tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67652845251510128102024-03-18T02:47:53.602-07:00Poker In IrelandMICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-76144306614696191592021-05-10T08:31:00.098-07:002024-03-12T09:41:15.785-07:00Poker News - <strong><br /></strong>
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<strong> UPCOMING IRISH RANKING EVENTS </strong></h3><h2 style="text-align: left;"><strong> 2024</strong></h2><div><strong> </strong></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">IRISH POKER TOUR - FULL SCHEDULE FOR 2024 - DETAILS - <a href="https://irishpokertour.com/">https://irishpokertour.com/</a></h4><div><br /></div><div> </div><p style="text-align: left;">MARCH 25th to APRIL 1st - IRISH OPEN - RDS DUBLIN - MAIN EVENT €1,000 PLUS €150 ENTRY - €1,000,000 GUARANTED - DETAILS - <a href="https://irishpokeropen.com/">https://irishpokeropen.com/</a></p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><div style="text-align: left;"><strong> </strong></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>MONTHLY SPECIALS</strong></div>
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VENUE - DATE - BUY-IN<br />
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JP POKER, TALLAGHT - LAST WEDNESDAY - €250 + 20 ENTRY<div><br /></div><div>DUBLIN POKER CLUB AT THE BONNINGTON - FIRST THURSDAY - €225 + 25 - SINGLE RE-ENTRY<br />
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SPORTING EMPORIUM, DUBLIN - LAST THURSDAY - €270+ 30 <br />
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STAR POKER, BRAY - FIRST SUNDAY - €85 + 15 ENTRY WITH OPTIONAL €100 RELOAD ( NO. REG).<br />
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WESTBURY CLUB - FIRST TUESDAY - €150 + 15 FREEZEOUT<br />
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</div>MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-61933308331596895372016-01-05T10:01:00.000-08:002016-01-05T10:01:06.951-08:00SPOT THE DIFFERENCE<br style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;" />
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By Mick McCloskey</div>
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Due to recent events in Belfast, where local police raided another poker tournament and seized money and poker tables and chips, I have rehashed an article (below) that I wrote almost six years ago. Sadly not much has changed since then.<br /><br />The island of Ireland is a fairly small place, in global terms, with a total population smaller than that of any one of a number of large cities in the UK. I’m not going to get into the politics of the situation here but, the island is divided into two parts, the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Northern Ireland (NI). As I write a blog about poker, that’s what we are going to look at in a bit more detail.<br /><br />ROI has a long history of running poker tournaments with the Irish Open dating back to 1981. Even in those early days, the tournament could attract a decent amount of visiting players from the UK and even from the USA. Fast forward to the early part of this century and the growth in poker meant that player numbers had started to outgrow the traditional tournament venues. Hence the tournaments started to be moved into large hotel function rooms, with travelling players staying in the same hotels. The ambiance and atmosphere thus created meant that the tournament experience was combined with a great social experience as well, pretty much unlike anywhere else outside of the old WSOP experience at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas. In both places, you had most of the players staying, playing, eating and drinking in the same venue over a number of days and it was a great way of meeting and getting to know fellow poker players.</div>
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The word of this type of experience filtered down to some of the smaller tournaments and the organizers of events in Ireland, that were able to offer good value, well structured tournaments began attracting more and more overseas players. In the last year I would estimate that the number of visitors, mostly from continental Europe, could be numbered in thousands rather than hundreds. One event alone, normally attracts well over 2,000 high spending Norwegians to Dublin for up to 10 days every year. All these visitors have helped to create and maintain a vibrant poker industry in ROI, directly creating jobs for dealers and floor people. All these visitors need to get here so the airline industry, as well as other transport providers, feel the benefits. These visitors also need hotel rooms as well as food, drink and entertainment while they are here. All this has benefits for the Irish tourism industry as well as the economy in general. And it is not just the benefit of overseas visitors. Many people from other parts of Ireland and NI tend to stay in the same hotels for the duration of the tournament, normally a stay of 3 to 4 nights. The craic at these events is usually top class.<br /><br />In NI such large tournaments are outlawed. Even people trying to organize something smaller, on a local basis, are liable to be, and have been, raided and shut down by heavily armed police. Enough said.</div>
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MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-52542669493717537602014-03-03T09:22:00.001-08:002014-03-03T09:25:22.805-08:00Poker Players of Ireland<br />
Interesting picture and sound montage courtesy of Mark Smyth.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/I7gyvhRA0Dc" width="480"></iframe>MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-27932211049621766582013-07-12T09:28:00.000-07:002013-07-12T09:28:32.282-07:00GALWAY RACES<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Mid Summer in Galway has for many years been synonymous with the week long Horse racing festival at the famous Ballybrit course just north of Galway City. The week has also been well known for the poker action breaking out in various hotels around town every night.</div>
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Local Poker Player and Poker promoter, Fintan Gavin, has this year decided to bring a bit more organisation to the whole thing by teaming up with online poker site Full Tilt to run 24 hour cash games and a total of 60 tournaments starting on 27th July, for two weeks. The festival will include not just poker but Pool, 25's, Bridge and Open Face Chinese. As they figured there was nowhere in town big enough to host all this action, they decided to build their own tented village for the duration! The location, I believe, is near the harbour, close to the City centre.</div>
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The Poker Festival kicks off on Saturday 27th with The Galway Cup, a €135 + 15 NLH tournament with an estimated prize pool of €100,000.</div>
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The Festival also includes a UK versus Ireland heads up competition with a very strong looking Irish team. This event is scheduled to be streamed live. Look out for links on the official website (see below)</div>
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The Festival also includes the Irish Poker Championship with a buy in of €2,300 + 200.</div>
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The poker action culminates with the UK and Ireland Poker Tour main event with a guaranteed €1 million prize pool. Players can qualify online at both Full Tilt and Poker Stars.</div>
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A full schedule of events can be found here: <a href="http://www.fulltiltpokergalway.com/">http://www.fulltiltpokergalway.com/</a></div>
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For a bit of background, check out Fintan's own blogs here: <a href="http://fintangavin.tumblr.com/">http://fintangavin.tumblr.com/</a></div>
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Galway has always been a fun place during Race week and this combination of Racing and Poker, along with the other events looks absolutely awesome! I can't wait.</div>
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MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-45435062588434733942013-05-12T07:32:00.000-07:002013-05-12T07:32:55.622-07:00€1 MILLION GUARANTEE FOR UKIPT GALWAY<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;"> Full Tilt Poker is bringing Ireland’s biggest ever series of poker events to the West with the inaugural Full Tilt Poker Galway Festival.<span style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 18px;"></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">The Festival will take place from July 29 – August 12 with the highlight being the five-day €1,000,000 guaranteed UKIPT Main Event, running from August 8 - 12. All the action on and off the felt will take place at the custom-built Full Tilt Poker Village right in the heart of Galway city.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">Full Tilt Poker will host a wide range of events throughout the two-week long festival; adding even more excitement to a city already buzzing with people participating in Galway Raceweek, which runs from July 29 – August 4.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">The Main Event is just one of over 55 tournaments and events taking place, including the Irish Poker Championship, the UK v Ireland Heads Up Challenge and, for the first time ever, the Irish Bridge Masters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">As well as the chance to compete for a wide variety of prizes and major tournament titles, Full Tilt Poker qualifiers will also benefit from exclusive promotions such as the</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 18px;">Last Longer, </i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">which will see the last qualifier standing win a prize package for every remaining main event in the UKIPT season</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 18px;">.</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">On top of this, qualifiers will receive bundles of extras such as an invite to Full Tilt Poker parties, drinks vouchers, custom avatars to use online, the Full Tilt Poker player bag brimming with merchandise, and lots more.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">Prizes<b style="line-height: 18px;"> </b>will be awarded to any player that wears a Full Tilt Poker patch and knocks out the most number of opponents, finishes on the bubble or is the first to get knocked out. In addition to this, there will also be a Players’ Lounge, free Wi-Fi, and enhanced concierge service for all.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">Gus Hansen of The Professionals – Full Tilt Poker’s premier players – will be competing in the UKIPT Main Event; as will the Full Tilt Poker Ambassadors, a team chosen to represent the tour and interact with players on and off the felt. A bounty will be on the head of each Ambassador, with prizes up for grabs for any player who knocks them out while wearing a Full Tilt Poker patch.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">Full Tilt Poker players can win prize packages and seats to the UKIPT Main Event online from as little as $1.10. </span><span lang="EN-IE" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14px;">Satellites kick off today from 10.25 ET with the first qualifier beginning at 15.30 ET.</span></div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-35963892214154561672013-03-13T15:11:00.000-07:002013-03-13T15:11:13.025-07:00NEW VIDEO CLIP RELEASED<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-82287665573503237992013-02-27T09:48:00.000-08:002013-02-27T09:48:55.223-08:00ROOM 114 AND 2 FAT LADIES<br />
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This article was first published in March 2005<o:p></o:p></div>
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Is poker success down to skill or luck or fate? Or is it a
combination of all of these?<o:p></o:p><br />
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I have had a few experiences that would seem to suggest that
fate may play a part. One of these relates to a trip I made to Barcelona in
September 2003 for the Barcelona Open tournament, the predecessor of what would
become the 1<sup>st</sup> leg of the European Poker Tour the following year.<o:p></o:p><br />
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When I arrived at my hotel I was allocated room 13 on one of
the floors. (I can’t remember which.) I really didn’t think anything much of it
and carried on with business. Over the next 2 or 3 days I played in various
tournaments and satellite games and some cash games. Whatever I played in, I
couldn’t seem to do anything right. I couldn’t win a flip to save my life. Even
if I had AK against an Ace with a smaller kicker I still couldn’t win!<o:p></o:p><br />
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After about three days of this torture, I decided that my
room number may be the root of the problem. So, I rang down to reception to ask
if I could move to a different room. The guy at reception seemed very concerned
and asked if there was something wrong with the room. "No" I said, but explained
to him that I was playing Poker and that the room number seemed to be unlucky
for me. “Aaahhh” says he, knowingly, “I understand”<o:p></o:p><br />
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A room change was arranged immediately – a triumph for
international customer services in Spain.<o:p></o:p><br />
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So, anyway, I entered the main event the next day and
proceeded to get a very nice payday with an equal three way chop in the
tournament<o:p></o:p><br />
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My new room number was 114. Number of players in the main
event? 114. Scary or what? <o:p></o:p><br />
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Looking back at the results, I noted that the buy in for
this event was €1,000 with a €50 Reg. fee on top. For this we were treated to a
three course meal, with wine, in the casino restaurant. How times have changed!</div>
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Another similar experience happened in Slovenia about eight
months later. The difference here was that I was running pretty good. I made a
final table in one of the side events and won my seat for the main event in a
satellite.<o:p></o:p><br />
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The main event was a two day affair and I was chip leader
when we got down to the final table of nine at the end of Day 1. After the
chips were counted, the seating draw for the final table took place. The way
they did this in Slovenia was that that the lowest stack got to draw the first
seat and so on down the line. So, when it got to me, there was only one seat
left. Table 8, Seat 8. Now, this sounded quite good to me as I had recently
read somewhere that under some Chinese birth chart, my lucky number was
supposed to be 8.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the final the next day, I never lost the chip lead and
when play eventually got heads up, I had about a 3 – 2 chip lead.<o:p></o:p><br />
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After a bit of heads up play, I picked up a pocket pair on
the button. I made a standard raise only for my opponent to move all in. I made
the call and he turned over AQ or AJ. <o:p></o:p><br />
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When the dust had settled, he did not improve and my pair
held up to win me the tournament.<o:p></o:p><br />
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My pocket pair? 8-8!<o:p></o:p><br />
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Strange but true.</div>
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MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-9133990981936179502013-01-24T08:33:00.000-08:002013-01-24T08:33:07.164-08:00REVIEW<br />
Since I no longer write for any magazines, I thought I might use this blog to have a look at some of my older articles which, I hope, are still interesting or relevant, especially to newer readers. So, let's start with a New Year review from January 2006. Have seven years really passed since then?<br />
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Poker for all. New Year - 2006<br />
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Another year has slipped by and, for some people, it’s the time to reflect on what has happened in the previous twelve months and to make plans, and perhaps resolutions, for the coming year.<br />
