THE STATE OF CORK

THE STATE OF CORK

Cork is an interesting city. It’s partly built on the side of a hill overlooking the River Lee and must have some of the steepest streets in Ireland, outside of Derry City. I just love my visits to the city for the poker festivals at the Macau Club. However, it is not like other Irish cities I have been to. For a start, it has its own dialect which is pretty much like a foreign language to most visitors. I find myself nodding and smiling a lot when some of the locals are talking to me. For visitors from the UK or Europe it must be even more difficult to communicate with the locals. The city centre has its fair share of shops and pubs, much the same as most Irish cities. Walking around however, I noticed a marked difference in the type of some of the premises. There seem to be more traditional barber shops in the city, offering a full cut throat razor shaving service, than any where else I have ever been to. I was also amazed at the number of music shops I came across in the city centre area. When I say music shops I don’t mean record or CD shops. I mean shops selling a full variety of musical instruments. They are everywhere. Cork must have some of the most well groomed and best equipped musicians in Ireland!
The last time I visited, I booked one of those cheap flight deals and flew in from Dublin. The parking charge at Dublin airport cost more than the flight. Flying into Cork, you land at one of the most modern and attractive airport terminals in Ireland. The people at Dublin airport must be green with envy. I’m not sure of the relationship between the people of Dublin and Cork and how they view each other these days. All I can tell you is that when the flight from Cork arrived back in Dublin, all the passengers had to proceed through passport control and Customs. What does that tell you? And there was me thinking that Cork and Dublin were part of the same country. Didn’t I tell you that Cork was different!

HORSE

So, who is it gonna be? Where is it gonna be? Who will be first to organise a reasonably priced HORSE tournament in Europe? I know that there was one in London this year as part of the WSOPE but that was hardly in the reasonable price range. Are you, like me, getting a little jaded with all the No Limit Hold’em tournaments on offer around Europe? Would you like a bit of a challenge in trying to master the mixed games contained in HORSE? The games are all played with limit betting and consist of rounds or levels of Hold’em, Omaha high low eight or better, Razz (Seven Stud lowball), Seven Card Stud and Stud high low eight or better. Whoever decides to take the plunge and try something different during their 2008 festival, please reserve a seat for me.

NEWS

Big Slick Events and Blonde Poker continue their collaboration in promoting poker in Ireland with two events in February. The first is the four day Coursing Festival running from 3rd to 6th at the Minella Hotel in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.
Following that, they are organising a team event in the Woodlands Hotel, Waterford from 22nd to 24th February. Each team consists of four players and the buy-in is €210 per player. The players start the tournament with a 10,000 chip stack each. Support events will run on the Saturday, €150 + 20, and on the Sunday with a €100 + 20 freeze-out. More details can be found on the Big Slick or the Blonde Poker websites.

DEEP STACKS

The much anticipated Green Joker Poker European Deep Stack Championships takes place in the Drogheda Poker Club from 2nd to 10th February. Drogheda Co. Louth is about a 20 minute drive north from Dublin Airport. Following six handed NLH and Pot Limit Omaha support events, the main event has a two day start on Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7th and continues on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For their €1,400 + 100 entry fee, each player starts with a massive 50,000 chip stack and 60 minute levels, starting at 25-50. Full details can be found on the Green Joker Poker and on the Antes Up websites.

IRISH OPEN

The build up to Ireland’s premier poker event, the Paddy Power Irish Open, continues. Live and online satellites can be found at various venues and sites. The main event is guaranteed to pay out at least €3 million and anything up to 1,000 players, and possibly more, from all over the world, are expected to take part. The action kicks off at the City West Hotel, Dublin, with a €300 super satellite (re-buy) on Wednesday 19th March. Day 1a of the €4,500 main event starts on Thursday 20th with day 1b starting on Friday 21st. Friday also sees the €300 + 30 Ladies Irish Open Tournament. The first support event is a €1,500 + 150 two day freeze-out starting on Saturday 22nd. A €400 + 40 Pot Limit Omaha re-buy starts on Sunday 23rd and the final event is a €300 + 30 Double Chance Scalps (€30) tournament on Monday 24th March. You can register and pay now for the 2008 Irish Open and find full details at http://www.irishpokeropen.com/

