Play in the main event started at 2:30pm, with the overnight chip leader Mick G looking set to continue dominating. Early in the day he made a gigantic pre-flop call that almost made his opponent Jude Duffy puke all over the place as he could only watch as all his chips were eventually pushed in Mick G's direction! Mick's fairytale weekend came to an end when he ran his pocket kings into the brilliantly played quads of Sean Prenderville.

Anthony Lynch, one of the "young guns" to watch out for found it difficult to make an impact on the final table having his raises constantly reraised. He was eliminated in 8th place when his two-pair came up short against Paul Quinns' flopped straight! Paul's luck took a turn for the worse when he refused to accept a deal when there were 3 players remaining and on the very next hand lost his stack to Sean Prenderville!

Sean Prenderville eventually came out on top Willie Fitzpatrick in a brief heads-up match that saw Willie take a horrible beat when Sean caught a miracle card on the river to secure the title… and the Waterford Crystal!

In the side events, Emmet Gough took down the €250 event after being the chipleader from the very beginning! Galway man, Derek Cosgrove, overcame tough local opposition to win the €100 event which at times overshadowed the Main Event final table thanks to some colorful characters who celebrated even when they lost a pot!

It's been an enjoyable few days which has seen some great poker, and some shocking poker! Needless to say, the reporting team are exhausted and their only wish is to be able to spend some quality time with the Bodog girls. If only they were still here…

If you couldn't make it to the Waterford Open you can still qualify for any live poker tournaments through Bodog's Player's Choice Qualifiers.

Poker wasn't the only thing on everyone's mind though, as a transformed Bodog Lounge now featured a Wii, allowing players to play virtual tennis throughout the day. One player even confessed that he spent more time practicing his forearm than he did playing poker… although we didn't want to delve further into this remark.

Once again the Bodog girls were in attendance and players used any excuse to try spend time with them

In the poker room, the knockouts were coming thick and fast with the previous night's short stackers desperate to move up the ranks. The first knockout of real significance was Brian 'The Fox' O'Keefe who was unlucky to find his opponent hitting one of only two cards that could win the hand for him. He wished his opponent all the best and registered for the €250 event in the hope of having better luck.

Perhaps one of the most dramatic hands witnessed by the reporters during the day was a blur of action that saw Aces take on Queens for a massive pot. "I folded Kings" said Gerry Wall, the player who managed to do what even the most experienced poker players struggle to do. Had he called, he would have been eliminated from the poker tournament, but instead he finds himself in a position to challenge for the win having already guaranteed himself €800 along with 17 others!

Going into day 3, the final day of the poker tournament, the chip leader for the Main Event is Mick G who has over 320,000 chips. Yesterday's chip leader, Simon McGechie has improved slightly on last night's count with 90,000 chips and after playing solidly all day, should still be considered a force in the tournament. Also looking good is Anthony Lynch who has been right up there from the get go. He finds himself in the ideal position to topple Mick G, sitting on 275,000 chips.

Tomorrow promises plenty of excitement. Keep checking the Beat for update and for live coverage at the Bodog Waterford Open Blog.

The cautious field came out with everyone seemingly testing one another. The first elimination took nearly two hours to come about. Local man Keith Nolan was the first to bite the dust, possibly in the hope that he could spend some time with the lovely Bodog Girls. Eventually, another 29 poker players followed him out the door by time play had ended at 3am.

A few players of note included Bodog Sponsored player, Brian O'Keefe. O'Keefe recently gave a wicked performance in the Irish Open where he placed fifth cashing for $173,509.

A mere 112 players made it to Day 2 with Simon McHechie holding a colossal chip at 78,875 with the average stack sitting at only 18,883.

For live up-to-the-minute coverage of the Bodog Waterford Open today, be sure to check out the Bodog Waterford Open live blog. The crack reporting team is following all the action with their notebooks and cameras and posting from the spacious Bodog Lounge which is located just outside the poker tournament area. Comfy couches and Bodog Girls are but some of the things which await players when they want to relax or take a break from the chaos inside.

This is just the first of several poker tournaments that Bodog will become involved with over the coming months as Bodog becomes a bigger name for poker in Europe. With a bigger presence in Europe come more opportunities for European poker players to experience the Bodog lifestyle by chilling out in the Bodog Lounge and admiring the scenery in the form of the famous Bodog Girls. Online qualifiers will be available for all of these European events, as they were for the Waterford Open, so keep an eye on Bodog's online poker qualifiers to see when the next satellites will take place.

All the live updates from the Bodog Waterford Open 2008 will be brought to you by Big Slick, so make sure to check out all of the Bodog Waterford Open live updates.