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My own reflections on the past year include my meeting a guy in Las Vegas a few days before the start of the main event of the World Series of Poker. His name was William ( Billy ) Rockwell. I had entered a small no limit tournament in Binion’s (Horseshoe) Casino and had taken my seat for the start of the event when Billy turned up to take the seat beside me. The first thing to grab my attention was that Billy had only one, apparently lifeless, arm. This observation was borne out when his girlfriend proceeded to remove Billy’s right shoe and sock. He planned to play cards using his toes!<br />
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As the game started, it was obvious that Billy had done this many times before. He had a large coin or medallion which he placed on his hole cards, for protection. He also had a little wooden wedge which he placed up against the edge of the table. He was then able to push his cards, one at a time with his toes, up the wedge so that he could peek at the corner of the card, without exposing them to the other players. He was able to do all this while remaining seated in his chair. He was also able to separate and push his chips into the pot using only his toes.<br />
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We got talking and he told me that he had almost died in a motorcycle accident when he was a teenager. The result of the accident was the loss of one arm and total disability in the other one. He was wearing a branded shirt and cap and, it turned out, that he had obtained sponsorship, from an internet poker site, to play in the WSOP main event. A shrewd move by the sponsor as Billy was almost guaranteed media coverage whether he did any good in the tournament or not. This was borne out when I was reminded of our meeting when I was watching the television coverage of the WSOP recently. There was Billy getting his 15 minutes of fame on network TV. He had managed to make it through the first day before getting knocked out on day 2. Not a bad achievement considering the huge field he had to survive.<br />
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It was a real achievement in the first place that he could overcome his physical disability to play the game at all. I have seen other Billys, mostly in the USA, who have overcome enormous physical odds to sit, or in some cases, lie down at a poker table to play and compete in the game we love.<br />
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So the next time you are tempted to whinge about a bad beat, or have to listen to one, just think about Billy and others like him. It might put the whole thing into perspective. And just remember that Billy, I’m sure, has taken his share of bad beats. His consolation is probably the fact that he is in a position to be there at all, to take them.</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-3577546624253079022012-12-30T07:40:00.001-08:002012-12-30T07:42:55.541-08:00NEW YEAR - NEW LOOK <br />
No, not me but, my website. Although I was thinking of buying a couple of new shirts in the sales.<br />
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A little while back the nice people at Irish Eyes Poker offered to set me up with a new website to coincide with the launch of their own new poker platform. The idea behind their new site is basically that you can play on half a dozen different poker sites, with more to be added, using the same central cashier to move money around between the different sites. Instead of earning player points on different sites, player rewards are all centralised on Irish Eyes. The site can also be used for live and online casino play and sports betting, with Irish Snooker legend Ken Doherty to provide betting tips. It also includes something called Binary Options which allows you to bet on currency movements and stuff like that.<br />
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My website will continue to keep you informed of all the major poker events scheduled to happen in Ireland with a new feature where you can click on links to take you straight to the organisers website or to the right page on IPB, for more comprehensive details of the event. I hope it continues to be a useful tool for players planning to play poker tournaments in Ireland.<br />
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On a sadder note, an old friend of mine, Mick Hamilton, passed away just before Christmas. Mick was born in London and went on to live a very interesting life, much of it on the outer edges of normal society. One thing for sure, he had plenty of interesting stories to tell. He spent a good few years playing high stakes cash games in London before the big Hold'em boom. In his day the big game was Pot Limit 7 Card Stud. In later years, Mick and I travelled to various places around Europe and he also loved coming to Ireland to play some of the Poker Festivals here, where he met many of the Irish players and organisers. May he rest in peace.<br />
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Mick and me in happier times in Tramore, Co. Waterford. Pic by Paul Smallwood.<br />
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Finally, may I wish everyone a happy and prosperous Poker New Year.MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-32811753581378511812012-11-07T07:47:00.000-08:002012-12-18T13:22:07.026-08:00The CraicBy Mick McCloskey<br />
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One of the things that I think make Irish poker tournaments special and unique is the social aspect. Most of the major festivals are held over three or four days in nice hotels around the country. It gives the players a chance to relax and meet up with old friends and to meet new ones in surrounding and in an atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable. The majority of festivals seem to fall into this category but one recent event, for me, fell a little short. The contrast between two particular events was pretty easy to measure and the solution very simple. The two tournaments were held two weeks apart, had the same level of buy in, same sort of numbers, were both held in the same Dublin hotel, The Ballsbridge Inn, but there the similarity ended when it came to the social aspect.<br />
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The first event was the Poker Stars UKIPT (718 runners) and the large bar area immediately outside the poker room did not have a single table or chair for people to sit and relax and enjoy a drink. Consequently, the room was mostly deserted over the weekend apart from people passing through or buying something from the bar.<br />
Two weeks later at the Winamax short handed championship (656 runners), same hotel, same room and the place was buzzing with a great atmosphere. The difference? Plenty of tables and chairs around the room for people to use.<br />
So, come on Poker Stars, some tables and chairs in the bar next time please. It’s not rocket science.<br />
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IRISH 100’s<br />
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This event was an ambitious attempt to create a €50,000 prize pool from a €100 entry tournament. With 457 entries and re-entries over a number of starting days the organisers fell a little short of the 50K guarantee but paid out the advertised amount anyway. The winner, Mustafa Gultekin walked off with €11,000 with Declan O’Connor and Robert Shanley picking up €6,800 each.<br />
The €400 + 40 Irish Omaha Championship was held as part of this festival but only managed to attract 23 entries. The winner, for €4,600, was Colm Faulkner.<br />
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EUROPEAN SHORT HANDED CHAMPIONSHIP<br />
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This festival, sponsored by Winamax, attracted 656 runners for the €500 entry 6 handed main event. The winner was England’s Steven King who took home €63,000 for his efforts. Second spot and €54,300 went to Belgium’s Michael Gathy with third spot and €34,190 going to Portugal’s Paulo Ferreira.<br />
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BETFAIR POKER LIVE<br />
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Held over the same weekend and just up the road at Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Club, this was a bounty tournament with a $600 + 50 buy in with $100 from each entry going as a bounty prize. The event was shortened to two days as there were only 73 entries. However, the structure over the two days was as player friendly as you could ever want to experience. If a certain beer company did tournament structures, this would be it.<br />
The winner, for $12,827 was Janos Jeszek with Adam Treanor taking $7,653 for second place and Darius Dirkus picking up $5,093 for third spot.<br />
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LADBROKES IRISH POKER FESTIVAL<br />
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Held as usual in the Gleneagles Hotel, Killarney, this is always a fun weekend with plenty of entertainment laid on. This year had a slightly smaller field for the €500 main event at 569 but still exceeded the €250,000 guarantee.<br />
The final result was anything but usual with at least three great performances deserving a mention. Firstly, the defending champion, Lars Torngren, put up a great defence of his title before exiting in 18th place when he had his pocket Aces cracked. <br />
Second, Ladbrokes pro, Jon Kalmar, managed back to back main event final tables finishing in third place this year after finishing in forth spot in 2010.<br />
Finally, the winner was Niall Smyth, this year’s Irish Open Champion, adding another great title to his poker CV.<br />
The final three players actually did a three way deal taking €45,000 each and playing for an extra €10,000 and the title. The other player in the mix was Eamon Doran who finished second.<br />
There was some talk over the weekend that the festival may be moving to a new venue next year. However, a spokesman for the Gleneagles Hotel Group told me “We are very optimistic that the event will go ahead in 2012. Discussions are ongoing and an announcement will follow soon.”<br />
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BOYLEPOKER IPO<br />
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This is another one of those Irish fun poker weekends and this year’s event lived up to it’s advance billing with an increase in numbers bringing an international mix of 1,388 players to Dublin to play in the €225 main event. The starting stack was increased to 15,000 this year and with an improved structure another new twist was added to the mix. Rather than play the final table into the small hours of the morning, a WSOP main event type scenario was introduced with the last eight players meeting again on 26th November to complete the tournament, playing for a top prize of over €50,000. The venue is Ken Doherty’s Snooker and Poker Club at Terenure Cross, Dublin and a live stream will be broadcast on the day through the Boylepoker site. Friends and relatives of the “November 8” will be able to catch the action in Brady’s Pub, next door to the venue. More on the final in my next column.<br />
Story of the tournament so far has to be the Lazarus type recovery of Irish poker veteran, Scott Gray. Scott was involved in a Boylepoker promotion which paid the top 20 players involved in the promotion an extra €1,000 on top of any prize money. Apparently, Scott was so intent on getting the extra bonus that he almost anted himself out of the tournament. After paying his ante he was forced to blind off his last 1,000 chip when the big blind was 5,000. He managed to win that pot and, at one stage ran his stack up to around 500,000 before he was eliminated in 21st place. He got the bonus by the way.<br />
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UPCOMING<br />
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The Firzwilliam Festival is scheduled to run at the Dublin club from 23rd to 29th November with a series of events culminating in the €800 main event which includes a €60 bounty and €40 for reg. This has got to be the cheapest registration fee for any event, anywhere, considering that players usually get treated to a hot meal as part of the deal. If you know different, let me know. Full details can be found at www.fitzwilliamcardclub.com<br />
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If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.comMICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-90396660689795479762012-11-04T07:49:00.000-08:002012-12-18T07:56:17.663-08:00UKIPTBy Mick McCloskey<br />
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In the last stop of Season 2 of the Poker Stars UK and Ireland Poker Tour, before the Grand Final at EPT London, an impressive 718 runners stumped up €560 each to create a prize pool of €348,230 which was paid out to 90 of the original line-up. Taking the lion’s share, and his second UKIPT title, was Dutchman Joeri Zandvliet who takes home €83,500 for his efforts. Joeri won his first UKIPT title in Manchester last year. The runner up was American Chuck Fabian who had to settle for €49,600. Third spot and €30,700 went to Hungary’s Robert Csire, who resides in Ireland. Forth place went to the defending Dublin UKIPT Champion, Max Silver who didn’t give up his title without a fight. Best of the Irish were Jason Tompkins and Noel O’Brien who finished in 5th and 6th spots respectively. Jason, coming off a good win in the recent Waterford Open, started the final table as chip leader but couldn’t maintain his momentum and had to settle for €17,600.<br />
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A bit of a talking point among some of the players over the weekend was the minimum payout at this event, which was €650 compared to most of the other UKIPT legs which paid a minimum of £/€750. As it was day 2 of the tournament before any players were paid, a €90 profit didn’t go a long way to cover the players travel and hotel expenses. In fact I would suggest that many of the players who cashed in the lower spots actually lost money on the deal. Considering that the Dublin leg attracts players from Europe as well as the UK, a little better reward for actually cashing may have been in order.<br />
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IRISH CLASSIC<br />
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This annual festival, run by the Macau Club in Cork, is one of Ireland’s longest running poker events but, because of the times we live in, and probably because of the packed poker calendar, it has seen a steady decline in numbers over the last couple of years. Consequently, a decision was made this year to reduce the buy in from €1,100 to €550 for the main event. This helped the numbers but the event has become just one of a number of €500 tournaments that players have to choose from. I noticed that none of the guys who used to travel over from the UK for this event turned up this year. Despite this, it’s good to see that the legendary Macau Club hospitality remains in place with the club still laying on the best poker buffet in Ireland. Talking about legendary, possible future legend, November Niner Eoghan O’Dea turned up to play in Cork over the weekend, courtesy of tournament sponsors Betfair. He was telling me that he was in the process of signing a sponsorship deal with Paddy Power Poker.<br />
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156 players entered this year and the tournament ended in a three way deal with the title and €19,000 going to Paul Curran. David Croke and Tony Collins took home €15,000 each for second and third spots.<br />
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A special mention must go to Alex Lopez who took down the €300 PLO event as well as a €270 NLH side event during the week. I hadn’t come across this young player in Ireland before but having played with him in Cork, I think he may be one to watch out for in the future.<br />
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UNIBET OPEN<br />
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This is yet another one of these Europe wide tours making its first stop in Dublin this year. The event was held in Dublin’s City West Hotel and had 260 players anteing up €1,650 each. I didn’t manage to make it to this event but, by all accounts, it all went pretty smoothly with the help of some of our experienced local tournament organisers. The majority of the players travelled from Europe and Scandinavia, with a smaller than expected number of Irish and UK based players and this was reflected in the final table which had no Irish representation. The winner was England’s Paul Nunes who picked up a juicy €105,300 for his efforts. Second place and €66,300 went to Denmark’s Emil Pederson with Dutchman Pim van Riet taking home €39,000 for third spot.<br />