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

Rules R Rules

Rules R Rules

By Mick McCloskey

As I travel around different venues for poker tournaments, I come across all sorts of local rules which vary from place to place. Even the most experienced and attentive players can be caught out. A situation came to my attention recently in a card room, which shall remain anonymous. A player, who for the purpose of this story I will call John, was involved in a No Limit Hold’em cash game. He got into a pot with two other players, holding a pocket pair. The other two players were all in and John had money back. When all the cards on board had been dealt out John waited for the other two players to declare their hands. They both had big cards and both missed the board. John then picked up his cards and turned over his winning pocket pair. One player piped up and declared that John’s hand was dead as it was placed face down “over the line” A ruling was called for and the Floor man ruled the hand dead. Now I know that the ruling should be final but, whatever rules are in force the rule of fairness to the player should always take precedence. To my mind there was a major flaw in this ruling. Because the card room was running a major festival, they had borrowed some card tables to cope with the extra numbers. Their own tables were all of the same design and had a clear action line around the table which was at least 12 inches in front of the players. The borrowed table, on which this incident took place, had a line which had at most a 6 inch space and in some places was only around 4-5 inches in front of the player. With chips placed in front, it was difficult for any player to keep all of their cards behind this line. The visiting player may have had his cards placed face down in front of this line but they were never in the muck or touching any mucked cards. Common sense and fairness should have ensured that John should have won the pot. Until all card rooms adopt a common set of rules, travelling players should, within reason, be aware of local rules. Even the most astute are liable to be caught out some times so be very, very careful.

While on the subject of rules, conformity and common sense, a couple of dealing incidents took place which didn’t make a lot of sense. I was playing in a couple of fast structured satellites when some situations came up. Incident no. 1 came up on a board of 10, J, Q, K. Two players got involved and all the chips ended up in the middle. The cards were turned up and of course each player held an Ace for the top straight. Neither player had a re-draw to a flush or better on the river so the only possible outcome could be a split pot. Despite this, the dealer insisted in counting out and matching up the chips and then pushing them all together into the pot. Then the dealer had to separate and split all the chips between the two players involved. What a waste of time. I saw the same situation occur at another table where two players were all in with A, K each. Surely dealers can be trained to leave the chips separate in these situations. If by chance one player happens to hit a flush the pot can be sorted out afterwards. In most cases, there will be a split pot and it is usually a waste of time to match up and push all the chips into the centre. Maybe the card room managers could do us all a favour and make a New Years resolution to eliminate this time wasting nonsense.

NEWS

Neill Kelly’s Big Slick Events Company seems to be upping the ante in running reasonably priced poker events outside of the Dublin area in 2008. The first of these takes place, in association with Irish Eyes Poker, from 10th to 13th January. Entitled The Lakes of Killarney Hold’em Festival, the action takes place in the Killarney Avenue Hotel, Co. Kerry and kicks off with a €50 super satellite with one re-buy and one add-on. The three day main event starts on Friday 11th and features a 15,000 starting stack and 60 minute levels. The buy in is €500 + 50. There are two support events costing €200 + 20 and €150 + 20 with the €200 event being played over two days on a 40 minute clock with 10,000 starting chips.
The following month Big Slick moves to Clonmel, Co. Tipperary for the four day Coursing Festival running from 3rd to 6th February. The venue is The Minella Hotel and entry fees range from €100 to €250.
They then move to Waterford for a team event, in association with Blonde Poker. The venue is the Woodlands Hotel and the dates are from 22nd to 24th February. Each team consists of four players and the buy-in is €210 per player.
Further events are planned, including The Irish Series of Poker, featuring a €1,000 main event.
For further details, log onto the Big Slick Events website or Blonde Poker’s website.

DEEP STACKS

Another major event coming up in February is The Green Joker Poker European Deep stack Championship running from 2nd to 10th in the Drogheda Poker Club, about 20miles North of Dublin Airport. Players will start with a massive 50,000 chips with 60 minute levels played over 4 days. The entry fee is €1,400 + 100 and qualifying satellites are running on Green Joker Poker and Bluesqpoker.
There is a full schedule of support events including Short Handed Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha events. The main event is restricted to 300 players and the support events are less than half that number so early booking is recommended. For full details of the schedule and local hotels etc. check out the Green Joker Poker site or the Antes up website.

