WPT Ireland Final Table: Meet The Players

We are going to bring you the live updates at the same time of the stream so we will be operating 30-minutes behind live schedule.

In the meantime here are the players….

Seat 5: Ronan Gilligan – 775,000

Every final table needs a local hero and WPT Ireland’s is Ronan Gilligan. Gilligan drew a few stragglers from the bar in the wee small hours and will be interesting to see the mixture of Irish and English go toe to toe on the rail today.

Gilligan was almost down and out ,yesterday, when he moved all-in on the turn in a hand against Franck Boyer. Giliigan was on the semi bluff with the flush draw and Boyer was within an inch of calling him. After that pot the Irishman just grew in confidence and now here he is on the final table. In Sep 2010, Gilligan finished as the runner up to Max Silver in the UKIPT event in Dublin where he earned $55,179 proving he has what it takes to get through a huge field. Will he do what Edoardo Alescio did in Venice and pinch one for the home team? With Shallow’s chip advantage that will be difficult but he will certainly be giving it everything he has when the action starts in just under an hour.

Seat 4: Dave Shallow – 6,115,000

Dave "Dubai" Shallow burst onto the poker scene in 2006 after creating a huge bankroll for himself playing online in the "good old days." The guy, most of the tournament officials have dubbed Mr Nasty, created a huge chip stack on Day Two and when asked how he accumulated such a Great Wall of Shallow he refused to tell us!

Shallow has been in the top three chip spots ever since and has a dominating lead after eliminating both Steven Moreau and ShaunConning in one fell swoop just a few short hours ago. Steven Moreau was looking the likely WPT Ireland winner until Dubai cracked his aces in a three-way all-in involving Conning/Moreau/Shallow. His huge chip advantage coupled with his highly aggressive nature means that Shallow already has one hand on this famous trophy.

Despite looking like he needs to take a happy pill, Shallow is a well liked and respected pro working the London scene. The former Law Student said in an interview back in 2006 that it is his goal to win a WPT event – well he will never get a better chance!

Seat 3: Charles Chattha – 835,000

Charles Chattha, or Chaz as he is known to his mates, is another of the well known London based players in the game. Chattha was on his way out of the door after running his pocket sevens into the pocket kings of Daniel Smyth yesterday, a seven on the river giving Chattha a lifeline, and since then he has played fantastic poker. Chattha has all of the moves including a nice five bet bluff when we got down to the penultimate final table yesterday and this is what makes him so difficult to play against. Chattha, Watts and Shallow all know each others games very well so expect plenty of laughs and action between the three of them.

Chattha, who has $705,013 in live tournament earnings, has never cashed in a WPT event but he has plenty of tournaments including on the British Isles and if Shallow didn’t have such a huge chip advantage Chattha would surely be one of the favourites for the title. Chattha is a member of the famous Hit Squad that includes James Akenhead, Praz Bansi, Karl Mahrenholz and his brother Sunny. Sunny and a lot of other Chattha supporters left for Dublin as soon as they heard the news so expect fireworks on the rail today.

Seat 2: Patrik Vestlin – 1,070,000

Patrik Vestlin came from absolutely nowhere to take a huge chip lead yesterday. The then chip leader Daniel Smyth handed him 800,000 chips on a silver platter and it was the main reason Vestlin made it to the final table. Vestlin qualified for WPT Ireland playing on PKR.com which is were Vestlin plies his trade. Vestlin is well known within the PKR Community for winning back-to-back PKR Masters titles which is no mean feat. The Swedish superstar is your typical Swedish superstar! Not only does he have the right blend of quality and downright loopy plays but he also has the hot girlfriend cheering him on at the rail!

Seat 1: Steve Watts – 1,345,000

Steve Watts is one of the most fun, loving and amiable poker players you will meet on the circuit. A regular in the cash and tournament games down The Vic, Watts spent most of the penultimate final table wandering around bare foot talking to the rail and sitting down reading the Irish Daily Star! In between all of that he managed to play enough quality hands to find himself in second place in the chip counts.

When asked what he does for a living, Steve Watts says, "a bit of this and a bit of that," and we believe him! The former Leyton Orient striker will be one to watch and we expect plenty of banter from him today. He even managed to get a smile out of Dave Shallow and how difficult is that!