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One complaint I did hear about this event was that for a €150 reg. fee the players did not receive a player buffet or even a food discount voucher which could be used in the hotel. Bit mean I thought. Maybe Unibet thought that spending the money on a live internet feed would be more satisfying for the players. Another issue I heard about was that 5% of the prize pool was withheld for a leader board promotion effectively making a 15% registration for each player. I know that this extra 5% deduction actually effected some players’ decisions about whether or not they played the event.<br />
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UPCOMING<br />
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IPO<br />
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The Boylepoker International Poker Open comes again to the Regency Hotel, Dublin from 21st to 23rd October with a mission to set another new record for numbers playing a poker tournament. Last year 1,293 players turned up with the winner taking home over €50,000 for an outlay of €180 + 20, and the organisers are hoping to improve on that figure this year. The starting stack and the structure have both been improved this year and the buy in has been increased to €200 + 25. Another innovation for this year is a November 9 type scenario with the final table scheduled to be played out on 26th November at a yet to be announced location.<br />
With a mixture of well known poker pros, celebs and players from all over Europe in attendance, this is, for me, one of the most fun weekends of the year. Only online entries are being accepted so if you want to be part of a possible record breaking event, sign up at Boylepoker.com now.<br />
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IRISH WINTER FESTIVAL<br />
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The Paddy Power sponsored IWF is scheduled to take place in the Burlington Hotel in Dublin from 28th to 30th October, starting with a €100 + 10 (rebuy) super satellite for the €1,100 main event on the Friday evening. The three day main event starts on the Saturday afternoon. A full schedule of side events is planned for the weekend including the Blind Mans Bluff World Championship and the Irish Mythical Championship.<br />
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MINI WSOP<br />
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The start of November (3-6) sees the return of J.P. McCann’s Mini WSOP which just happens to coincide with the final table of the real thing over in Las Vegas. The event on this side of the pond is a much more affordable affair with the three day main event costing a modest €360. It takes place in the Maldron Hotel, Tallaght, Dublin and offers a full schedule of side events including short handed and heads up events and a 8 game mix event. JP intends to have a live feed from Vegas in the hotel over the weekend so that we can all keeps tabs on how Irish contender Eoghan O’Dea is getting on. We will all be rooting for you Eoghan. Take it down.<br />
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If you have any news, views or events you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com<br />
You can also check out my website www.pokerinireland.net for archive articles, Irish poker news and links to Irish poker sites.MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-16724061766679404962012-10-19T06:38:00.000-07:002012-12-19T06:49:12.621-08:00Blogs from the Past<strong><u>Tales from Europe - 2005</u></strong><br />
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Here's a little competition for you, and there is an Irish connection to at least one of the tales.<br />
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WHO were the poker players who got arrested on the way home from a poker tournament in Russia? Apparently there are certain rules and regulations relating to bringing currency in and out of Russia. As I understand it, you are supposed to declare to Customs on entering the country the amount of money you are carrying and you are only allowed to take a small amount of winnings out of the country in cash.<br />
Now a couple of the guys had done all right in the game and were carrying a large wad of US Dollars. After they had checked their bags in at the airport, they were challenged by a number of Russian officials about the cash. They were given a choice. Either spend a couple of days in jail before going on trial, and maybe face a prison sentence, or pay a “fine” on the spot and carry on home. The fine demanded was $10,000 per head but the guys managed to negotiate a discount before they paid up and went on their way. True story, so if you are going to play poker in Russia, you have been warned.<br />
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WHO were the two two poker players who set off on their journey to play in the Amsterdam Classics and found that they were a day late for their flight? Luckily there were some spare seats on the flight so, after paying another airfare, they were on their way. However, their troubles were not over. When they arrived at the hotel they had booked they had already been charged for the previous night and the room had been re-let. No other rooms were available so they had to search for another hotel which could accommodate them. Needless to say, neither of the two figured in any of the poker tournament results. At least the intrepid travellers managed to catch the right flight home.<br />
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WHO was the poker player who got locked in the shower for two hours in his hotel room in Amsterdam? The guy went to take a shower and closed the cubicle door which had a small latch or catch. When he had finished his shower, he could not get the shower door open. After about two hours of shouting and trying to force the door, both in vain, the latch finally opened after, apparently having dried out. The very cold and hoarse player had some choice words with the hotel management but we at Poker Europa are not privy to the outcome of his demands for compensation.<br />
If you can name all the players involved, you could win a small prize. However, only entries submitted to Poker Europa on the back of a 20 £ / € / $ note will be considered.<br />
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<u><strong>Mr.Nosey</strong></u><br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br />
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The following story happened in the U.K. but it could have been anywhere.<br />
Mr. Nosey, hereafter referred to as Mr. N, turned up at the poker room to play in a big poker tournament. Having registered, he found his table and sat down. As the tournament got underway, the table filled up apart, from the one seat to the immediate right of Mr. N. As the tournament progressed, Mr. N found nothing but unplayable hands. His own cards that is. However, living up to his name, after mucking his own cards, he would have a peek at the cards in the empty seat before mucking them. After almost every pot, Mr. N would announce that the missing player would have won the hand with big pocket pairs, AK suited, AQ suited, whatever it took. The missing player would have been on a major rush if only he had turned up to play his cards. This went on for about half an hour or so until the missing player eventually turned up. He looks around the table, looks at his seat card, looks around the table again, taps Mr. N on the shoulder and announces “Excuse me, I think you are sitting in my seat.” DOH!!!! The moral to the story is to always check you are in the right seat and, just in case you are not, never look at a missing player’s hole cards.</div>
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<strong><u>Mile High Club</u></strong><br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br />
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A Dublin couple, identified only as Eamonn and Willow, have developed their own version of the mile high club-the mile high poker club. On a flight from Dublin to Malta for their honeymoon, the newly weds passed the time with a game of Texas Hold ‘em, as you do. The fact that they had left their own deck of cards in the hold luggage, and that the flight crew could not supply a deck, did not deter them in the least. The pair were not going to be beaten by such a small technicality. With the aid of a couple of pens and pieces of paper, the couple set about inventing their own version of the game. It works something like this. One person writes down their two hole cards while the other writes down the flop, turn and river. Whoever hits the most hands wins. What they used for chips or what the eventual prize for the winner turned out to be, only the happy couple know.<br />
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<strong><u>Skinny dipping and mistaken idenity at WSOP 2005</u></strong><br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br />
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WSOP 2005<br />
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This column could be subtitled “The Irish in Las Vegas” as there were plenty of great performances and stories to come out of the WSOP this year. Pride of place goes, of course, to Andy Black who took home $1.75 million for 5th place in the main event. Andy also picked up an early $25K for 10th spot in Event No.6, the £2,500 NLH freezeout and a further $8,490 in the $5,000 NLH event. A man on form, or what!<br />
Another great performance came from Conor Tate, originally from Lurgan in N.Ireland, who placed 12th in the main event for a payday of $600,000. Conor qualified online and this seems to be the first time he has cashed in any ranking tournament anywhere. What a great way to start.<br />
Eamon Grimes, from Donaghmore in Co. Tyrone, will long remember his trip to the WSOP. Another internet qualifier, Eamon cashed for $24,365 in the big one. Having only ever played live at his local pub, Eamon found himself playing at the featured television table with some of the stars of poker, including “The Professor” Howard Lederer. Eamon remained unfazed by all the attention and managed to move up from being the short stack on the bubble to take 267th spot.<br />
Other Irish who cashed out in the main event were Stephen Dunphy, Michael O’Sullivan and Anthony Fagan.<br />
Another big result came from Martin Green who cashed twice in the WSOP. He took 4th place, from a field of 1,071, in the $1,500 buy-in NLH for $88,680 and picked up a further $10,085 for 18th in the $2,500 buy-in NLH event. Others to cash out included Patrick O’Connor from Dublin and Zeik Tuit from Cork. Oh, and I nearly forgot, yours truly came 3rd out of the 245 media people and celebrities who took part in the WSOP Charity Tournament.<br />
Congratulations to all the Irish players who cashed at the WSOP and, if I have missed anyone, please let me know. <br />
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SKINNY DIPPING<br />
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Away from the green baize Las Vegas has plenty to occupy idle hands, or other parts of the body for that matter. One of the attractions to tempt the Irish contingent was a 4th July house party and barbeque hosted by Jesse May. Jesse, along with his wife Micki and the crew from The Poker Show, had rented an up-market property on the outskirts of Las Vegas, for the duration of the WSOP. A shuttle bus was laid on from the Rio casino to the house and most of the Irish in town, along with a few other nationalities, managed to arrive for the free booze and the USA size T-Bone steaks. Despite the fact that Roy “The Boy” Brindley was left in charge of the barbeque, the food turned out to be pretty good. I think that Jesse may have had an ulterior motive for the party as the cameras were running and the microphones were live for most of the night. Nobody seemed to mind however and the food and drink probably tempered any stage or camera fright there might have been. As the fireworks flashed and exploded in the night sky, the alcohol intake seemed to reduce some other inhibitions among the assembled guests. It could have been the heat of the desert air or the attraction of the cool blue water in the pool, but some of the guys decided that a swim was on the agenda and the lack of bathing trunks was not going to be a problem. Whether the cameras caught the ensuing action or not, I really don’t know. Only time will tell. It’s amazing some of the footage that turns up on the internet or on video clip tv shows these days.<br />
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MISTAKEN IDENTITY<br />
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On the subject of parties, the ever elegant Hendon mobster, Joe Beevers held a small champagne reception in a suite in The Golden Nugget a few days before his marriage to Claire. Family, friends and some stragglers still in town at the end of the WSOP were invited. As the night wore on, some of the guests moved from the suite to one of the bars downstairs in the casino. This move took place partly because there was no smoking allowed in the suite. Anyhow, Padraig Parkinson’s beautiful French partner, Veronique, was at the bar chatting to some friends when Padraig arrived down from the party. Padraig spotted a young lady with long dark hair sitting at the bar beside a couple of blonde girls, who had also been at the party, so he walked up to the bar and grabbed her from behind. Now I don’t know if it was the effect of the champagne or if Padraig’s eyesight is getting worse, but the young lady that he grabbed was a complete stranger! A very embarrased Padraig only managed to avoid getting thrown out of the casino by finding Veronique and explaining to the young lady how the two girls looked similar from behind, despite the fact that they were dressed completely differently. You’re going to have to pay more attention to what Veronique is wearing in future Padraig. Either that or an eye test!<br />
Best wishes to Joe and Claire for the future.<br />
Another poker wedding took place in Vegas during the WSOP. Best wishes to renowned tournament director Thomas Kremser and dealer Marina for their future.<br />
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<strong><u>Alan Betson left speechless</u></strong><br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br />
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Anyone who knows Alan will consider the above headline to be extremely unlikely. Alan is well known for his quick wit and the ability to come up with the perfect quip or put down for any situation. However, I’m told that he may have met his match, in the form of a Dublin taxi driver, recently. Alan was on his way to a tournament in Europe and was running a little late for his flight from Dublin airport. When his cab turned up to take him to the airport, Alan recognised the driver as a well known part time debt collector and enforcer for a local bookmaker. Now, if this guy turned up at your door, you would be more than happy to pay off your debts immediately and maybe less than happy if you did not. The man had arms on him like tree trunks with some very nice tattoos to match. So Alan requests an extra quick drive to the airport, so he could catch his flight. However , the driver happens to be in a very talkative mood that day and proceeds to regale Alan with tales of his latest debt collection exploits and what he did to who and what he intended to do to his next “client “who refused to pay up. The more this guy talked, the slower the progress of the cab towards the airport. The upshot was that Alan missed his flight and had to pay quite a bit extra to get onto the next available flight. Despite this setback, he thought discretion might be the better part of valour and he managed to keep his lip buttoned, and his thoughts to himself, as he meekly paid his cab fare. I would imagine that he even managed to reward the driver with a nice tip for his services!!</div>
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<strong><u>Hand of the Month</u></strong><br />
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by Mick McCloskey<br />
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A certain American poker pro. used to write a “Hand of the month” column in a U.S. magazine, usually extolling the virtues of his play in a certain situation, or explaining his latest bad beat story. Here is my take on the same subject, which could be subtitled, “ The luck of the desperate” (or the luck of the stupid). I was playing in a no limit hold’em tournament in Belfast’s Cavendish Club. The buy-in was £100 with one rebuy allowed. We were down to the final four players and were all in the money, but no deals had been made.<br />