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

PRIZE MONEY AND AUCTIONS

PRIZE MONEY AND AUCTIONS

By Mick McCloskey

I was talking to Liam Flood, Irish Open tournament director, and to Noel Hayes, from Paddy Power Poker, at the recent EPT in Dublin. I wanted to air one of my pet gripes to both of them regarding next Easter’s Irish Open. Paddy Power, to their credit, are guaranteeing a €3 million prize pot for the main event. To cover themselves for this guarantee, they would need 715 players, excluding registration fees. This year they managed to attract 708 players to the Open and I would imagine that, due to the popularity of the tournament, they should be able to achieve similar numbers, even though it will cost an extra €1,000 to play in next years event. According to the official website, the top 72 players will be paid, with a juicy, headline grabbing, €800,000 for first spot. My problem with the payout lies at the bottom end of the scale. As presently published, places 64 to 72 will get €4,500 each for their efforts, exactly their money back. And when I say efforts that is exactly what it will take to get to this stage. Next years event will have two first starting days. So, lets say a visitor from the UK, or further afield, plays on day 1 and just makes the money, he will have incurred travel expenses and at least 4 nights hotel expenses. He will have played his heart out for at least three days just to get into the money, and for what? Just to be handed his entry fee back for a net loss on the event. I don’t think this is good enough and other players I have spoken to think the same. Even the people who run the WSOP seem to have realised that making the money in a big event deserves some reward/profit. This year, any one who made the money in the $10,000 main event got a minimum of $20,300 for their endeavours. No other major or minor tournament that I know off pays back the entry fee only. So come on Paddy Power, it’s not too late to change the payout schedule. Give a little bit of profit to the guys at the lower end of the prize list. I’m pretty sure that next years winner will be quite happy with ¾ of a million euro in his pocket and it’s still a hell of a good headline grabbing figure for the sponsors. It presently translates into more than 1 million dollars. It doesn’t seem that long ago that this was the top prize in the WSOP main event!
The Irish Open takes place in The Citywest Hotel, Dublin in March 2008. It kicks off with a €300 re-buy super satellite on the 19th with the main event (day 1) starting on the 20th. There will be a full programme of support events, including an Irish Open Ladies freeze-out.

AUCTIONS – IRISH STYLE

At the recent Simon Community charity event, organised by Padraig Parkinson and hosted at the Dublin leg of the Poker Stars European Poker Tour, “Mad” Marty Wilson added to the proceedings, and to the money raised, by organising tombola drawings and an auction for autographed sports memorabilia. The first item to come under the hammer was a snooker cue and case signed by former World Champions Steve Davis and Ken Doherty, who were both actually playing in the poker event. Marty got the bidding started at €100 and was raising the price of bids by increments of €50 at a time. He managed to get the bids up to €450 and was trying to encourage some one to make the next step to €500. An enthusiastic Rory Liffey shouts “550 euro” and is now the proud owner of a signed cue! I’m not sure if any alcohol had been taken at this stage as it was still early afternoon in Dublin. Well done Rory.

NEWS

No sooner do we get over the New Year festivities before battle commences again for the first major European tournament of 2008. The tournament is the Irish Poker Championship, sponsored by Party Poker, in conjunction with Poker Events.ie. The venue is the Radisson SAS Hotel in Galway and the event kicks off with a €200 + 20super satellite on Thursday 3rd January. The €2,000 main event will start on Friday 4th and will run over three days. The event will be recorded for television and will be broadcast by the national TV company, RTE, over six episodes. On Saturday there will be a €800 + 80 freeze-out and on Sunday a €400 + 40 freeze-out.

Green Joker Poker has announced details of an exciting event next February, namely The European Deepstack Poker Championships. The main event will be a €1,400 + 100 freeze-out with a 50,000 starting stack, played on a 60 minute clock and with every conceivable level, played over four days. Mike Lacey from Green Joker Poker says “This will be the best structure to be found in any European Poker tournament.” The tournament will have a two day start, with a maximum number of 150 players each day, starting on Wednesday 6th February at The Drogheda Poker Club, Drogheda, about 20 miles north of Dublin Airport. Support events will include a €500 short handed event with a 20,000 starting stack and 60 minute levels and a €500 Pot Limit Omaha event with the same structure. As numbers are limited, early booking would be advised. You can register and pay online on the Green Joker Poker site which is also running online satellites for a package to the main event. These satellites are also available on Bluesquarepoker. This event sounds like the business.

Finally, I just want to take this opportunity to wish all Poker Europa readers best wishes for the Christmas holiday season and a peaceful and profitable poker new year.

