O’Dea sits second as World Series of Poker heads for final table

Irish professional Eoghan O’Dea lies in second place in the chip standings after the World Series of Poker main event was whittled down to just nine survivors early this morning.

O’Dea, the son of poker legend Donnacha, is a noted professional in his own right and is now in with a fantastic chance of going all the way to the outright prize of more than $8.7m.

Almost 7000 players started out a week ago, and O’Dea, the 26-year-old from Malahide, will now take his place at the final table later this year.

In a change to the World Series of Poker main event timetable in recent years, the final nine players will not reconvene until November, when the final table will take the spotlight from poker fanatics and media personnel all over the world as the race for the title of World Champion, the gold and silver studded bracelet and that massive, winner-take-all cash prize.

Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic is the chip leader with approximately 40 million chips, with O’Dea – who momentarily grabbed the chip lead an hour before play concluded with the elimination of John Hewitt in 10th place – next best on 29 million.

Matt Giannetti (24 million chips), Phil Collins (21m), Ben Lamb and Badih Bounahra (both 20m), Pius Heinz (16m), Anton Makievskyi (15m) and Samuel Holden (13m) complete the final table.