Consequently, everyone was playing pretty tight and solid. I was the short stack and the other three were pretty much even in chips. The blinds were 3k-6k and I was first to act. As my previous dozen or so raises (with premium hands I might add) had all been uncontested, I decided to try to steal the blinds, so I moved all in for 26k with the computer hand, Q7 offsuit. My timing could not have been worse. Dominic, on the button called immediately, with AQ. Even worse, Richard, on the small blind, raised all in for an extra 35k, with pocket 9’s. Now Darren, on the big blind, looks at his cards and he also finds a big hand, pocket J’s. O woe is me. What are the odds against me winning this pot. I seem to be drawing pretty much dead. Darren does the sensible thing and folds the best hand. Dominic calls the extra 35k and we see the flop. It comes Q x x. The turn is another blank and Richard and me are about ready to go collect our winnings when, lo and behold, a miracle 7 comes on the river! From the out house to the penthouse, I now find myself chip leader. Talk about doing the wrong thing at the right time! What a stupid game! But I suppose that’s what keeps us coming back for more. No matter how bad things look, there’s always hope.<br />
We played a few more hands, without much chip movement, before I decided, (being the generous guy that I am), to give the lads a three way split. Well, it seemed only fair after the great escape!<br />
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<strong><u>This and That</u></strong><br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br />
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Two lucky lads from Belfast recently won trips to Paris, courtesy of Ladbrokes Poker, to play in The European Hall of Fame Tournament. This is an invitation only event held during the Euro Finals of Poker in the prestigious Aviation Club de France, situated in the heart of Paris on the famous Champs Elysees.The $10,000 event gives internet qualifiers the chance to meet and play live against hall of famers in the grand surrounds of the ACF.Although not all the advertised players made it to Paris the two tables sat down to pit their poker skills against former World Heads Up Champion, Bruno Fitoussi,Hall of Fame founder, Bruce “Elvis Senior” Atkinson and Dave “Devilfish”Ulliot. For a $22 investment, Martin McCabe took home 3,415 euro and, for an outlay of $10 Desi Graham pocketed 1,700 euro. The two will, no doubt, also take away some nice memories of their experience. I’m not sure, but I would be surprised if they didn’t get a song or two, and maybe a duet, from Elvis and the Devilfish. Surprise, surprise, Devilfish ended up winning the tournament. No problem for Dave then, playing internet players.<br />
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A word of caution for anyone playing E.P.T.and perhaps some other events. The new Tournament Directors rulebook brings in a couple of rules which could trip some players up. On tables with action lines drawn on them, any chips that cross that line have to remain in the pot. So, if a player lifts a stack of chips to call a bet, puts them across the line and drops off the required chips to call, this action is ruled to be a raise for the whole stack, unless he has verbally announced a call before the chips crossed the line. Quite a few players were caught out by this strictly enforced rule in Deauville and Vienna recently. There is, therefore, no such thing as a string bet once chips cross that line.So, beware, you have been warned. Some of the more astute angle shooters have already misused this rule by pretending to be caught out by the rule, when they are in fact holding a monster hand. This is something which I think, the organisers need to look at. Also beware making any hand or finger movements when it is your turn to act. Such movements may be ruled to be a check.<br />
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The Belfast player, formerly known as “Madmax”but who now wishes to be known as “Sanemax”recently had an unfortunate experience online. He was playing cash NLH on Betfair when he picked up AQ hearts on the big blind. Everyone folded except the small blind. The flop comes K,J,10,all hearts! Small blind checks,Max checks. Then the unthinkable happens. The software freezes and the hand is folded.Max immediately contacted Betfair,who to their credit, paid out the Royal Flush bonus of £300.Whether he would have got any action from the other player we will never know. As for the new name? Frankly I am not convinced there has been any change!<br />
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<strong><u>Winner, Winner.</u></strong><br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br /><br />There must have been something in the air in December, or in cyberair at any rate. It so happened that two columnists specialising in Irish poker cashed out two very nice five figure sums on the net. Both wins were in large field multi table tournaments. One of the very happy hacks is yours truly. The other, who writes for some other magazine, is Roy “The Boy” Brindley. As I write, Roy is just back from a holiday in Florida and I am about to head stateside in a couple of days time. O the dull life of the poker writer. Talking about poker writers, maybe you should know that the managing editor is currently in Australia and the editor in the Bahamas. Dull, dull, dull! Dunno who’s gonna edit my copy this month.<br />Other recent Irish winners include Mike Magee, who won the main event in Luton, and Martin Farranger, who won the £200 PLH rebuy event at the same venue. Further afield, Frank Callaghan picked up 9190 euro in the 50 euro buyin NLH Progressive event. He’s going to have to explain how that works, next time I see him.<br />Congratulations to all.<br />Here’s another winner’s tale. There may or not be an Irish connection. I certainly hope not. A little bird tells me that a regular player recently won his first major ranking event on the European tour. As well as picking up a five figure sum in cash, he was presented with a very pretty and unique piece of sculpture. He promptly sold his hard earned trophy, for a paltry sum, to a poker pro, who had cashed in at the final table of the same tournament. The pro in question should not be short of legitimate trophies of his own. I’m not quite sure who is the saddest, the seller or the buyer!</div>
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MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-47517702767620467162011-09-01T07:52:00.000-07:002012-12-18T11:38:46.040-08:00WSOP 2011 Part 2By Mick McCloskey<br />
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Well, unless you’ve been living as a recluse in a cave somewhere, you will know by now that Ireland has a very able representative still playing for a WSOP bracelet in the $10,000 main event. Dublin’s Eoghan O’Dea made the final table, otherwise known as the “November Nine” second in chips with just under 34 million. The final 9 will meet up again in the Rio Casino at the start of November to finish their business and play down to a winner, who will walk away with $8.7 million and instant fame as the 2011 WSOP Main Event Champion. Ninth spot is already guaranteed $782,115 with all left to play for.<br />
26 year old Eoghan is a pro player who makes a lot of his money playing online but is no slouch at live tournaments having several large cashes to his name in the past including a second in the Poker Million and another second in a World Poker Tour event. Let’s hope he can go one place better in November. Eoghan has some poker pedigree being the son of Irish poker legend Donnacha, who has a WSOP bracelet of his own for winning the $1,500 PLO event in 1998, defeating Johhny Chan heads up. Wouldn’t it be great if Ireland could produce the first ever father/son combo of WSOP bracelet winners? <br />
I hear that Eoghan, a keen tennis player, is getting extra fit for his big opportunity in November by training to take part in a triathlon. He will need to be totally fit, mentally and physically for this, potentially life changing challenge. I’m sure you will all join me in wishing Eoghan all the very best in November.<br />
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With Eoghan sort of overshadowing all the other Irish players this year, a well done mention must go to a few others who cashed in the Main Event. Congratulations to Nick Newport, Pete Murphy and Reggie Lyons for their efforts.<br />
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WATERFORD MASTERS<br />
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This festival, held in the seaside resort of Tramore, is always a pleasant way to spend a weekend in the summertime. The town always seems to be buzzing at this time of year and the poker was getting into the same mood. 152 players turned up to play the €400 + 40 main event and Jason Tomkins, recovering from an illness which prevented him from travelling to Las Vegas this year, took the title and €12,000 after a deal which saw Michael Walsh picking up €10,000 for second spot and Adam Early finishing third for €8,500. 2010 Irish Open runner up, Paul Carr, picked up €6,500 for 4th place.<br />
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EMOP DUBLIN<br />
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The European Masters of Poker made it to Ireland for the first time at the end of July. The Irish leg was part of a Europe wide tour featuring a number of €1,000 + 100 well structured main events. The tour tends to be made up from a large number of online qualifiers from Scandinavia and Europe and quite a good number of local entries. A total of 303 players took their seats over two starting days at the Clontarf Castle Hotel. I’m no great expert on ancient Irish history but, I believe that Clontarf was the scene of a major battle back in the 11th century. When it got down to the final table it was a battle for the title between 5 Scandinavian and 4 Irish players. The numerical advantage may have been a deciding factor with Denmark’s Soren Larsen defeating Ireland’s Dara O’Kearney heads up for the EMOP title and a first prize of €71,210. Dara, putting on a great display for his sponsors, Irish Eyes Poker, part of the sponsoring network, had to settle for €42,720. Third place and €27,880 went to Finland’s Jukka Nyback with yours truly picking up €16,970 for fourth place.<br />
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UPCOMING<br />
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The month of September is pretty saturated with poker festivals in Ireland with two events actually taking place on the same weekend in Dublin. The Poker Stars UKIPT Dublin has already been previewed in my previous column. The three weekends in a row after that event are fully booked for any player who wants back to back action.<br />
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IRISH €100’s<br />
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In an interesting tournament variation, Bruce Poker, along with various partners, are involved in running a €120 buy in event with a massive €50,000 guarantee. There will be 4 starting days with half the field from each day qualifying for the final stages. The twist is that players can re-enter, as opposed to re-buy. Players can even do multiple re-entries if they qualify with a short stack and want to take a shot at going through with a bigger stack. The venue is the Glenroyal Hotel in Maynooth, Co. Kildare. The event runs from 12th to 18th September. Full details can be found on Irish Poker Boards.com<br />
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IRISH OMAHA CLASSIC<br />
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This event is being run in conjunction with the Irish 100’s, detailed above, in the same venue and is a €400 + 40 Pot Limit Omaha treble chance event starting on Friday 16th September and finishing on Saturday. Players start with a 10,000 stack, playing 60 minute levels, and can take another two 10K stacks as required up to the end of level 4. Again, full details can be found on Irish Poker Boards.<br />
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WINAMAX EUROPEAN SHORTHANDED CHAMPIONSHIP<br />
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This event returns for the third time to the Ballsbridge Inn, Dublin from 21st to 25th September and, as the title suggests is a 6 handed max event with a buy in of €500 + 50 with a guaranteed €150,000 prize pool. There are two starting days and players knocked out on day1a can re-enter on day1b. The event is organised by local promoters D4Events and full details can be found on their website as well as on Irish Poker Boards.<br />
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BETFAIR POKER LIVE<br />
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This is a bounty tournament with a buy in of $500 + 50 with an additional 100 for the bounty for a total of $650. It is scheduled to take place in Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Card Club from 23rd to 25th September. There has been no real publicity effort to promote this event in Ireland but Betfair are running regular online satellites so I can only assume that they are targeting their own customers for this event. There might be a bit of value to be had here if you would rather play a full table rather than the short handed event just down the road in Ballsbridge. Full details can be found at www.poker.betfair.com<br />
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LADBROKES IRISH FESTIVAL<br />
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If you are not pokered out after all that action over the previous three weeks then why not take the trip to Killarney for one of the biggest and most fun events of the year outside of Dublin. This is always an action packed weekend at the INEC at the Gleneagles Hotel with 633 runners last year, a load of online qualifiers, a €500 + 50 main event and a €250,000 guaranteed prize pool. The event is scheduled to run from 29th September to 2nd October. Details can be found at Ladbrokes.com or on Irish Poker Boards.<br />
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FINALLY<br />
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I’m almost exhausted already just looking at that schedule for September. There is a lot on and I just hope that they all do well.<br />
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Another first for Ireland is the recent announcement that the World Poker tour is coming to these shores for the first time. A €2,500 buy in event will take place in the City West Hotel from 5th to 8th January 2012. This event is being sponsored by PKR.com who, I assume, will be running online satellites. More on this in future columns.<br />
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BREAKING NEWS<br />
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Congratulations to Fintan Gavin who just took down the Edinburgh leg of Poker Stars UKIPT. Fintan, who lives in Co. Galway, overcame a field of 519 players to take the first prize of £61,500 and the UKIPT title. You can see how he did it on Channel 4 television in September as part of the UKIPT coverage. Very well done sir. <br />
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If you have any news, views or events you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.comMICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-48973159678161365102011-08-02T07:52:00.000-07:002012-12-18T11:38:23.466-08:00WSOP 2011<a href="http://www.pokerinireland.net/2011/08/wsop-2011.html">WSOP 2011</a><br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br />
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With all the side events completed, there have been no final table appearances for the Irish contingent and, unfortunately, not a lot in the way of cash returns. As I write, Day 3 of the main event is in progress and it looks like Day 4 will be bubble day. Still in the mix are Eoghan O'Dea, Nick Heather, Nick Newport and Pete Murphy, along with a few lesser known players. Best of the bunch so far, in the side events has been Omaha specialist Dave Callaghan from Dublin who narrowly missed out on a final table seat when he was knocked out in eighth place in the $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha 6 handed event. He picked up $53,210 for his finish, the highest return for any Irish player in this year’s series. Next best was Galway’s Jude Ainsworth who picked up a total of $36,342 for two cash finishes. Most prolific of the Irish in WSOP events were Eoghan O'Dea and Dara O'Kearney with three cashes each. <br />