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

World Cup and new record

World Cup and new record

By Mick McCloskey

Last month I mentioned the Poker Stars World Cup of Poker and promised a tournament report this month. Unfortunately, due to issues of space, this has not proved to be possible. However, I just wish to share a few details and memories here. The Irish team of qualifiers managed to play their way into the last eight to win an all expenses paid trip to Barcelona for the live finals. At this stage Poker Stars added a guest player to each team and I had the honour of being picked as the Irish team’s guest player. All the heats and the final were recorded for television so watch out for the broadcast. I’m not sure what channel it will be on but I will let you know as soon as possible.
Two of the better known players to be picked as guests were Greg Raymer for USA and Daniel Negreanu for Canada. Both of these guys made a big impression on all the teams in Spain. On the first night there we were treated to a reception in one of the beachside restaurants followed by a free roll for about $1,600 in the casino afterwards. Daniel, along with EPT tournament director, Thomas Kremser, got to be dealers for the night. Greg managed to get knocked out early and spent the next couple of hours teaching a bunch of guys around his table how to play three different games, 2-7 draw, Baduki and another game, which is a combination of these two games, with split pot possibilities. Not only did he explain the mechanics of the games but also explained the best strategy to employ. What a goldmine of information this former WSOP champion is and quite happy to share it all.
Daniel had mixed loyalties as he was playing for Canada but he also had a real affinity with the Romanian team, his country of origin, and was able to communicate with the Romanians in their native language.
Suffice to say that a great time was had by all, win or lose, and many good memories will have been taken to many different parts of the world following this event.

NEWS

Ireland has yet again broken all European records for tournament poker. At the recent International Poker Open in Dublin, a €150 buy-in event, organisers Stephen McClean and Derek Williams, from www.pokerireland.ie, managed to accommodate 1,072 players, representing 17 different countries. Irishman Colin King managed to keep a lot of the prize money in Ireland by taking top spot and €32,000. In second was David Pook from Netherlands winning €17,850 while €9,075 went to Daniel Rudd from UK for third spot.

Paddypowerpoker.com has announced further details about next year’s €3 million guaranteed Irish Open. The venue has been revealed to be the excellent Citywest Hotel to the south west of Dublin. The complex has two hotels with a total of 1,314 rooms, two golf courses and a health and Leisure Club. The dates are from 19th to 24th March and the tournament capacity has been set at 1,000. They have also announced that the longest lasting paddypowerpoker qualifier will receive free entry into the 2009 event and, should one of their qualifiers win the Open, he/she will receive free entry into the following five Opens. Qualifying satellites are currently underway on www.paddypowerpoker.com

Pokerevents.ie has announced that the Irish Poker Championship 2008 will be held at the Radisson Hotel and Spa in Galway from 3rd to 6 January. The event will be sponsored by Partypoker.com and will be Europe’s first major tournament of 2008. The event will kick off with a €200 + 20 super satellite for seats in the €2,000 main event. Two support events will also feature in the programme.
A PartyPoker.com spokesman said “We’re very pleased to sponsor this well established, highly regarded tournament and Ireland is a great country for poker with an amazing pedigree.”
Qualifying satellites are running in pubs and clubs across Ireland and online at www.partypoker.com


Finally, legendary Irish tournament director and card room manager, Luke Ivory, has opened a new casino and card room in Dublin, known, funnily enough, as Cool Hand Luke’s. Luke, who honed his skills for years at the Merrion Casino and at The Fitzwilliam Club, has returned to his old stomping ground at 81 Merrion Square (ex Merrion Casino) where he has instigated a full weekly tournament programme and cash games on demand. He is also running a monthly €330 two day special, with a Saturday start and a Sunday finish. For further details, call 003531 662 9325 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 003531 662 9325 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Tournament Payouts

Tournament Payouts

By Mick McCloskey

I understand that there has been some discussion lately about tournament payout structures so I may as well add my two pence worth to the debate.
There are basically two schools of thought. Those who think that the present top heavy structures are fine and those who think that a flatter payout would do away with most of the deal making that currently takes place in tournament poker. It is not unusual to see five or six way deals being done at many of the major festival events in Europe these days.
I would be included in the second school of thought but perhaps would go even further down the road of flatter payouts. I know many top European pros who have done well in tournaments and have accumulated plenty of prize money and ranking points but could end up making no money at the end of the year because of tournament entries and travelling and accommodation expenses. I would say that there are very few players, if any, who make a living from tournament poker alone. While one major outright win a year would probably solve this problem, achieving this outcome in reality is an enormous task. Sometimes, even getting to play in a major event is an accomplishment for many, non sponsored pros.
I would suggest that poker players could do worse than look at the way things are done on the pro golf tours. At each tournament the top 40%-50% of the field qualify for the last two rounds and all qualifiers are paid. This should ensure that even those at the bottom of payout structure will cover their expenses for that particular event. I am not suggesting that the same percentages should be used in poker but I would suggest that, in two day events, anyone who has to return for the second day should be paid. After all, any player involved will have additional travel or accommodation expenses, at the very least. A structure like this would help to keep the more consistent players on the tournament trail active and help to ensure that there is always a nucleus of travelling players who can support the many festivals now scheduled every year.
Whether this model can ever be achieved, I don’t know. What I do know is that it would first need the formation of a union or association to represent the players in Europe and that would be the subject of a whole different debate.

