January 06 2012, Brett Collson

Day 2 of the inaugural World Poker Tour stop in Ireland began with 195 of the original 338 players taking their seats at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin. The day began with several notables still in contention for the “202,680 top prize, but only a handful managed to reach the money when play came to a close.

Thirty-six players secured a minimum payday of $7,217 after fireworks erupted on the money bubble late Friday night. According to the World Poker Tour Live Updates team, Oliver Nilsson and Franck Boyer saw a flop of which ultimately generated one of the largest pots of the tournament. Both players ended up all-in, Boyer with for middle set and Nilsson with for a flopped straight. The on the turn changed nothing, but another deuce on the river gave Boyer a full house. The massive pot shot Boyer up the leaderboard and sent Nilsson to the rail as the bubble boy.

Others who fell short of the money Friday were Day 1 chip leader Dave Callaghan, Andy Black, Jon Kalmar, Sam El Sayed, Sam Holden, Tatjana Pasalic, McLean Karr, Toby Lewis, Kara Scott, Leo Margets and former WPT champs James Dempsey and Jake Cody.

Dempsey entered the day as the shortest stack and his bid for a second WPT title of Season X ended when his couldn’t improve against Jim O’Neill’s pocket queens.

Dempsey’s elimination came shortly after his friend, Triple Crown winner Jake Cody, was sent packing. Cody three-bet shoved preflop for about 20 big blinds with pocket sixes but Andrew Wayman’s finished best, sending Cody out the door empty-handed. Cody’s lone WPT victory came in London in September 2010.

Englishman Dave Shallow leads the way going into Day 3 with 951,000 chips. He may be an unknown on the live tournament circuit, but Shallow has crushed online poker for years under the moniker “CrabMaki” on PokerStars. He won the $10,000 High Roller event at the 2010 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) for more than $600,000, and is also a feared cash game player.

Among the big stacks chasing Shallow when Day 3 begins will be Boyer (873,000), Steve Watts (628,000), and William Dorey (576,000). Ross Boatman, one of the few notables remaining, is 11th in chips with 298,000, and Dublin pro Dermot Blain is slightly below average with 215,000.

Day 3 gets under way at 1400 GMT (0900 EST) on Saturday. Here’s a look at the top ten chip counts when play resumes:

World Poker Tour Ireland Top 10 Chip Counts

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*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.

Follow Brett Collson on Twitter – @brettcollson