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Despite the closure of the major online poker sites to American players, and lack of access to online funds in some cases, the numbers for the WSOP side events this year were generally up on the previous year. Poker players are a resilient lot so, if they can’t play online, they might as well turn up in Vegas to play live. There certainly seems to be a lot more cash action this year and the main event numbers have been more than general expected. I will update the Irish results in my next column<br />
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NORTHERN OPEN<br />
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This is a brand new event on the poker calendar and was backed by Irish Eyes Poker.com. The €260 + 40 main event was held over three days in mid June at the Fairways Hotel in Dundalk. The organisers included two Northern Irish based players, Paul Lecky and Seamus Birt along with Martin Silke, who organised a similar event in his native Mayo earlier in the year. For this size of tournament, the structure was excellent with a 15,000 starting stack and 60 minute levels. It certainly attracted good numbers for a new event with 200 players turning up to try their luck. The good structure was probably a factor in the eventual deal made between the final six players who decided to chop the remaining prize money based on chip counts. Aidan McAllister was declared the winner and took home the trophy and $9,300. The rest of the money was divided as follows:-<br />
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2nd Alex Scullion €7,100<br />
3rd J.P. Whyte €6,475<br />
4th Stephen Neeson €5,830<br />
5th Con O’Sullivan €5,520<br />
6th Jeff Jones €4,925<br />
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UPCOMING<br />
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IRISH CLASSIC POKER FESTIVAL<br />
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Following a bit of a breather during the early summer, for those who weren’t in Las Vegas that is, the late summer and autumn sees a marked increase in the number of Irish events. First up is the annual trip to Cork for one of the only week long poker festivals in the country at the Macau Sporting Club in the City, scheduled to run from 15th to 21st August. Included in the schedule are PLO events, short handed events, turbo events and satellites leading up to the €500 + 50 three day main event. The buy in has been reduced this year from the previous €1,000 entry fee so we may see more runners as a result. The main event will have two starting days on the Thursday and Friday. I’m a bit intrigued by the final event on the Sunday when you can choose your own buy in, either €100, 200 or 300, with a €30 reg. fee. Not really sure how that works but will no doubt find out.<br />
The Macau Club always put on a good show and the hospitality during the festival is next to none. Full details can be found at www.macausportingclub.com<br />
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POKER IN THE PUB<br />
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The same weekend in August sees the Grand Final of Season 4 being held at the Regency Hotel in Dublin. Players can qualify or buy in direct for €175 + 25. Further details can be found at www.pokerinthepub.ie. I’ve never played in any of these particular events but have take part in something along the same lines. If this event is anything like the ones I have experienced, it should be a fun weekend.<br />
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UNIBET OPEN<br />
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Another major European Tour comes to Ireland for the first time from 25th to 28th August. The Unibet Open main event has a €1,500 + 150 buy in and the venue is Dublin’s City West Hotel. I believe that this tour attracts a lot of European players and has other stops in Malta, Barcelona and Riga. The main event has a 20,000 starting stack and has two day 1s on the Thursday and Friday. Full details can be found at www.unibetopen.com<br />
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UKIPT<br />
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The start of September sees the return to Ireland of the Poker Stars UKIPT for the Dublin leg of the tour. The venue this time round is the Ballsbridge Inn from 8th to 12th of the month. The €500 + 60 main event will have a guaranteed €250,000 prize pool and will be capped at 700 players. If past experience is anything to go by, this will be a very popular event so, if you want to be part of it, early booking may be advisable. You can try to qualify online at Poker Stars or, failing that, buy in directly online. Full details are not available as I write this but I would assume that there will be two starting days for this event. Check out the website at www.ukipt.com for full details.<br />
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FINALLY<br />
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Irish snooker pro Ken Doherty has opened a snooker club in Terenure Cross, Dublin 6 at the rear of Brady’s pub in Terenure Place. Ken is also quite fond of a game of poker and has decided to combine the two disciplines under the one roof. He is currently running a cash game there on Thursday nights and hopes to run poker there most nights of the week in future. Here is your chance to take on a living legend at snooker or poker. I would suggest you may have more of a chance at the poker table than the snooker table. Whatever your choice, good luck. Ken is quite handy at both games. Details, mostly regarding snooker right now, can be found at www.kendoherty.ie or you can call the club on <span class="skype_pnh_print_container_1355837938">01 515 6092</span><span class="skype_pnh_container" dir="ltr" tabindex="-1"><span class="skype_pnh_mark"> begin_of_the_skype_highlighting</span> <span class="skype_pnh_highlighting_inactive_common" dir="ltr" title="Click to make a low cost call with Skype"><span class="skype_pnh_left_span" skypeaction="skype_dropdown" title="Skype actions"> </span><span class="skype_pnh_dropart_span" skypeaction="skype_dropdown" title="Skype actions"><span class="skype_pnh_dropart_flag_span" skypeaction="skype_dropdown" style="background-position: -2599px 1px !important;"> </span> </span><span class="skype_pnh_textarea_span"><span class="skype_pnh_text_span">01 515 6092</span></span><span class="skype_pnh_right_span"> </span></span> <span class="skype_pnh_mark">end_of_the_skype_highlighting</span></span>.<br />
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If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-31206900331309280562011-07-04T07:54:00.000-07:002012-12-18T11:38:03.041-08:00Vegas Trip in Tipp<a href="http://www.pokerinireland.net/2011/07/vegas-in-tipp.html">VEGAS IN TIPP?</a><br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br />
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News has just come through that a proposed major development in Co. Tipperary has received planning permission to build a brand new complex which would include a casino, a 500 bedroom hotel, a horseracing track, a Greyhound racing track and a golf course. The 800 acre site would also include a full size replica of Washington DC’s White House and a heliport. It is estimated that the complex would provide around 1,000 construction jobs over a three year period and would create 2,000 jobs in the long term.<br />
I don’t know when the original plan was put forward but, in these economically challenging times, I’m not quite sure if the country is ready for such an ambitious project, especially one which is quite some distance from Ireland’s capital city. For the casino part of the plan, there would also have to be a change in the law relating to gaming, although such a change has been in the pipeline for a while now.<br />
Whether the project will go ahead right now or will be put on the long finger, only time will tell. It is certainly an ambitious looking scheme and would probably be a great venue for major poker tournaments in Ireland in the future.<br />
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POKER STARS UKIPT<br />
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The tour rolled into Cork in May and attracted 602 players from 28 countries to the Rochestown Park Hotel for the €500 + 60 main event. The winner was England’s Sam Razavi who took the trophy and €71,000 after a heads up battle with Ireland’s David O’Connor, who had to settle for the consolation of taking home €41,200. Quite a nice first entry to have on your Hendon Mob profile for David. In third spot was Germany’s Martin Mulsow who picked up €25,200. Martin got really unlucky when he had pocket Aces cracked by David’s AK.<br />
Unusually for an event with two starting days, day1a had more players than day1b. UKIPT Tour boss, Kirsty Thompson put this anomaly down to the Queen’s visit to Cork City on day1b but I’m not quite so sure. Part of the problem, I think, was the fact that Poker Stars online site had stopped taking registrations for day1b for at least two weeks before the tournament. I assume that this was to encourage more people to register for day1a but, I think that this strategy may have backfired a little. Players were left with the impression that day1b was full and were unwilling to travel to Cork unless they were guaranteed a seat in the tournament. I don’t think it helped that Poker Stars had decided to run this event by themselves without a local organiser in Ireland who could have kept the local players up to speed on the availability of seats for each day. I really feel that the numbers for a tournament of this quality could have been higher in Cork. Hopefully, Poker Stars will have a look at this issue for future events in Ireland.<br />
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CELTIC POKER TOUR<br />
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This is a grassroots tour which organises events all over Ireland throughout the year. Each event awards tickets for the annual Grand Final to the top qualifying players. The Grand Final took place in the Dolmen Hotel, Carlow at the start of June and the qualifiers were joined by anyone willing to put up the €600 + 75 buy in for the main event. The numbers were probably a little disappointing for the organisers with 136 players taking to the tables to fight it out for the title. Even with these modest numbers, the 20,000 starting stack and the slow structure ensured lots of play over the three days needed to find a winner. With 16 players being paid, a deal was done at the end of day 2 to pay the bubble, so 17 players returned for the final day. Another deal at the final table between the last three saw Dublin’s Tom Kitt take the title and €19,200, which included a €1,100 ticket for EMOP, Dublin and a €600 ticket for next year’s CPT Grand Final. The next two also had CPT 2012 tickets included in their prizes. Dimitri Pembroke was second for €15,200 and Tommy Walsh took third for €14,700.<br />
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UPCOMING<br />
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WATERFORD MASTERS<br />
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This festival takes place in the Grand Hotel, Tramore from 22nd to 24th July. The buy in for the main event is €400 + 40 with a guaranteed prize pool of €40,000. This is one of those Irish festivals with its own unique atmosphere. Maybe because it’s held in a small friendly hotel, in a family orientated seaside resort, at the height of the summer holiday season but there is definitely a holiday feel to the whole thing. It’s not the best hotel in the world but the general friendliness and helpful attitude of the staff more than compensates for that. My room is booked already. Full details can be found on www.irishpokerboards.com <br />
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EMOP DUBLIN<br />
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Yet another Europe wide tour comes to Ireland for the first time this year from 28th to 31st July. The venue is the Clontarf Castle Hotel and the buy in for the main event is €1,000 + 100. Satellites are available on Irish Eyes Poker as well as on other sites on the Entraction network. There are two starting days on the Thursday and Friday. Not much more I can say about this event as I have never played any of their tournaments but, as this is stop 4 of Season 3; they seem to have some experience behind them. Further details can be found on www.europeanmastersofpoker.com <br />
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SUPER POKER EVENT OF EUROPE 2012<br />
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Although it’s quite a way off right now, I think it deserves a bit of advance publicity because of what I can only describe as its epic scale. The man behind the Boylepoker IPO, Stephen McLean, along with fellow tournament directors John Scanlon and Lee Johnston, has come up with an ambitious plan to seat up to 4,000 players at the same time, same venue, at the end of February next year. The venue is the City West Hotel, Dublin and the buy in for the three day event is €300 + 40, creating a possible prize pool in excess of €1million. Actually, looking again, they plan to get to the final 9 at the end of day two as day 3 (the final table) will take place a month later at a yet to be announced venue. I checked with Stephen to make sure he hadn’t totally lost his marbles and he assures me that the plan is perfectly feasible and that the venue can quite easily accommodate that number of players at one sitting. He is already running a series of live satellites at various venues around the country so, look out for one in your area. Further details can be found on www.superpokerevent.com and on Irish Poker Boards.<br />
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FINALLY<br />
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It’s that time of year again when many Irish players head off to Las Vegas to take part in, or just to soak up the atmosphere at the WSOP. By the time you read this, I will be there myself and I hope to report back on any Irish success stories in the next issue. In the meantime, I just want to wish all the Irish players out there the very best of luck on their trip.<br />
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If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-7960193524979210312011-06-06T07:54:00.000-07:002012-12-18T07:55:22.008-08:00Irish Title Returns<a href="http://www.pokerinireland.net/2011/06/irish-title-returns.html">IRISH TITLE RETURNS</a><br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br /><br />The title of Irish Open Champion returned to these shores after an absence of 3 years when Co. Clare’s Niall Smyth overcame a field of 615 players and a tough heads up against the very experienced Surinder Sunar at the Burlington Hotel over the Easter weekend. Niall picked up €550,000 for his weekend’s work as well as an extra package worth €100,000 for winning Paddy Power’s Sole Survivor promotion for online qualifiers. Sunar took €290,000 for runner up spot with Denmark’s Martin Petri coming third for €180,000.<br /> Niall revealed that his success had all come about after he placed a €10 each way bet with Paddy Power on the winner of the English Grand National. He used his winnings to play an online satellite and went on to spin it up into an Irish Open seat worth €3,500. The rest, as they say, is history. <br /><br />Talking of history, the last Irish born Champion, winning the title at the same venue in 2007, was someone else called Smyth, Marty of course. It was a case of almost like old times when I ran into Marty and Nicky Power in the hotel foyer at the end of play on day two. By this time the field was down to 55 players, who were all in the money. Just like 2007, all three of us were still in the mix, with Nicky going on to make the final table and Marty winning it. This year, also just like 2007, Marty went on to outlast the pair of us!<br /><br />I must put my own deep run in this year’s Irish Open partly down to my first day table draw. I spent the whole first day in the company of Neil “Bad Beat” Channing and felt very relaxed all day chatting away to Neil. Well, to be honest, Neil did most of the chatting, as he does. But it did keep the atmosphere at the table in a light mood, or so it seemed to me. Not too sure how the rest of the table felt but, I was enjoying his company so much that I gave him a double up when his chip stack started to get a bit low. That’s the kind of guy I am. Actually, it was one of those classic race situations, my poor Pocket Queens versus his mighty AK. It also helped that I got a double up of my own early in level 2 when a young aggressive player floated my flop and turn bets before firing out a river bet and pushing all in after my raise. Unfortunately for him, I had made the nut full house on the double paired board and he could only beat me with quads. When I made the call I actually thought it was going to be a split pot before he announced he had no hand!<br /><br />Virtually everyone I spoke to this year agreed that the new starting stack of 20,000 chips, doubled from previous years, made a big difference and provided a lot more play this year. The sponsors, Paddy Power, also did a great job in providing live online streaming all weekend. This included a feature table as well as roving reporters and camera teams and a studio area where Jesse May talked to various high profile guests. Well done to Iain Cheyne and all the live streaming team for all their work over the weekend. Having watched the first two TV shows on RTE I’m afraid to say that these productions failed to live up to the high standards set by the live streaming team.<br /><br />One other matter I have had issues with in the past at Irish Opens, and I really thought it should have been sorted by now, was the payout structure. Most major tournaments worldwide these days pay out around double the tournament buy in to any player making the money. This year just over 10% of the field made the money, 64 of 615 players. The reward for the first 8 to be paid was a payout of €4,100. A measly €600 profit for outlasting a tough field for a full two days of play. After paying for their travel and hotel expenses, they didn’t really have much to show for their efforts. I really think it’s about time the organisers had a look at this issue again.<br />After all is said and done, the Irish Open is Ireland’s premier poker event and I would really love to see it continue going from strength to strength in the future.<br /><br />JP MASTERS<br /><br />J.P McCann’s Masters event was held over the first weekend of May at the Ballsbridge Inn, Dublin. J.P. and his team provide, in my opinion, the best run, best organised and best structured events in Ireland and I always look forward to them. This year the numbers suffered a little mainly from a combination of the tournament being squeezed between two other major events in Ireland, namely the Irish Open and the Poker Stars UKIPT in Cork, and also a move to this new venue, away from his natural customer base around the Tallaght area of Dublin. J.P. does a great job at grassroots level, and now around Europe as well, and definitely deserves better support than he got on this occasion. Despite the numbers, the weekend went without a hitch, with a load of added value and prizes for those lucky enough to cash or bubble all tournaments. The €500 main event ended in a four way deal with Tony Rafter taking the title and €14,875 in prize money. Eoin Olin took €13,330 with John Gallagher taking €11,400 and Con Collins picking up €11,000.<br /><br />As a side note, it seems to help some players if they don’t actually manage to turn up at the right venue for the tournament. I reported on the Dublin Deepstacks event a few months ago when a player turned up at the wrong hotel and then went on to make the final table of the main event. Something similar happened at the JP Masters when a player, who shall remain nameless, apart from sometimes being known as “Doke” managed to turn up at the wrong hotel on the first day. To be fair, he went to the hotel where the event was held in 2010 so a mistake anyone could make, but didn’t. Anyway, he had the last laugh as he went on to make the main event final table and take home a nice wad of cash, assuming he managed to find his way home!<br /><br />GAMING REVIEW N. IRELAND<br /><br />The Dept of Social Development has published a discussion document in the run up to a possible change/update in the North’s gaming laws. As regards casino games, there would appear to be no changes on the horizon, apart from a possible clampdown on Bingo halls trying to doubles as mini casinos. As regards poker, there seems to be a possibility that poker tournaments will be allowed in pubs and registered clubs, subject to certain limits, yet to be established. All of this will depend on the attitude of the as yet unnamed minister in charge of the Department, following recent elections. Being new to the ministerial job, I’m not expecting a quick resolution to these matters from the new assembly in the North. You can view the document on the DSD website.<br /><br />UPCOMING<br /><br />NORTHERN OPEN<br /><br />With the WSOP getting into full swing in Las Vegas, there’s not much on the horizon for the home based players. One exception is a new event scheduled for 17th to 19th June at the Fairways Hotel in Dundalk. The Northern Open is being organised by Martin Silke along with Paul Lecky and Seamus Birt and has a buy in of €260 + 40 and a guaranteed prize pot of €40,000. The starting stack will be 15,000 chips with 60 minute levels. Irish Eyes Poker are sponsoring the event and running online satellites twice a week on their site. Further details can be found on Irish Poker Boards.<br /><br />DATABASE<br /><br />Player Ireland is in the process of setting up a new website which will include a list of Irish poker events. Casinos and tournament organisers are invited to send details of their upcoming events to info@playerireland.ie<br /><br />If you have any news, views or events you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-87130597945665974542011-05-04T11:37:00.000-07:002012-12-18T11:37:36.596-08:00Pastures NewBy Mick McCloskey<br /><br />As some of you might know, I have been producing an Irish column for Poker Europa magazine for a just over the last six years. Unfortunately that publication has recently gone out of business after twelve years of reporting on the European poker scene. Consequently, I was put out to pasture, as it were. But, as they say, “Whenever one door closes another one opens.” I have now been given the chance to continue with my scribbling by the editor of Player Ireland, a chance for which I am very grateful. Over the coming months I will endeavour to bring you all the news from the Irish poker scene and details of upcoming events as well as opinions on various issues regarding poker and any interesting stories I may come across.<br />For those of you who don’t know me from Adam and for those who do but maybe don’t know my history, here is a little bit of background.<br /><br />I first started playing poker some thirty years ago, so obviously I’m no internet whiz kid. In those early days I played mostly Dealers Choice cash games. Some of these poker variations were weird and wonderful but they certainly kept you focused as you were playing a different game virtually every hand. It was a really good education for the all rounder. Around this time some local sports clubs and other organisations started running fund raising poker tournaments and the game of choice at that time was half pot limit Five Card Stud, in my part of the world, Northern Ireland. The same sort of thing was happening in the Republic of Ireland, with the game there being mostly Five Card Draw. After fluking my first tournament win, I was hooked on tournament poker. Some time later I met Terry Rogers, the legendary Dublin bookmaker and Godfather of Irish poker. Terry had come north to organise a fund raising tournament which had a first prize of a trip to Las Vegas and entry into a WSOP side event. I failed to win this prize but was totally fascinated to hear stories about this great event being held in Binion’s Horseshoe every spring. So fascinated that I promised myself that one day I would go there to see it all for myself. That day came in the spring of 1987 when, under the wings of Terry and Liam Flood I made my way to Las Vegas for the WSOP. That was one hell of an experience. In those days all the Irish players got the full Las Vegas VIP treatment. Limos, shows, free rooms, food and drink. I hadn’t played much Texas Hold’em before so that trip was a learning experience for me. I had to learn pretty fast to avoid going broke in the cash games. I learned so much on that first trip that the cash action back home seemed pretty easy after that. Since that first trip I have been to Las Vegas pretty much every year since then. In the late 90’s I started to spread my wings when tournament poker became a bit more prevalent and I began to travel a little to the UK and Europe to play some events. I enjoyed the experience so much that I decided to take a year off work in 2000 to play full time. I spent 3 months of that year travelling around Nevada and the West coast of the USA with a friend, visiting virtually every card room there was at the time. The rest of the year was spent travelling and playing in Europe and the UK. At the end of the year, or more like 13 months as it turned out, I had actually made money during my travels. After bagging my biggest ever cash, in an online tournament at the end of 2004, I gave up work and have been writing and playing full time ever since. I play mostly in Ireland these days but still manage the odd trip away now and again. There’s just so much going on in Ireland that there’s not such a great need to travel any more.<br /> I don’t for one second claim to be a great technical player, so don’t be expecting any strategy advice here but what I have done over the years is build up a great number of valuable contacts in the professional poker ranks and in the poker business in general so, if I don’t know the answer, I probably know a man who does. So feel free to get in touch with any queries you may have regarding the poker scene in Ireland and beyond.<br /><br />RESULTS<br /><br />My last outing in Ireland was to the Irish Omaha Masters at the Eglinton Casino in Galway. The €500 main PLO event was won by local pro, Derek Murray, who took home €6,000 after a three way deal with Vincent McNella and James Groark who picked up €4,500 each. In what I believe was Ireland’s first ever Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo tournament, Sonny Murray and Frank Dunleavy took €395 each with Donal MacAonghusa picking up €200 for third spot. <br /><br />As I went specifically to play the Omaha events, it was a bit ironic that I ended up winning the final event, a €135 Hold’em tournament. Still trying to figure that one out! It was actually a three deal between myself, Barry Murray and Joe Sweeney. The records show my official share as €1,450 with the other two lads getting €1,300 each. Just noticed that it seems to have been a great help to have the surname Murray that weekend.<br /><br />UPCOMING<br /><br />UKIPT<br /><br />The next major event in Ireland is the Poker Stars UK and Ireland Poker Tour leg, coming to Cork for the first time from 18th to 22nd May at the Rochestown Park Hotel. This tour has been getting great numbers recently with new records being set in the Nottingham leg at Dusk till Dawn and I would expect good numbers for Cork as well. The main event buy in is €500 + 60 and there will be two starting days on the Thursday and Friday. Full details can be found at www.ukipt.com<br /><br />MAY MADDNESS DEEPSTACK<br /><br />This a €200 + 20 buy in tournament scheduled for 28th to 30th May at Fitzpatricks Casino in Limerick. For further details log onto www.fitzpatrickscasino.com <br /><br />CELTIC POKER GRAND FINAL<br /><br />After a series of qualifying events held around the country, the Celtic Poker Tour Grand Final takes place in the Dolmen Hotel in Carlow from 2nd to 5th June. The main event buy in is €600 + 75. Full details can be found at www.celticpokertour.com<br /><br />If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.comMICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-22716466429191480182011-04-05T11:39:00.000-07:002012-12-18T11:40:19.795-08:00IRISH POKER AWARDS 2010IRISH POKER AWARDS 2010<br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br /><br />These awards, organised by Irishpokerrankings.com, were held in February at the Fitzwilliam Card Club in Dublin. The awards were the result of a public online vote and the winners of each category were as follows:-<br /><br />Best Irish poker blogger – John O’Shea<br /><br />Best poker forum – Irish Poker Boards<br /><br />Biggest Contributor to Irish poker – Boylepoker<br /><br />Best online poker site – Poker Stars<br /><br />Best club/casino/tour in Ireland – Poker Stars UKIPT<br /><br />Most improved player on Irish poker scene – Sean Prenderville<br /><br />Best TD/Organiser/Club manager – J. P. McCann<br /><br />Best poker event 2010 – Boylepoker IPO<br /><br />Best online player – Jude “J. Thaddeus” Ainsworth.<br /><br />Player of the year – John O’Shea<br /><br />Lifetime Contribution to Irish Poker – Padraig Parkinson<br /><br />Congratulations to all the winners and nominees for these awards in 2010.<br /><br />SUNDAY MILLION<br /><br />There has been some talk lately that online poker was struggling in the current economic climate. If all the sites are struggling like Poker Stars they should be doing OK thank you very much. The 5th anniversary running of the Sunday Million has just taken place on Stars, who guaranteed a total prize pot of $5million for this $200 + 15 buy in event. The winner was guaranteed $1million as well as a brand new Lamborghini Gallardo 5.2 litre V10 super car. In the event, the amount of money up for grabs was more than double the guarantee at a staggering $11,825,600. The number of players trying their luck was a record breaking 59,128. Can you just imagine how big a venue you would need to run this as a live tournament? The number of players who made the cash in this event was 7,450. This number is something like the total number of entries to the world’s biggest tournament these days, the WSOP main event. There seems to be a bit of life left in online poker yet.<br />For the record, the winner was Luke Vrabel from Connecticut, U.S.A. who took just over $671,000, as well as the car, after the final 9 did a deal to chop the remaining prize money. Nobody actually got more than $1million with the top cash payout being around $844,000 and the smallest being $263,888. Not a bad return for a $200 investment.<br /><br /><br />NEWS<br /><br />IRISH OPEN<br /><br />The main event in Ireland this month is the Irish Open, scheduled to run over the Easter holiday weekend in Dublin’s Burlington Hotel. Things kick off on Thursday 21st April at 7pm with a €200 + 20 super satellite with rebuys for the first three levels (90 minutes). The four day main event, starting on Good Friday at 2pm, has a buy in of €3,200 + 300 and this year features a 20,000 starting stack with 60 minute levels for the first 6 levels and 75 minute levels after that. Ireland’s richest festival also features a full schedule of side events over the weekend, including a €825 Pot Limit Omaha event and a €330 Ladies Championship event.<br /><br />JP MASTERS<br /><br />The beginning of May sees the 4th edition of this popular festival being held in Dublin’s Ballsbridge Inn from 5th to 8th of the month. Things kick off on the Thursday night with a €150 short handed tournament at 8pm. This is followed at 10pm by a €100 super satellite for seats to the €560 main event. On Friday there is a €100 last chance turbo satellite for main event seats. The €500 + 60 main event starts at 6pm and features a 30,000 starting stack with 60 minute levels, increasing to 75 minutes for the final table. There is a full schedule of side events over the weekend including a Pot Limit Omaha tournament and nightly turbo events for the action junkies.<br />Full details of the festival and hotel deals can be found at www.irishpokerboards.com<br /><br />If you have any news views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-3840216222865701772011-03-02T11:41:00.000-08:002012-12-18T11:41:25.159-08:00RIGHT TIME, WRONG PLACERIGHT TIME, WRONG PLACE<br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br /><br />I heard a funny story at the recent European Deepstack Championship in Dublin. I spoke to the man involved so I’m sure he is happy enough to have his name in print after his escapades. His name is Fergal Cawley. He lives in Co. Sligo and would not be a regular in Irish ranking events but he decided to come to Dublin to play in this one as a friend of his was playing. Unfortunately, when he arrived in Dublin he headed to the Burlington Hotel even though the tournament was actually taking place in the Ballsbridge Inn. After looking around the hotel foyer for any signs of a poker event, he asked the people at reception about the poker tournament and, naturally enough, no one knew anything about a poker event in the hotel. So, he called his friend and told him he was in the hotel but could not find the tournament room. The tournament was already well underway by this stage so his friend gave him directions about how to get from the hotel reception area to the tournament room. Fergal hung up and went off to search for the poker area, as directed, again without much success. He called his by now exasperated friend again to tell him that he still could not find the poker room. The two now decided that the next logical step would be for Fergal’s friend to get up from his own poker table and for the two to meet up in the hotel reception area. Naturally enough, as they were still in separate hotels, this plan was no more successful than the previous ones as the two lads stood waiting for each other in different parts of Dublin. So, it was onto the phone again and, eventually the penny dropped. Fergal finally made his way to the right hotel, found his table and seat and sat down to play poker, some four hours late.<br /><br />The story has quite a happy ending though. Fergal managed to double up after playing only two or three hands and then went on to make the final table and finished in 6th place for a €14,200 payday. I’m not quite sure how Fergal’s friend reacted when the two met at the first break (the first break they happened to be in the same hotel that is) to be told that Fergal had by then twice as many chips as he had, despite only playing for about an hour or so compared to his friends 6 hour session. Perhaps his 10% share of Fergal’s winnings helped to dull the pain and the possible sense of injustice. After all, how can a man play proper poker with all these distractions going on!<br /><br />NEWS<br /><br />IRISH OMAHA MASTERS<br /><br />After what seems like a deluge of poker tournaments coming thick and fast in Ireland, the month of March and the early part of April, before The Irish Open, is pretty much free of major events right now, especially for Texas Hold’em fans. There is a little something for Pot Limit Omaha fans in the form of the Irish Omaha Masters, scheduled for the 25th and 26th March at the Eglinton Casino Galway. The €500 + 50 main event is a triple chance affair with a 10,000 starting stack and two more chunks of 10,000, for a total of 30,000 chips, with 60 minute levels and is set to run for two days. The tournament starts at 7pm on the Friday night, with a cap of 108 players, playing 6 levels on the first night meaning, with breaks, a 2am finish to day 1.The main event action continues on Saturday at 3pm.<br /><br />Saturday at 5pm sees the start of, what I believe, is Irelands first ranking Pot Limit Omaha 8 or better tournament. This is also a triple chance tournament with 10,000 chip stacks and add ons for a total of 30,000 chips. The levels are pretty short at 20 minutes so the action should heat up pretty quickly. The buy in is €90 + 10. <br /><br />For the Hold’em fans there is a €135 + 15 freezeout of Saturday night at 8pm with a guarantee of €5,000.<br /><br />Sounds like a different and interesting weekend, if you like that sort of thing. Full details can be found on Irish Poker Boards or on www.irishomahatour.com. For details of local accommodation email info@theeglinton.com or call <span class="skype_pnh_print_container_1355859366">00353 (0)91 569222</span><span class="skype_pnh_container" dir="ltr" tabindex="-1"><span class="skype_pnh_mark"> begin_of_the_skype_highlighting</span> <span class="skype_pnh_highlighting_inactive_common" dir="ltr" title="Click to make a low cost call with Skype"><span class="skype_pnh_left_span" skypeaction="skype_dropdown" title="Skype actions"> </span><span class="skype_pnh_dropart_span" skypeaction="skype_dropdown" title="Skype actions"><span class="skype_pnh_dropart_flag_span" skypeaction="skype_dropdown" style="background-position: -2599px 1px !important;"> </span> </span><span class="skype_pnh_textarea_span"><span class="skype_pnh_text_span">00353 (0)91 569222</span></span><span class="skype_pnh_right_span"> </span></span> <span class="skype_pnh_mark">end_of_the_skype_highlighting</span></span><br /><br />If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-89126299789564609762011-02-01T11:41:00.000-08:002012-12-18T11:42:02.467-08:00MAKING IT LEGAL?MAKING IT LEGAL?<br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br /><br />After nearly two years of public consultations, the Irish Governments Department of Justice and Law Reform has now published a discussion paper entitled “Options for Regulating Gambling.” From my understanding of the document, it seems that the department is generally in favour of reform of the current laws and of setting up a system to control and licence local and online operators. Their general opinion is that trying to outlaw gaming, especially online gaming is, based on the evidence from the USA, a non starter. The department would look to set up a body to control and to licence casino operators and casino employees in Ireland. It would also look at the possibility of regulating online gaming sites with a view to making Ireland a base for remote gambling operations. It makes a case for the employment and taxation opportunities that would arise from investments by such online gaming sites.<br /><br />In addition, the report looks favourably at the possibility of allowing one or more Resort Casinos to be licensed in Ireland. The definition of a Resort Casino is along the lines that it should probably include a hotel with facilities such a golf course, a Spa and an entertainment centre, as well as a casino, all on the one site.<br /><br />While all of this looks like good news for supporters of legalised and available gaming it will all be up for debate in the Irish Parliament at some stage and will be the subject of a vote by the politicians in power at the time, probably after a general election in the country. I’m not sure that the legalisation of gaming would be top of the agenda for a lot of the politicians but, the possibility of additional taxes for the cash strapped Irish economy may be enough to sway the vote in favour of reform.<br /><br />NEWS<br /><br />WESTERN OPEN<br /><br />This festival, scheduled to be held in Castlebar, Co. Mayo from 24th to 27th February is a new addition to the Irish tournament circuit and features a 3 day main event with a buy in of €300 + 40. The venue is the Breaffy House Resort and the main event starts at 4pm on Friday 25th February with a guaranteed prize pool of €40,000 and a 15,000 starting stack with 60 minute levels. A full programme of side events has been included. Boylepoker.com are sponsoring the event and full details can be found on their website. Boylepoker.com are also running online satellites and have facilities for buying into the tournament online.<br /><br />What the website does not tell you is that Sunday night at the venue is pretty much party night. The main activity, apart from the poker, is a charity boxing tournament to raise money for the local boxing club and the Mayo/ Roscommon Hospice. This is not your usual boxing tournament as it will feature a total of 6 bouts between some well known Irish poker players, casino owners and tour operators. There could be a few grudge matches here! Names on the card I have so far include the Eglinton Casino’s Fintan Gavin, fighting in the heavyweight division obviously, Neill Kelly of Big Slick Poker and Liam Delaney of Celtic Poker Tour. Experienced referees and corner men will be provide by Castlebar Boxing Club and fully trained ambulance crews will be on standby.<br /><br />After the blood has been mopped up off the canvas, the boxing ring will be used for the final heads up battle for the first Western Open title and, after that there will be live music and, more than likely a little drinking to be done to while away the night. This sounds like a fun way to round off the weekend so you may want to think about booking your room for Sunday night and giving work a miss on the Monday.<br /><br />GUKPT<br /><br />Last month I included an item in my column indicating that The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour intended to hold a leg of the tour in Ireland in September. I have now been told that this leg has had to be postponed due to quite a bit of tournament congestion in Ireland that particular month. The Unibet Open, the Poker Stars UKIPT and the Shorthanded Championship are all scheduled for around the same time. The GUKPT organisers really only had the one available spot in September so they have decided to look at another date in 2012 instead. I will let you have details of any revised dates as soon as I get them.<br /><br />If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-82880061664437896392011-01-03T11:42:00.000-08:002012-12-18T11:42:39.758-08:00STOP THE RIP OFFSTOP THE RIP OFF<br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br /><br />It’s a new year and many people use this time to make resolutions to change old habits and try to adopt new, healthier ones. My wish for the New Year, and for the future, is that tournament sponsors should stop using hidden charges to boost their income from the players. My idea of a good sponsor is that of a company willing to spend a bit of money in order to boost their public profile and to attract new customers, not to piss off their existing ones. <br /><br />Examples of what I’m talking about include the inclusion of hotel deals in online satellite packages at prices which are patently higher than those which could reasonably be obtained by any savvy travellers by themselves. Then the sponsor refuses to refund the hotel costs to anyone not needing accommodation or wanting to make their own arrangements. This also includes sponsors negotiating so called “special deals” with hotels which can quite often be bettered by people walking in off the street. And also, what happens when players leave the hotel early, for whatever reason? I don’t imagine the online sites are tripping over themselves to make sure that the player gets a refund for any unused hotel nights.<br />Another example is to invite online qualifiers to a welcome party and then deduct an excessive amount from the online package to cover their costs. For some of the figure involved I could manage a good night out and dinner for two. Again, there are no refunds for anyone not attending the welcome party.<br /><br />Another wheeze is for the sponsor to arrange other quite unnecessary extras for their qualifiers and then to charge them for the privilege, whether they avail of the extras or not.<br /><br />It’s not as though the sponsor has to add anything to the package. After all it is entirely the players’ money which produces the online qualifiers, and produces profits for the online site running the satellites in the process.<br />I’m not saying that all sponsors are the same and there are some out there who are more than generous to their qualifiers. I am not going to name names but, if the cap fits.........<br /><br />NEWS<br /><br />The new year kicks off with two ranking events in January and another at the start of February.<br /><br />IRISH PREMIER POKER FESTIVAL<br /><br />This is a new addition to the tournament calendar and is a joint promotion between Waterford Poker Club and The Loft Card Club, Naas. The festival takes place from 20th to 23rd January at the Westgrove Hotel, Clane, Naas, Co. Kildare. The main event has a buy in of €220 + 30 and has a guaranteed prize pool of €50,000. Details are posted on Irish Poker Boards.<br /><br />CLONMEL COURSING FESTIVAL<br /><br />This established event is scheduled to run from 28th January to 1st February in the Park Hotel, Clonmel. The main event has a buy in of €220 + 30 and carries a guarantee of €40,000. This is another joint venture, this time between Big Slick Events and Celtic Poker Tour. Details can be found on their websites and also on Irish Poker Boards.<br /><br />EUROPEAN DEEPSTACK POKER CHAMPIONSHIP<br /><br />The first major event of the year takes place in the Ballsbridge Inn Dublin from 1st to 6th February. The buy in is €500 + 50 for a 50,000 starting stack to play in this four day event. There are two starting days, each with a capacity of 500 players. This is a very popular event among European players and it sold out a month in advance last year, leaving many Irish players locked out. Although the capacity has been increased this year, it may be a good idea to register early to make sure of your seat and your preferred starting day. Online satellites for seats are running on various sites. Full details and online registration is available at www.d4events.com<br /><br />GUKPT<br /><br />The well established Grosvenor UK Poker Tour has announced their intention to bring a leg of the tour to Ireland. The event is provisionally pencilled in for September 2011 with the venue most likely being in Dublin. This tour has been running in various Grosvenor Casinos around the UK since 2007 and usually involves a full week of tournaments culminating in a £1,000 three day main event, with two starting days. There is £200,000 of added value for the 2011 season including prizes for leader board winners and a massive freeroll for the winners of all main and side events over the season. Watch this space for further details.<br /><br />If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-86275147067874938172010-12-07T11:49:00.000-08:002012-12-18T11:49:15.608-08:00IRISH POKER AWARDSIRISH POKER AWARDS<br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br /><br />Having recently initiated the British Poker Awards, Bluff Europe Magazine obviously thought it would be a good idea to have an Irish version. So it came to be at a ceremony held during the Boylepoker International Poker Open in Dublin in October. Proceedings were kicked of by warm up act, “Mad” Marty Wilson who then handed over to magazine chief, Michael Caselli and guest presenter Neil Channing. Three Englishmen presenting the Irish Poker Awards? Happily the rest of the proceedings were dominated by the home grown talent, although I’m not quite sure that Paul Marrow, nominated for Poker personality of the year, could, strictly speaking, be regarded as Irish. But, what the hell, if Tony Cascarino can play football for Ireland...... <br /><br />The nominees were chosen by a committee comprising representatives from Bluff Europe, Boylepoker.com, Poker News.com, pokerireland.ie, and d4events.com. The process then went to a public online vote to determine the winners of each category.<br />On the night there were four double winners. Padraig Parkinson picked up the award for Poker Personality of the year as well as the award for Best Poker Blogger. John O’Shea won the award for Best Tournament Player and the award for the Best All Round Player. Owen Robinson won the award for Break Out Year as well as the award for Player of the Year. The other double winner was J.P. McCann who picked up the Best Tournament Director award as well as the award for running the Best Poker League. <br /> <br />Other winners were:-<br /><br />Best Cash Player – Andy Black<br /><br />Best Online Player – Jude Duffy<br /><br />Best Irish Card Room - The Fitzwilliam Casino<br /><br />Best Irish Poker Forum – Irish Poker Boards<br /><br />Best Poker Festival – Boylepoker IPO<br /><br />Congratulations to all the winners.<br /><br />This may not be the end of the awards for Ireland this year as Irishpokerrankings.com held their own version of the Irish Poker Awards for 2009 and will probably do the same for 2010. There are also, of course, the 2010 Poker Europa European Poker Awards, scheduled to be held in Paris in February. It would not be the first time that a few Irish players found their way into the nominations for these awards. Full details of the European awards can, I believe, be found in another page of this edition of Poker Europa.<br /><br />DUBLIN WIT<br /><br />Many Dubliners are known for their quick wit and off the cuff remarks. Among the older poker players in this category would be Padraig Parkinson and Alan Betson. A mutual friend of ours turned up at the Regency Hotel for the Boylepoker IPO. The man in question was American John “Schof” Sheffield. Schof has lived and worked in Las Vegas since the late sixties and was for many years involved in running the WSOP at Binion’s Horseshoe. He always worked the day shift and was well known to most of the Irish and European players who would stop off for a drink at the poker bar at night. Schof would generally join the players after work and was in a position to look after the drinks tab for the players. He also had a rich supply of jokes and stories to help keep the company entertained. The craic was so good most of the time that the session carried on well into the small hours, there being no closing time for the bars in Las Vegas. This wasn’t too bad for the players who could get some sleep afterwards. For Schof it was quite often a very short sleep, a change of clothes and back to work in the morning. This sort of schedule went on for days on end for Schof and he never seemed to show any signs of slowing down. We were sitting in the bar in The Regency Hotel one night and Schof was talking about how many hours he had been drinking since arriving in Ireland. Quick as a flash, Alan Betson came out with the comment “So you’re drinking in hours now when it used to be in days.”<br /><br />NEWS<br /><br />IRISH CHRISTMAS POKER FESTIVAL<br /><br />Due to local demand, The Macau Club in Cork has decided to run another Christmas festival this year. It will kick off on Thursday 9th December with a €50, one rebuy, one add on, super satellite for seats in the main event. The €500 + 50 main event starts on Friday 10th at 8pm and runs for three days. Players will start with 20,000 chips. Saturday has a €180 + 20 + 20 scalp side event. Sunday sees an unusual event where you can choose your own buy in level. For €50 you will start with 7,000 chips. For €100 you will start with 10,000 chips and, if you want to start with 15,000 chips, it will cost you €150 + 15 to enter.<br /><br />FINALLY<br /><br />By the time the print version of this magazine hits the card rooms the first tournament of Season 2 of the Poker Stars UKIPT should be done and dusted and a new Irish Poker Champion crowned in Galway. Let’s hope we have another Irish Champion this year, following Padraig Parkinson’s win last time round. There are no other major events planned for Ireland in December so players can have a little rest from the hectic tournament schedule we witnessed in Ireland in 2010. <br /><br />It only remains for me to offer all Poker Europa readers best wishes for the Christmas holiday season and hope that you all have a peaceful and profitable poker new year.<br /><br />If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com.</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-20957181251032250122010-11-01T11:49:00.000-07:002012-12-18T11:50:15.403-08:00TAXED TO DEATH?TAXED TO DEATH?<br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br /><br />It has recently come to light that the Irish Tax authorities have decided to impose VAT at a rate of 21% on the activities of private members clubs. The country is in dire financial straits and is obviously looking for revenue streams to boost its finances. Under legislation passed in 1956, certain gaming activities such as those carried out in casinos were classified as unlawful gaming. Casinos have been able to sidestep this legislation by operating as private members clubs. The taxman has now formed the view that these private members clubs are liable for VAT payments and, from what I understand, will be looking to backdate these liabilities. The Revenue Commissioners contend that VAT is payable on membership fees, entry fees, fees to take part in a game and the net receipts of gaming. As I understand it, this tax would apply to poker tournament entry fees as well as to the tournament registration fees. It would also apply to bets made on other casino games and to cash game rake or time charges.<br /><br />If you are a regular reader, you will know that I am always banging on about how good Irish run poker tournaments generally are. A major industry has grown up out of all these Irish events regularly attracting visitors to Ireland from all over the world. The industry directly employs hundreds of people and provides a huge boost to the Irish tourism industry. All this could be ended if this tax is fully implemented. The VAT charge does not apply to other forms of gambling such as bookmaking, bingo or to the government run Tote and National Lottery so would not seem to be a fair tax. Any demands made so far are under appeal so it could be a while before this is all sorted out. An industry group, The Gaming and Leisure Association of Ireland, (GLAI), is actively lobbying the Irish government for an exemption from VAT. If the tax is eventually collected, it could decimate the Irish casino industry and it would make poker tournaments in Ireland totally unfeasible, in my view, as all the major tournaments are held under the auspices of various private members clubs. The timing of all this is a little baffling as the Irish government is currently carrying out a review of the gaming industry with a view to setting up a Gaming Commission, perhaps based on the UK model, which would oversee the legalisation of casino gaming in Ireland. Perhaps the best hope for tournament poker in this country is that this tax is not implemented before the gaming review is complete. Otherwise the whole industry could be killed off before a decision on its future is made and that won’t put much money into the Irish Exchequer. It would actually cost the state and the tourist industry money in the long term.<br /><br /> It might be a good idea for all casino operators and poker promoters in Ireland to support the efforts of the GLAI and be guided by their current experiences in this field. You can find out more about them by visiting their website at www.glai.ie<br /><br />GRASSROOTS<br /><br />Poker in the Pub has launched Season 3 of this small amateur series. When I say small, I mean the buy in, as over 800 players qualified for the Grand Final in 2009. Next February the league final will take place in the INEC in Killarney with an estimated prize pool of €100,000. For full details of where you can qualify check out www.pokerinthepub.ie<br /><br />NEWS<br /><br />POKER STARS UKIPT<br /><br />Poker Stars have now announced the schedule for Season 2 of this highly successful poker tour. As previewed in my last column, Cork will be the location for a new stop on the tour. This tournament, with a main event buy in of €500 + 60 and a guarantee of €100,000 will be held at the Rochestown Park hotel from the 19th to 22nd May and replaces the Season 1 venue of Killarney. Cork’s Macau Casino will be involved in the running of this event and will be holding a number of live satellites.<br /><br /> The tour returns to Dublin’s Burlinton Hotel for season 2 from the 8th to 11th September and carries a guarantee of €250,000 for a buy in of €500 + 60<br /><br />First up though will be the return of the Irish Poker Championship to Galway’s Radisson Hotel. The big change this season is the reduction of the buy in for this major Irish event from €2,000 (reg. included) to €1,000 + 100. A prize pool of €250,000 is guaranteed and the tournament will run from the 2nd to 5th of December. As usual, satellites for all events will be available on PokerStars.com. Full details of the Season 2 schedule can be found at www.ukipt.com<br /><br />WEXFORD<br /> <br />The Quay Casino in Wexford has announced details of a poker festival scheduled to run from 3rd to 5th of December. The main event will have a buy in of €500 + 50 with a guaranteed €25,000 prize pool. I’m not sure that clashing with the UKIPT event in Galway is a real good idea but, no doubt, the Quay Casino came up with these dates before Poker Stars had announced theirs. It would not surprise me if the Wexford event were to be rescheduled. I would advise anyone interested in the Wexford tournament to check with the Quay Casino before they make concrete plans.<br /><br />If you have any news, views or events you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-86866225537918651252010-10-01T11:50:00.000-07:002012-12-18T11:50:58.578-08:00LOOSE ENDLOOSE END<br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br /><br />I must start with an apology. As the title indicates, I am at a bit of a loose end this month. It’s a mixture of writers block and disappointment that some much anticipated news failed to materialise, at the very last minute, as my deadline approaches. I had been hoping to announce details of the Irish dates of Season 2 of Poker Stars very successful UK and Ireland poker tour. However, the people at Poker Stars decided not to let me have advance notice of the dates even though the full details should be widely available by the time you read my sad excuses for lack of content this month. I did however manage to pick up a couple of snippets of news regarding the UKIPT which I will share with you. First snippet is that the Irish Poker Championship will return to Galway at the start of December and second, that a leg of the tour will be held in a Cork hotel, probably in May next year. By the very nature of instant communications these days, you will probably know more than me about these things by the time this article is available in print. Ce la vie.<br /><br />NEWS<br /><br />Boylepoker IPO<br /><br />The Boylepoker International Poker Open takes place in the Regency Hotel, Dublin, from 15th to 17th October. There are two starting days and anyone wanting to play must register online at Boylepoker.com. For a modest €200 you will get to take part in a professionally run major event and test your skills against lots of high profile pros and celebrities from Ireland and the UK. This event had a massive 1,440 entries last year with a top prize of $62,250 going to Germany’s Markus Sippe. Boylepoker.com are adding €20,000 to the prize pool. Not too shabby for a €200 event.<br /><br />Irish Winter Festival<br /><br />The Irish Winter Festival moves to Dublin’s Burlington Hotel this year and takes place from 22nd to 25th October. The weekend kicks off with a €150 + 15 super satellite on Friday the 22nd for seats in the main event. The main event is a three day affair running from Saturday to Monday, a Bank Holiday in Ireland. The buy in for the main event is €1,500 + 150. Also scheduled for Saturday is a €200 + 20 NLH side event. On Sunday there is a €500 + 50 two day side event as well as something completely different, a €100 + 10 Blind Mans Bluff Championship. Card holding hats will be supplied, I believe. Getting back to semi normality, Monday’s events include a €300 + 30 round of each freezeout as well as the Irish Mythical Championship for a buy in of €100 + 10. For full details check out paddypowerpoker.com<br /><br />MINI WSOP FESTIVAL<br /><br />If you have never been to Vegas for the WSOP, or even if you have, here is a chance to play WSOP type events for a fraction of the cost of the real thing. All the events use the same structure as the corresponding WSOP tournaments but with shorter levels. This is the second year of this festival, organised by J.P. McCann and his team, and is scheduled to run from 4th to 7th November at the Maldron Hotel, Tallaght, Dublin. The hotel has a reduced room rate of €79 per night using the promo code “poker 2010”. Last year’s festival had 325 runners for the €350 main event, generating a prize pool of over €100,000. The action starts on Thursday night with a €150 short handed event and this is followed by a €80 super satellite for seats in the main event. You will have another chance to win a main event seat in a €80 turbo satellite on Friday afternoon. The €350 three day main event kicks off at 8pm with players starting with 30,000 chips, playing 45 minute levels. On Saturday there is a €250 side event, also with a 30,000 starting stack and 30 minute levels. There is also a €80 turbo side event with 4,500 chips and 20 minute levels on Saturday night. Sunday is going to be all action with four events planned on top of the conclusion of the main event itself. In short, there is a €250 HORSE event at 3pm, a €150 triple shootout at 5pm, a €250 heads up event at 7pm and another €80 turbo event at 9pm. Phew, my head’s spinning already but I’m sure J.P. and his team can handle it all with ease.<br />J.P.’s events are among the best structured tournaments to be found anywhere. To ensure that this continues he has stated that “If the average stack, in the main event and the 250 event, drops below 25 big blinds, we will rerun levels to a maximum of three times to help ensure the game doesn’t become a crap-shoot.” <br />J.P. does have his own website at www.jppoker.ie but, unfortunately, the site is not updated as often as it should be. However, he is fairly good at getting his events onto other websites. Full details of the festival can be found on the Hendon Mob poker forum and on irishpokerboards.com, among others.<br /><br />If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765284525151012810.post-76094349457500756112010-09-02T11:51:00.000-07:002012-12-18T11:51:59.563-08:00VEGAS PART 2VEGAS PART 2<br />
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By Mick McCloskey<br /><br />While in Las Vegas during the WSOP I played a media only free roll event at the Rio Casino. I happened to be drawn at the same table as the head of casino security at the Rio. On the very first hand of the tournament all hell broke loose on our table with four people going all in. The hands were pocket AA, pocket KK, for the head of security, pocket 10, 10 and pocket 3, 3. The flop was A, K, 10, giving three people a set. The turn was a 3, giving a fourth set and, wait for it, the river was also a 3 giving one player four of a kind and the other three full houses! Bad beat city! With press cameras rolling and flashing all around the table, it was announced that it had all been a set up and that everyone was to start again with their original chip stacks. The one thing I don’t understand was how they knew that I was going to pass my pocket JJ in this hand. Go figure that one out!<br /><br />On my way home I was booked on the Virgin direct flight from Vegas to London. On the same flight I spotted recent WSOP bracelet winners Mike Ellis and Steve Jelinek. I sort of assumed that the pair would be travelling in upper class or even first after their success. I was surprised therefore to see both guys seated a couple of rows behind me in economy class. Joint winnings at the 2010 WSOP, $827,722. Good to see the lads watching the pennies and being careful not to squander their winnings! After all, everyone on the flight gets from Vegas to London no matter where they sit, right!<br /><br />Another Vegas wedding to report. Julian Gardner, runner up in the WSOP main event in 2002 for $1.1 million, tied the knot with his long time partner Kerry. My reaction, like many others, on hearing the news was, “Damn, I thought they got married years ago!”<br />Best wishes for the future to Julian and Kerry and the family from myself and all here at Poker Europa.<br /><br />Finally, to round off my Vegas report, congratulations to Dublin’s James Fennell, top Irish finisher in this years main event. James picked up $168,556 for his 48th place finish along with his first ever entry in The Hendon Mob database. Nice start sir.<br /><br />NEWS<br /><br />POKERSTARS UKIPT<br />September sees the start of a busy period for poker tournaments in Ireland. First up is the Dublin leg of the Poker Stars UK and Ireland poker tour, running from 9th to 12th September at the Burlington Hotel. Following a player survey, the buy in has been reduced from €1,000 to €500 + 60 but the €250,000 guarantee remains in place, meaning that the organisers are expecting a 500+ field. Following the success of the UKIPT in other venues, I doubt they will have any problem meeting the guarantee. The event will be recorded for broadcast on Channel 4 early in the new year. For further details log onto www.ukipt.com<br /><br />WINAMAX EUROPEAN SHORT HANDED POKER CHAMPIONSHIP<br /><br />This event takes place in the Ballsbridge Inn, Dublin from 15th to 19th September. The buy in is €500 + 50 for the six handed three day event, which will have two starting days. The capacity is set at 600 but, if the demand is there, this may be increased. Side events will be played as normal 9 or 10 handed tournaments in the initial stages before becoming 6 handed. For full details see www.d4events.com<br /><br />LADBROKES POKER FESTIVAL<br /><br />This event kicks off with a super satellite on 30th September with the €500 + 50 three day main event starting on 1st October in the INEC complex at the Gleneagles Hotel in Killarney. The tournament has a €250,000 guarantee and has proved to very popular with players over the last two years since its first running. Part of the attraction is the Ladbrokes player lounge where people can chill out or have a meal or a drink as well as having a little pool or darts action on the side. Satellites and direct buy ins are currently available on Ladbrokes poker site.<br /><br />BOYLEPOKER IPO<br /><br />One of the year’s most fun events is the record breaking International Poker Open, scheduled to run from 15th to 17th October at the Regency Hotel in Dublin. For a buy in of €200, players of all abilities can experience a professionally run major event and rub shoulders with celebrities and well known poker pros from the UK and Ireland. As if that wasn’t enough, Boyles are adding a juicy €20,000 to the prize pool. The only way to register for this tournament is to win a seat on Boylepoker.com or to buy in direct through the poker site. You can get extra starting chips for the tournament by registering early and earning player points on Boylepoker.com. Check out the online poker site for full details.<br /><br />If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com</div>
MICK MCCLOSKEYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03023852585061818057noreply@blogger.com0