) and Natalia Breviglieri (309,000) made it to the final day.

Will we see Dara O’Kearney follow-up a recent runner-up result to reign supreme? We will be creating new World Poker Tour royalty on Sunday evening, but O’Kearney has already demonstrated that – purely in poker terms, you understand – the crown fits. He managed to find the royal flush on the river to survive an amazing hand where he had pocket aces all-in and at risk against Bob Tait’s pocket kings, only for Tait to catch a king on the river to move ahead. But runner-runner-runner-runner from that king onwards, O’Kearney rivered the royal flush to survive in stunning fashion.

Perhaps the greatest story in the room belonged not to one player but a family. Father and son Raymond (727,000) and Dave Masters (573,000) have both survived the field of 260 to make the final day, and will provide a heartwarming slant to what will be a brutal day of ‘so near and yet so far’ for so may. Can one of the Masters win the WPT National title? The pair will share the same table tomorrow, with Dad Raymond having the chip advantage over his son Dave…who will have table position on Pops.

We are back in the room here at the beautiful Killarney INEC from 1pm local time. With a story in every seat, it is going to be one of the most entertaining finals we’ve seen this season!

Here are the full chip counts and seat draw for the final day of action: