IT'S OFFICIAL

IT'S OFFICIAL

By Mick McCloskey

As revealed in this column in October, It has now been confirmed that Poker Stars, the world’s largest online poker site, will be throwing their considerable weight behind The Irish Poker Championship (IPC) and will be adding a seat to next year’s London EPT to the first prize.
The five day festival will take place at Galway’s Radisson Hotel from December 10th to 14th and boasts a four day main event with a €2,000 buy-in as well as three side events with buy-ins of €550, €350 and €250. The weekend will kick off with a player’s party at 6pm on Thursday the 10th, followed by a super satellite.
Kirsty Thompson from Pokerstars.com said “The Irish Poker Championship has become one of biggest events on the Irish Poker Calendar and we are delighted to be sponsoring it. Poker players appreciate good hospitality and a good party atmosphere and there is no better city than Galway to provide it.”
Entrants will be compiled from Pokerstars.com online qualifiers and paid entries as well as a host of Poker Stars Pros and celebrities. Already pencilled in for the event are Andy Black, Surinder Sunar, Marcel Luske, Padraig Parkinson, Donnacha O’Dea, Julian Gardner, Neil Channing, Jude Ainsworth, and Marty Smyth.
Online qualification is now available exclusively on Pokerstars.com. Poker Stars players can also buy seats in advance online through their own player account. Further details can be found on the official IPC website, www.irishpokerchampionship.com

While on the subject of Poker Stars involvement in Irish poker, I have been watching some of the TV shows on RTE from the series “Poker Stars Late Night Stars of Poker” which shows a series of one table shootouts with the winner of each one going through to a grand final. The players are made up from two celebrity sports stars, two Irish poker pros and two online qualifiers in each episode. I decided I might have a go at qualifying so duly logged onto Pokerstars.com. I was unable to play as qualification is only open to players with an address in the Republic of Ireland. As I live in Northern Ireland I was not eligible. I actually wonder about the legality of this exclusion as, under the terms of an International Treaty recognised by the United Nations, I hold dual Irish and British nationality and am entitled to a passport from either country. I’m not sure if it is legal to discriminate between Irish citizens who live on different sides of the border on the island of Ireland. Perhaps someone from Poker Stars legal department could have a look at this issue, for future reference.

DOING AN EOGHAN

O’Dea that is. Eoghan managed to win a major online tournament earlier this year despite falling asleep in front of his computer some way through the tournament. He somehow managed to wake up in time to take the top spot. I did something similar, though not quite as lucrative, recently. I had qualified to play in a super satellite for entry to a live land based tournament a few days before the weekly online final. On the evening of the final I nodded off in front of the TV and only woke up almost an hour into the tournament when around 20% of the field had already been eliminated. Despite this lapse, I am happy to report that I finished first in the tournament and duly won my tournament seat. Now, if I could only convert that into a nice live result.

NEWS

The Irish tournament scene looks pretty busy in the run up to Christmas. I have already mentioned the IPC above and have covered the JPPOKER Mini WSOP, at the beginning of November, in previous columns. Other upcoming major events are as follows:-

The Fitzwilliam Poker Festival, Dublin, runs from 25th November to 1st December and includes a two day €500 + 40 main event. Full details can be found at www.fitzwilliamcardclub.com

MACAU CLUB, CORK

The Irish Christmas Poker Festival takes place in Cork from Thursday 3rd to Sunday 6th December featuring a two day 500 + 50 main event. The festival is shorter and has a smaller buy-in this year to reflect the economic situation but I would still expect that the welcome and the renowned player buffet will still be first class. Full details can be found at www.macausportingclub.com

DEEP STACK OMAHA CHAMPIONSHIP

The first running of this ambitious looking event also takes place from 3rd to 6th December at The Poker Room, Celbridge, Co. Kildare. The three day Pot Limit Omaha main event has a €1,000 buy-in (8% reg. included) and the same structure as the $10K WSOP event with a 30,000 starting stack and a 60 minute clock and starts at 7pm on Friday 4th. The main event winner will receive a white gold “Main Event” bracelet and the top three players will each receive a “Luck Box” sponsorship into the Omaha side event at the 2010 Irish Open. In addition, there will be a Tag Heuer watch for the worst bad beat at the main event. For more information call 00353 86 230 1229 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 00353 86 230 1229 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or 00353 1627 6079 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 00353 1627 6079 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

If you have any news views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com

IRISH POKER TOUR

IRISH POKER TOUR

By Mick McCloskey

Following the last few years of dramatic growth in Irish poker tournaments, I can now reveal that things are about to get even bigger on the Irish poker scene. The biggest online site in the world, Poker Stars, has teamed up with Irish Poker Events to take over sponsorship of the Irish Poker Championship as part of a larger planned Irish Poker Tour. The IPC, originally held at the City West Hotel, Dublin has been held in Galway at the beginning of January for the last two years. The venue remains Galway and the buy in remains unchanged at €2,000 but the tournament dates have been brought forward to the 10th to 14th December 2009. The main reason for the date change is to avoid the IPC clashing with the Poker Stars PCA, which is traditionally held in the Bahamas at the beginning of January. Poker Stars will, naturally, want to bring some of their big name sponsored pros and celebs to Galway. I spoke to Irish Poker Events supremo, Fintan Gavin, who confirmed that an official announcement to this effect will be made at the start of the London EPT at the beginning of October, so all the details should be made public by the time you read this. Poker Stars will, of course, run online satellites for the IPC and subsequent Irish Tour events and the IPC winner will receive an additional prize of entry into next year’s London EPT. Two other Tour events are planned right now, a €1,500 event in Killarney from 23rd to 27th June 2010 and another €2,000 event planned for Dublin next September. Poker Stars are involved with a number of national poker tours around Europe, in addition to International tours covering most parts of the world, and bring a wealth of experience and, perhaps more importantly, a large number of online qualifiers to all of their events.

Unofficially, I understand that the Irish events are only a part of a much bigger UK and Irish Poker Tour currently being planned by Poker Stars. Expect further developments on this front. Looks like exciting times lie ahead for tournament poker on these islands.

PASSPORT CONTROL

Something not really poker related except that it happened to me on the way back from a poker tournament. I decided to break my journey to Cork in August by getting a couple of cheap flights from Dublin to Cork and back. All went well on the way down. The flight left on time from a shiny new departures terminal in Dublin Airport and actually landed early in Cork where I made my way unhindered through the arrivals area and onto the city. All was well again on the journey back, an on time departure and an early arrival in Dublin. Again a mixture of walking and standing on a moving walkway through the nice new passenger terminal in Dublin. That is until I arrived at a bottle neck made up of a mass of people waiting to get through passport control. I thought I may have taken a wrong turning somewhere but, no, I could see that all the people from my flight were standing in line with people coming in on flights from all over Europe and from the USA. Now I know some Dubliner’s would regard Cork people as almost an alien species but they do, after all, actually live in the same country so, having them pass through passport control, and through Customs as well, seemed a bit excessive. How effective passport control actually is can be a matter of dispute. When I eventually got to the front of the queue, the officer in the control booth was on the phone and I didn’t actually produce a passport. I offered him my Northern Ireland driving licence and without even asking me where I was travelling from, he waved me on through, while continuing his phone conversation! What is all that about? Does this just happen to people on flights from Cork or do the authorities at Dublin Airport treat everyone arriving on domestic flights as foreign nationals?

NEWS

IPO

Who would have thought that a small buy in ($250) poker tournament that you can only enter by registering through an online poker site would set new records for numbers of entrants in Europe and indeed anywhere outside of Las Vegas, when it was held in Dublin last October? The brain child of Stephen McClean, part of the younger of three generations of a Dublin poker playing family, it really took off when he got together with Boylespoker in 2008 and between them they produced one of the most sociable and fun weekends on the poker calendar. 1,300 people, including many well known poker pros and sports celebrities, invited by the sponsors, enjoyed the weekend at the Regency Hotel in Dublin. As I write, the 2009 tournament is almost a complete sell-out and I predict that it will again set a new record for entries, outside of Las Vegas, when it is held over the weekend of 16th to 18th October.

IWF

The much larger Paddy Power Irish Winter Festival with a €1,500 + 150 buy in, takes place in the City West Hotel from 24th to 26th October. Satellites for tournament packages and seats to the main event are currently running on various online sites and live in poker venues around the country

MINI WSOP

Just a reminder that the Mini WSOP takes place in the Maldron Hotel, Tallaght, Dublin from 6th to 8th November. The €350 main event has a 30,000 starting stack and will mirror the WSOP main event structure, apart from the levels which will start at 45 minutes, rising to 60 minutes. A full schedule of deep stack events will run over the weekend. Full details can be found at www.jppoker.ie

FINALLY

Congratulations to Donegal man, Dermot Blaine, who took down the top prize in the Poker Stars Asian Pacific Poker Tour in Macau at the end of August. Dermot won over 4.2 million Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to around US $540,000. A nice chunk of change in any currency. Well played sir.

If you have any news views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com

WSOP 2009

WSOP 2009

By Mick McCloskey

Probably the biggest Irish interest story to come out of this year’s WSOP was not really related to poker at all. It was in fact the wedding of Padraig Parkinson and his long time partner Veronique on Sunday 5th July in Las Vegas. They managed to squeeze the wedding in after Padraig played his first day in the main event and before he had to return for his second day. After a private reception in the new M Casino, the wedding party moved to the bar right outside the poker room in the Bellagio for drinks in the evening. The only man in the place wearing a suit and tie was doing the honours at the bar. I had to look twice at this guy before I realised that it was Rory Liffey. Gone were the trademark flowing red locks to be replaced by a very short crew cut hairstyle. What a makeover!
Congratulations to Padraig and Veronique and best wishes for the future.

Back to the business of poker, there were no really huge cashes nor bracelets for the Irish contingent this year. Andy Black and Sligo’s Paddy O’Connor did make final table appearances in some of the side events and a few of the Irish players made it into the money in the main event and some side events. Congratulations and well done to all of these guys.

NEWS

KILLARNEY
September seems to be holiday time for Irish tournament promoters as I have no news of any major events during the month. October, on the other hand, has more than it’s fair share of major events. First up is the Ladbrokes Irish Poker Festival in Killarney running from 1st to 4th October with a €500 + 50 main event with a €250,000 guarantee. Seats are limited (see my column in the August edition or check out my website for more details.) so don’t turn up expecting to pay in to the main event on the day. Ladbrokes are currently running online satellites for Killarney hotel and tournament packages. If however you have already secured a seat, you can expect a great weekend of poker in the beautiful surrounds of Killarney, in a great venue, the INEC at the Gleneagles Hotel, with well structured tournaments and an excellent facility in the form of the players lounge, courtesy of Ladbrokespoker.com.

I.P.O.

Next up comes the Boylespoker International Poker Open at The Regency Hotel Dublin from 16th to 18th October. Although not a big buy in event at $250, this event set a new European record for entries last year with 1,300 players taking part. A similar number of players are expected this year, including a liberal sprinkling of well known poker pros and sports stars so, if you want to be part of a fun weekend, sign up now. Players last year included Andy Black, Marty Smyth, Padraig Parkinson, Jesse May, Ken Doherty, Ian Frazer and “Mad” Marty Wilson. Seats are already going fast and, as I write, I hear that Day 1b has already been sold out. The only way to enter is to sign up for an account and pay online through Boylespoker.com or by qualifying in an online satellite. By playing a little online and earning player points, you can also top up your starting stack in the main event. Full details can be found on Boyle’s website or on pokerireland.ie

I.W.F.

Later in the month, the Irish Winter Festival takes place in the City West Hotel, Dublin, from 24th to 26th October. The main event has a buy in of €1,500 +150 and last year attracted 423 players with a top prize of €150,000. Co. Clare airport worker Fiachra Meere took the title in 2008. Sponsor, Paddy Power is currently running online satellites for packages and seats to the main event.

MINI WSOP

J.P. McCann has come up with what looks like another cracking new event at the start of November in Tallaght, Dublin. J.P. has been steadily building a reputation for putting on some of the best and most innovative poker tournaments in Ireland over the past couple of years, after serving his time running many smaller pub based events around the Dublin area. His latest idea is based on running a “Mini WSOP” for those operating with a smaller bankroll than it takes for the real thing. For a buy in of €350 you can sit down to play in a three day event with a starting stack of 30,000 chips and a 45 minute clock for the first 10 levels, increasing to 60 minutes after that. There will be a full schedule of deep stacked support events over the weekend, with the smallest starting stack being 15,000 chips. The tournament takes place in the Maldron Hotel, Tallaght fro 6th to 8th November. Numbers are limited to 250 so you might want to book your seat in good time. Full details can be found on J.P.’s website at www.jppoker.ie

FINALLY

Congratulations to Ken Corkery and his team at The Macau Casino, Cork, for winning the Best Poker Tournament Award for their Irish Classic Poker Festival at the Irish Sports Betting Awards, held recently in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin.

If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com

EVENTS

EVENTS

By Mick McCloskey

I am writing this column just before I head over to Las Vegas as I will not get back home in time to complete it before the deadline for the August edition. So, apologies in advance if I have missed any late news.

KILLARNEY

Ladbrokes have announced the second running of their Irish Poker Festival at the INEC, Killarney from 1st to 4th October. The first running of this €500 event in 2008 was a major success for the organisers with all events being sold out in advance and alternates being brought in for the first two or three levels of each tournament to satisfy demand. The promotion of the festival in Ireland is being organised by Cue Club Events, in association with Big Slick Events. As I understand it, entry to the main event this year is being restricted so that Ladbrokes can give as many of their own customers as possible the chance to play. The cap for seats is 800 and I understand that the only guaranteed way to play right now is by winning a seat on Ladbrokespoker or by winning a seat in a live satellite. Online qualifying satellites are offered every day for entry into the weekly online final. A number of seats have been allocated to the joint promoters for these live satellites and some of these seats will also be offered to a number of poker clubs around the country, who wish to run their own satellites. A spokesman for Cue Club Events said “Anyone who bought direct into the main event last year should make contact with the operator who sold them the seat as a number of tickets have been distributed to operators around the country.” It is possible that direct buy ins may be offered nearer the time, subject to availability. I also believe that virtually all the rooms at the two hotels on the complex and nearly all of the adjoining apartments have been pre booked by Ladbrokes for their qualifiers. Not everyone is happy with this situation but, whatever the rights or wrongs, that’s the way it is right now.
So, I would advise anyone wanting to play in this festival to ensure they have a seat before they head off to Killarney this October. As regards accommodation, I doubt if this will be a major problem as Killarney has a large number of hotels and bed and breakfast establishments to cater for the tourist trade. October is a little out of season for most tourists so I would imagine that a lot of these places would welcome the extra business. A spokesman for joint sponsors Destination Killarney and Gleneagles Hotel Group has confirmed that there should be plenty of accommodation available in the area and anyone interested can contact Gleneagles Hotel reservations on 00353 647 1550 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 00353 647 1550 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

NEWS

Just a reminder of two big events in Ireland this month. First up is the Irish Classic Poker Festival at the Macau Club, Cork, running from 10th to 16th August. The main event has a buy in of €1,000 + 100 and a guaranteed prize pool of €100,000. There will be two starting days for the main event on the Thursday and Friday with players starting with 15,000 chips on a 75 minute clock throughout. A full schedule of support events is planned. This one of the best, and probably the only week long festivals in Ireland. One not to be missed! For further details log onto www.macausportingclub.com

Hot on the heels of Cork comes the Team Championship of Poker at the Citywest Hotel, Dublin from 20th to 23rd. The main event is a six player team tournament, with individual as well as team prizes up for grabs. The buy in is €400 per player. Team events add a whole new dimension to the Irish Poker scene and I, for one, welcome them. My first team experience at the Citywest Hotel, run by the same organising team, was a whole lot of fun. A full schedule of support events is planned for the weekend. For more information, check out www.teamcop.com

If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

By Mick McCloskey

For the past few years Ireland has built up a well deserved reputation for well run, well structured poker tournaments in various, mostly nice hotel, venues around the country. The thought occurs to me that even more tournaments can take place here in future. The reason for this line of thought comes after the editorial in the June edition of Poker Europa relating to the introduction of what is effectively a poker tax in the UK. For the first time, casinos and card rooms will be liable to a tax on tournament registration fees as well as a tax on cash game rake. Will this make tournaments and cash games less viable in future in the UK? In effect, some operators will find that they have to hand over up to 50% of their revenue to the tax man. Does this mean that they will need to double their charges, just to generate the same level of profit, or in the case of some tournaments, their level of loss? Will major tournaments remain a viable option in the UK in future? I’m not really sure what the future will bring, but this may be an opportunity for tournament organisers in Ireland to step in to offer much better value than their UK counterparts. It is just a short hop for UK players to travel over to Ireland for a tournament. Even players from further afield may end up here. Due to legal restrictions in their own countries, players from Norway and Greece already hold their national championships in the UK. It may not be viable to do this in future. This of course depends on the Irish tax man not going down the same route here. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

POKER HOLIDAY

No, I don’t mean taking a break from poker. What I am suggesting is that players from the UK and Europe may want to consider taking a break in a scenic part of Ireland, when the weather is likely to be good, combined with a chance to play in a well structured poker tournament as part of their itinerary. Two opportunities to do just that are available this summer. The first of these is scheduled to run from 24th to 26th July in the seaside resort of Tramore in Co. Waterford. The Waterford Masters, sponsored by Brucepoker, has an entry fee of €400 + 40 and has a guaranteed €40,000 prize pool. The venue is the Grand Hotel in Tramore. The resort is family friendly with a funfair close to the long golden sandy beach, for any player who wants to bring the kids for a weekend break. For any further information, call Brian O’Keefe on 00353 861 035798 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 00353 861 035798 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

For the slightly bigger bankroll, The Irish Classic Poker Festival is scheduled to run from Monday 10th to Sunday 16th August at the Macau Club in Cork City. The 7th edition of this quality festival features a buy in of €1,000 + 100 for which you get a starting stack of 15,000 with 75 minute levels and a €100,000 guarantee. This year, for the first time, there will be two starting days and a further two days to complete the tournament. As an added bonus, anyone who plays in the main event qualifies for a live free roll for the Betfair WSOP Europe Free Million Dollar Game. The idea behind this promotion is to give Betfair customers a chance to play for a $1million top prize in London as part of the WSOPE in September. A series of regional qualifiers are being held throughout Europe, the UK and Ireland to find a winner who will get an all expenses paid trip to London to take part in the final. The winner of the Cork live heat will return to Cork at the end of August for the Irish regional final to compete against 18 online qualifiers for the right to represent Ireland in London and a chance to win the million dollar first prize.
The festival week includes a variety of events and satellites including a Pot Limit Omaha tournament, a ladies event, a charity event in aid of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the week rounds off with a pub challenge event. This event is the final act of a series of local pub qualifiers and, if my past experience is anything to go by, is quite lively and a lot of fun. Anyone can buy in direct to the pub challenge final. In fact, the whole festival is usually a lot of fun and is definitely one of my favourite annual festivals. The tournament structures are excellent, the casino staff friendly and helpful and the nightly buffets are about the best to be had on these islands, with free wine and beer thrown in for good measure! All this and a free shot at the Million Dollar Game, how could you miss it?

TEAM EVENT

The €30,000 added Team Championship of Poker takes place at the City West Hotel, Dublin, from August 20th to 23rd. The event is open to teams of 6 with a buy in of €400 (includes €40 reg.) for each player. Individual players who wish to take part and do not have a team to play for can register an interest and be teamed up with other interested players in the same situation. There will be individual as well as team prizes. Full details and contact information can be found online at www.teamcop.com

If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com

BITS AND PIECES

BITS AND PIECES

By Mick McCloskey

TEAM POKER

Details have been announced of what is claimed to be the world’s largest team event, the Team Championship of Poker, to be held at the City West Hotel, Dublin from 20th to 23rd August. The idea behind this event is that teams of 6 battle it out over 3 days for an overall team prize as well as individual prizes. The cost of entry is €400 per player which includes a €40 registration fee. It is estimated that €30,000 will be added to the prize pool through sponsorship. The idea is that every team will have a sponsor who will pay €500 to the organisers for sponsorship rights. There has been some confusion among prospective players regarding this €500 charge for sponsorship. Any team can of course arrange for their own sponsor to pay this fee on their behalf. However, I have been talking to Fintan Gavin, head of pokerevents.ie, the outfit behind this team event. Fintan assures me that his organisation has enough sponsors signed up to ensure that any team who wants to take part can be paired up with a suitable sponsor. He tells me that a large number of online poker sites have expressed an interest as well as a number of commercial sponsors. So, basically any team that wants to take part need not worry about paying the €500 sponsorship fee. There are apparently enough sponsors out there to cover this part of the buy in. There is a full program of support events, including a charity tournament, in place over the weekend. Pokerevents.ie ran a similar tournament a couple of years ago in the same venue, based on Irish county teams. I thought this was a great success at the time and everyone involved seemed to enjoy the whole weekend. This event opens up the whole team concept to anyone who is interested as well as to teams from outside Ireland. Even individuals who can’t gather up a team of 6, or are short on numbers, can get in touch with the organisers who will endeavour to match you up with similar individuals to constitute a full team. There is a dedicated website for this event which can be found at www.teamcop.com

IRISH OPEN

I have commented in the past about the minimum payouts that have been offered in this event. For the past three years the lower placed players in the Irish Open have played for two days to get into the top 10% of the field only to be given their entry fee back, thus getting no extra reward for making it this far. This is the only poker tournament that I am aware of which does not give these lower placed players some profit on their investment. To find out what other players think on this subject, I started a thread on the Irish online poker forum, Boards.ie, which included a series of 4 questions on the subject on which forum members could vote.

The choices were:-
1) Happy with current payouts
2) Would prefer to see 25% profit over entry fee
3) Would prefer to see 50% profit over entry fee
4) Would prefer to see double the entry fee

I realise that this is not a scientific survey but, the results for what they are worth, were interesting.
Only about 7% of those who voted were happy with the current payouts. The biggest vote was for double the entry fee at 42%, with around another 32% opting for a 50% profit on their entry fee. So, in total, 74% of those who responded wanted to see at least a 50% profit element in the payouts.
Some food for thought for the tournament organisers?

THE POKER SHOW

This show started out as a nightly WSOP updates on TV a couple of years ago. Fronted by Jesse May and Padraig Parkinson, it acquired a bit of a cult following. It has now been resurrected as a live internet radio show with the same two presenters as well as a new face, Sky TV presenter Matt Broughton. It is produced by Matchroom Sports in association with sponsors, Boylesports. The show has interviews with well known players and listeners can call in live to contribute or they can email their comments. The show goes out live between 8pm and 11 pm every Sunday, Monday and Tuesday night and can be found by logging onto www.thepokershowlive.com

WINTER FESTIVAL

Following the success of the Irish Open promotion, Paddypowerpoker has announced another Sole Survivor promotion for online qualifiers to the Irish Winter Festival, due to take place from 24th October to the 26th at the City West Hotel, Dublin. The longest lasting qualifier in the main event will receive a package worth €20,000.

NEWS

The Gold Club Casino has announced details of their Letterkenny Summer Festival which will take place from 3rd to 5th July. The main event will have a €500 + 40 entry fee and two support events will also be included in this European ranking festival. For full details, check out the Gold Club website.

CONGRATULATIONS

Galwayman, Jude Ainsworth, first came to my attention when he won the Irish Poker Championship in his home city in January 2008. However he had been winning online well before this victory. He has now cemented his place in internet poker history in Ireland by winning the main $10,000 event of the Spring Cup of Online Poker (SCOOP) on the giant Poker Stars site. He achieved this victory over the Easter weekend, picking up the top prize of just under $1 million, playing in his room at the City West Hotel in Dublin where he had come to play in the Irish Open. Well played sir.

FINALLY

Good luck to all Irish players heading to Las Vegas this month for the WSOP.

If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com

USA BOUND?

USA BOUND?

By Mick McCloskey

At this time of year many Poker Europa readers will have plans, or will be making plans, for the annual WSOP marathon in Las Vegas. The bracelet events start at the end of May and continue through to the main event in July. Apart from the changes to the actual tournaments this year, there has been an important change made involving your travel arrangements since last year. Since January, anyone travelling to the USA on the visa waiver program, which includes citizens of most European countries, has a new hurdle to clear before they set off on their travels. Anyone intending to travel to the USA is required to complete an online application to enter the country, a few weeks before they travel. The online form is basically the same as the old green form you would normally complete during your journey and hand to the officer at immigration. Details are required regarding your nationality, your passport details and the address you are staying at during your visit to the USA. It also requires you to answer the usual questions about past criminal convictions, links to terrorism, moral turpitude, whatever that is, etc, etc. I have just completed my own application and I can report that the whole process is pretty simple and that I had my application approved straight away. It does state though, that this approval does not guarantee your entry to the USA and the final decision lies with the immigration officer at the point of entry. To complete the application, log onto the ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorisation) website at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov
To everyone heading over to try their luck in Vegas, I wish you all the best of luck and I will, hopefully, be meeting up with friends, old and new, during my own trip. See you there!

IRISH OPEN

The action is all done and dusted for another year and my tournament report can be read in another part of the magazine. The action has also been captured on camera by Win Media Ireland Ltd and condensed into a series of eight one hour shows for television. The first of these shows will be broadcast on the Irish TV channel TG4 at 11.30pm on Wednesday 6th May and every Wednesday night for the following 7 weeks. It is also due to be broadcast in the UK on ITV4, starting on Sunday 17th May at 00.30.

CHARITY

The poker community showed it’s generosity in back to back events in Dublin recently. First, the Fitzwilliam Club hosted a tournament for Touch Ireland and helped to raise €14,000 for that cause. The following weekend, also in Dublin, Boylespoker.com sponsored the Poker for the Homeless March Madness festival at the Jackpot Club. Former Miss World, Rosanna Davidson, broadcaster, Eamonn Dunphy and Snooker legend, Ken Doherty launched the festival on Friday 27th March and helped raise €10,000 for that cause.
Padraig Parkinson, ambassador for Poker for the Homeless said, “It’s fantastic to see such great support for this weekend and we’d like to thank everyone who played and helped organise this weekend.”
Well done to everyone involved in both events.

SHORT HANDED

Green Joker Poker presents the inaugural European Short Handed Poker Championships at the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin from 4th to 7th June. All tournaments and cash games will be played 6 handed. The main event has a buy-in of €1,000 + 100, a 20,000 starting stack with 60 minute levels and a €150,000 guaranteed prize pot. Green Joker Poker are currently running online satellites for seats to this event. All side events will also have a 20,000 starting stack. Full details can be found on the Green Joker Poker website.

FINALLY

Congratulations to Martin Silke, from Co. Mayo, on his victory in the £1,500 main event of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour at the Victoria Casino in London at the end of March. Martin overcame a quality field of 398 to record his first major victory and picked up the top prize of £172,850. It’s just a pity for Martin that the English pound is not worth nearly as much as it used to be but, I’m sure he probably won’t be too bothered by that.

If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com

BED AND BREAKFAST

BED AND BREAKFAST

By Mick McCloskey

OK, I’ve got a bone to pick and I’m not really sure who I should approach to get a definitive answer. The two separate organisations involved are the ipoker network and Paddypowerpoker.com. My problem relates to the cost of hotel rooms in the City West Hotel, venue for the upcoming Irish Open. There has been a huge advertising hoarding close to the hotel, on the main N7 route out of Dublin to the South and West of the country, for at least six months. This hoarding is promoting rooms at the hotel from €88 per night, for two people, including breakfast. Various poker sites on the ipoker network have been running satellites for Irish Open packages worth $6,500, which include entry into the main event, worth $4,700, plus $1,000 for expenses and $800 for a room at the hotel for 5 nights. This works out at $160 or around €120 per night for the room. I’m not going to quibble about exchange rates; that’s a whole different ball game which I have touched on before. Let’s just look at room rates. Despite the generally advertised rate of €88, Paddy Power has negotiated a “special rate” for players. According to their website, the room rate is €100 for a single and €115 for a double, no breakfast included. This is a little different from the ipoker package rate, including the packages available on the Paddy Power’s own poker site, of €120, presumably for a double. So, for a start, we have three totally different prices and packages. Now, let’s look at what’s available on the internet as I write this piece, about 4 weeks before the tournament. I have found at least 5 different websites offering a single room, breakfast included, for the Irish Open dates, ranging from €80 to €90 per night. The cost of a twin or double room, breakfast included, ranges from €80 to€100 per night. All these prices are significantly cheaper than those negotiated by Paddy Power or ipoker. Surely, with the number of players expected to stay in the hotel over 5 nights, Paddy Power, or ipoker, should have more than enough purchasing power to negotiate a better rate for its players than the ordinary man in the street can get on numerous internet sites. Apart from all the rooms being sold by the hotel, they must make thousands in profit from food and drink sales and the letting of their function rooms during the Irish Open. Surely they should be welcoming the amount of business they are getting on a holiday weekend in these times of financial uncertainty and should be willing to match their own advertised rate of €88, at the very least.

If anyone from ipoker or Paddy Power wishes to offer an explanation, Poker Europa will be more than happy to publish it.

In the meantime, I would advise anyone who wins a package to arrange their own hotel bookings. If you do, the poker site will give you back the cash for your hotel and you should find yourself with a nice little surplus in your pocket. I managed to get my room at City West for about half of the money I got refunded from my package, a nice little bonus of almost €300 for me.

NEWS

IRISH OPEN

The premier poker event on the Irish calendar kicks off with a €200 re-buy super satellite on 9th April with the main event starting the following day and running until a finish on Monday 13th. A full program of support events is in place, including a closing charity event on the final day.

JP POKER MASTERS

If last year’s experience is anything to go by, this tournament is a must play event. The structure is about as good as it gets for a €750 (75 reg. included) event with a 15,000 starting stack, 60 minute blinds for 10 levels, increasing to 90 minute levels after that. Sponsored by Brucepoker.com, the action kicks off on Thursday 7th May in the Red Cow Hotel, Dublin, with a €75 + 10 super satellite with 2 re-buys or 1 re-buy and a top up for €50 each. There is a full program of support events over the weekend. The main event has a guaranteed €100,000 prize pool. Full details can be found at www.jppoker.ie

GREEN JOKER SHORT HANDED

For the short handed specialists, Green Joker Poker is running a series of events from 4th to 7th June at the Ballsbridge Inn, Dublin. The main event is a €1,000 + 100 freeze-out with a 20,000 starting stack and 60 minute levels. The prize pot is a guaranteed €150,000. All tables, including cash games will be 6 handed. Full details can be found on The Green Joker Poker website.

BOYLES

Boylesports have been very active on the Irish poker scene since Paul Spillane took over the reins running the poker side of the business. They have taken on a number of players on various sponsorship deals including Irish stars Marty Smyth and Padraig Parkinson. I’ve also seen a number of English based players sporting their logo. The latest of these appears to be “Mr. Cool” Marc Goodwin, who topped the European rankings in 2008. We can expect to see Marc playing more events in Ireland in future.

If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com

CHARITY

CHARITY

By Mick McCloskey

Poker tournaments have for a long time been a way of raising funds for various charities and community projects throughout Ireland. Indeed, when I first started playing tournament poker, back in the pre internet dark ages, the only tournaments available in my part of the world, were organised mostly by sporting, community or charitable groups as a way of raising funds for various projects. The game in those days was mostly 5 Card Stud in the North of the country and 5 Card Draw Poker in the rest of Ireland. Such local events exist to this day, now mostly playing Hold’em, and a lot of the major events in Ireland now have a charity tournament included, due largely to the fund raising efforts of Padraig Parkinson and Eamonn Connolly. It is a great credit to the organisers and players involved and I’m sure their generosity is fully appreciated by the beneficiaries of these events.

Players will have a further chance to show their charitable sides this month, with the opportunity to win significant prizes for themselves in the process. One of the biggest buy in charity events yet is scheduled to take place in Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Club on 21st and 22nd March. The action is due to get underway at 4pm on Saturday 21st. The buy in is €500 + 50 of which €100 from each player goes direct to the designated charity, TOUCH Ireland, and €400 goes into the prize pool.

The Poker community in Ireland can now play their part in helping the valuable work of TOUCH Ireland. Over the last 6 years they have been responsible for building residential centres, schools, health and support centres in Zambia, Cameroon, India and Sri Lanka. 100% of the funds raised by TOUCH Ireland go directly to the source of these projects. Specifically, TOUCH is looking to raise funds in 2009 to buy a pick up truck which is essential to continue the building programme for 2 schools in Lusaka, Zambia.

So, as there is really not much happening in Ireland this month as regards major ranking tournaments, this is a great opportunity for players to get involved in a big buy in event and to feel good about themselves, whatever the outcome. So get yourselves to the Fitz on the 21st and do your bit for a worthy cause. Full details can be found on the Fitzwilliam Card Club website.

NEWS

Dealer Co-Coordinator, Danielle Paynter has set up a database of poker dealers in Ireland and can organise and supply dealers for events of any size, as well as actually organising dealer shifts and tables during the event itself.
If you are organising a poker event or wish to work as a dealer, Danielle can be contacted by email to danielledealers@gmail.com or by phone in Ireland at 087 235 0256 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 087 235 0256 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or in the UK at 07775 844481

IRISH OPEN

Ireland’s premier poker event is fast approaching and live satellites for seats are currently being organised in clubs throughout Ireland and, no doubt, further afield as well. Paddy Power, the event sponsors, are running a special promotion for players who qualify on their online site, in the form of a €100,000 value package for the longest lasting qualifier. Sounds like a great last longer bet to me.
For players who do not qualify, Paddy Power has launched an online registration service through the www.irishpokeropen.com website for all events over the Easter weekend at Dublin’s City West Hotel.
A Paddy Power rep tells me that players will have free tea, coffee and bottled water available over the weekend. These items can be expensive in many Irish hotel poker event venues and will, no doubt, be well appreciated by the players.

J P POKER MASTERS

This event, sponsored by Bruce Poker.com, has been announced for 7th to 10th May at the Red Cow Hotel, Dublin. The €100,000 guaranteed main event has a buy in of€750 (reg. included) and a full schedule of support events is in place. For full details log onto www.jppoker.ie

SHORT HANDED

For 6 handed play specialists, Green Joker Poker has announced the European Short Handed Poker Championship, to be held at the Ballsbridge Inn, Dublin, from 4th to 7th June. The €1,000 + 100 main event has a guaranteed €150,000 prize pool. For full details, check out the Green Joker Poker website.

If you have any news views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

By Mick McCloskey

The good.
I spent the first weekend of 2009 in Galway at the Party Poker Irish Poker Championship. Although the numbers were down a little from last year, probably a sign of things to come in these times of economic uncertainty, the organisers really put on a show which they can be proud of. The venue was first class as was the poker room and the nightly buffet in the hotel’s main restaurant. In addition, they laid on a players party the night before the main event and the party atmosphere continued every night of the festival with a rock band playing and the bar remaining open well into the wee small hours. There were also regular guest performers, such as the Devilfish and American Kenna James, in action most nights. The TV feature table was placed in a set made up to look like a typical Irish pub. Recordings from the tournament are already being shown in a series being screened on Sunday nights by Irish broadcaster RTE and will be shown later, via satellite and cable channels, on ITV4.

The bad,
Well, I managed to get busted out of the main event fairly early when I ran my pocket Queens into 5, 7 and then lost the rest of my stack when I flopped top two pair and ran into a set. So I decided to have a night out in Galway with a friend to try to cheer myself up. After walking through the town centre for at least 45 minutes, looking for a Chinese restaurant, we eventually found what must rank as the worst one in the whole of County Galway never mind the city. It advertised itself as a restaurant but it was really more of a semi store room with a couple of tables, behind the take away. The food was actually quite good but we were alone in the place for the duration of our visit, apart that is from the cooks walking through every time they had a takeaway order ready. On the way back, we found that we had walked right past what looked to be a really good Chinese restaurant, doh! Trouble was, it was situated upstairs on the 1st floor and had only a small entrance on the ground floor. So anyway, we were looking for a pub with some music on the way back but the first few places we found were totally packed out. We eventually found one with a bit of space and somewhere to sit. Unfortunately, the singer/ guitar player, with a drum/rhythm machine for backing, didn’t have a note in his head and we discovered we had also found, probably the worst music pub in Galway! It just wasn’t my day.

The ugly.
Most poker players in Ireland will probably have heard about the discrepancy in the chip counts on day two of the main event. It appears that, at least one player had managed to get his hands on and introduce some high denomination chips into the tournament. It was discovered that there were around 135,000 more chips in play than there should have been. The tournament was suspended while an investigation was carried out. The suspicion, rightly or wrongly, fell on one particular player but, unfortunately, there was not enough evidence to be 100% sure that this player was involved and should be asked to leave the tournament. While the physical security of the tournament chips seems to have been compromised, it is really disgusting that whoever was responsible for introducing the chips seems to have gotten away with it.

Poker tournaments in Ireland have rightly earned an excellent reputation over the last few years and it would be a real shame if this reputation was to be damaged by the despicable actions of one individual. The timing could not really have been worse, with player numbers seeming to be falling due to economic conditions. Let’s hope that this unsavoury incident does not damage future events. Tournament organisers must do all in their power to ensure that lessons are learned and that there is no possibility of a repeat episode of this sort.

They say that every cloud has a silver lining. Because of the situation, the organisers decided to donate €28,000, the approximate cash value of the extra chips discovered to be in play, to Padraig Parkinson’s Charity tournament for the homeless. Players who played in the main event were able to play the charity tournament for €100 instead of the advertised €330. Around €60,000 was raised for the nominated charities.

NEWS

After the glut of tournaments at the end of 2008, there seem to be no major events in the pipeline right now for February and March. By the time you read this, the European Deep stacks event in Dublin will probably be done and dusted.

The next major event on the horizon is, of course, the Paddy Power Irish Open, being held over Easter weekend at the City West Hotel on the outskirts of Dublin. Satellites for seats and hotel and travel packages are currently running on various internet poker sites. Paddy Power’s own site are running a promotion for their online qualifiers which has a €100,000 value prize for the last man standing in the main event, made up of cash and tournament entries. Happily I have already qualified for this. What am I going to do with myself on Sunday evenings between now and Easter?
Paddy Power.com has also announced that online registration is now available through their Irish Open website.

Roy “The Boy” Brindley has been in touch to let me know that his autobiography, entitled “Life’s a Gamble” is being published and will go on sale in all major book stores on 26th February.

If you have any news, views or events, you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com

DUPLICATION

DUPLICATION

By Mick McCloskey

Over the last three months of the year just passed there has been a real glut of major poker tournaments taking place around Ireland. While all this action is to be welcomed, a few of these events clashed with each other. Ireland is not really a big enough country for two tournaments to clash without both suffering in terms of numbers. I have been talking to a number of people about this situation and the general feeling seems to be that too many clashes are taking place and that organisers should be more diligent in trying to ensure these do not happen. Obviously, there are certain traditional dates in the poker calendar which are well known for hosting major poker events. These dates are more or less sacrosanct and it would be foolish for any new entrant to mess with them. As regards other newer events competing for a share of the market, I think it makes sense for both organisers and players not to be left in a position of having two, or more major events in the same week.

There are various ways available to organisers to try to avoid clashes. A thread on this subject has been opened on the Irish online forum, boads.ie This site also has a special section available for organisers to list details of their tournaments.
For organisers who wish to run tournaments eligible for European Ranking status, full details of the criteria necessary for ranking status, as well as an up to date list of ranking events, can be found on the website, pokerineurope.com. This site operates in conjunction with Poker Europa magazine in trying to keep up to date listings both online and in print.

Another useful tool available to organisers and players alike is the Hendon Mob data base which lists all poker tournaments worldwide as well as having the facility to break down the lists to look at tournaments by country, by region or by continent.

Finally, I endeavour to keep an up to date list of major Irish tournaments on my own website and am always happy for organisers to get in touch with me with details of their events.

These are just a few of the methods which tournament organisers can use. Unfortunately not all organisers make the effort to use the resources available to them to publicise their events. If they did, there would be less duplication.

NEWS

Celtic Poker Tour are set to hold their Grand Final in the Clonmel Park Hotel from 16th to 18th January. The main event has a guaranteed prize pool of €100,000 and costs €500 + 50 to enter with one re-buy or top up available at €200. Also running over the weekend is a super satellite and a €150 + 20 support event.

Cue Club Events, in conjunction with Bruce Poker.com, present the Lakes of Killarney Hold’em Festival from 29th January to 1st February. The sponsors, BrucePoker.com are adding €5,000 to the prize pool of the €500 + 50 main event which will feature a 15,000 starting stack and 60 minute levels The main event is scheduled to run for three days. The festival includes a super satellite, a two day support event priced at €300 and a final freeze-out costing €170. For further details, email cueclub@eircom.net

European Deepstack Poker Championship II

Green Joker Poker has announced details of the second running of their Deepstack event. It will take place in the Green Isle Hotel, Dublin, from 5th to 8th of February. The three day main event has a buy-in of €1,500 +150 and features a huge 50,000 starting stack with a 60 minute clock and a slow structure starting with the usual 25/50 level. Only 250 seats are being made available for this event so deep stack fans would be advised to book early. This year there will be one starting day for all players on Friday 6th February. The festival includes a super satellite on 5th February and two support events priced at €500 + 50 and €300 + 30. All the events will be run under the control of the excellent J.P. McCann and his team. Online satellites are currently underway and full details of qualifiers and of the Festival can be found on the Green Joker Poker website.

IRISH OPEN

Qualifying satellites for this Easter’s Irish Open continue on Paddypowerpoker.com and qualifiers can look forward to being included in Paddy Powers last longer promotion, which will be worth a juicy €100,000 to the winner in cash and tournament entries. As we go to press, it has just been announced that, as forecast in my last column, the venue for the Irish Open will indeed be Dublin’s City West Hotel. You heard it here first.

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to the latest Irish player to have a big poker pay day. Irish poker legend Donnacha O’Dea’s son, Eoghan took down the main event of the European Championship of Online Poker, playing on Paddy Power.com He defeated a field of 1,282 players in this $1,060 buy-in event to walk off with the first prize of $315,000. Perhaps Eoghan can now come out from under the shadow of his famous father and claim his own place in Irish poker’s elite.
If you have any news, views or events you can contact me by email to mickymccloskey@hotmail.com