World Cup and Irish Open

World Cup and Irish Open

By Mick McCloskey

I’ve just returned from sunny Barcelona where I had the honour of playing for Ireland in the Poker Stars World Cup of Poker. The World Cup is a team event which started as an online free roll to select team members. Around 60 teams of four then played a series of elimination rounds to get down to the final eight teams. At this stage, a guest player was invited to join the team for the live finals in The Grand Casino Barcelona. With the rest of the team having done all the hard work to get to this stage, I was lucky enough to get the invitation to round off the Irish team and headed off to Spain for a five night, all expenses paid, trip. I want to thank team captain, Daniel Bolton and my team mates, Noel Peare, Derek Murray and Joe Connelly for putting up with me. The atmosphere and camaraderie among all the teams was great and everybody seemed to have a really good time. There was, of course, the serious side of things, in the form of $250,000 in prize money up for grabs. After five qualifying heats and a final table of four, all recorded for television, the destination of the World Cup was decided. I will be doing a full report for next month’s edition of the magazine.
In the meantime, I must thank the people from Poker Stars involved in organising the whole event, for the invitation and for looking after everyone so well, throughout the tournament. I, for one, will treasure the memory of the whole experience.

Irish Open 2008

Paddy Power has announced some initial details of next year’s event. They are certainly thinking big by planning for two first days with a capacity of 1,000 players. Considering last years record numbers, who would bet against them achieving this milestone number. My only concern is the increase in the buy in to €4,500. The cost of playing in the Irish Open has trebled in the last five years. Although there are plenty of opportunities to qualify via live and online satellites, I wonder how many regular Irish players will feel priced out of next year’s event. I appreciate that the higher numbers and increased entry fee translate into ever bigger prize pools which is all good. However, I know a number of regular players who struggled to find the funds required for the 2007 Open. For 2008, is the Irish Open really “open” to all the Irish players who should be participating in Ireland’s premier poker event?

A little bit of history

A little bit of history

By Mick McCloskey

Did you know that Ireland was the first European country to introduce Texas Hold’em tournaments?
I got to talking with Mick Cook, the veteran English poker pro, at the 2005 Irish Open Tournament in Dublin. Mick is something of a historian when it comes to Irish poker and he tells me that he and fellow English pro Derek Webb played in the very first Irish Open and that he has never missed an Irish Open since. Apart from the quality of the tournament itself, he tells me that he very much appreciates the, always warm, Irish hospitality he receives on his visits here.
This first tournament was a 7 card stud event, run by bookmaker and poker pioneer Terry Rogers in his Irish Eccentric Club in Dublin. He thinks this was held on Good Friday 1981 or 1982 and the buy-in was £500. The following year the game was, for the first time, No Limit Texas Hold’em. From Dublin, Mick took the game to England and introduced it to the punters at The Rainbow Casino in Birmingham and, from Birmingham, to The Victoria Casino in London. He tells me that the first Hold’em games in England were played half pot limit. Mick first went to Las Vegas in 1982/83, where he started to hone his new found Hold’em skills. He also latched onto another new game, which he brought back to England, Pot Limit Omaha.

    The real kick start for the game in Ireland and the UK came in 1984, when a group of about 25 American players arrived in Ireland to play The Irish Open at Killiney Castle. This group included the reigning World Series of Poker champion, Tom McEvoy as well as two times World Champion Stu Ungar. Indeed, Stu Ungar proceeded to win the first two events that year. Tom McEvoy won the main event, after a two hour heads up battle with Mick Cook. The whole event attracted widespread TV and press coverage in Ireland and the UK. Mick recalls that the main event had about 45-50 runners and had an entry fee of £1,000.

    Among the Irish players in the early years Mick recalls such characters as Terry Rogers, ”Suitcase Johnny”, ”Famous Seamus”, David Jackson, Colette Doherty, Donnacha O’Dea, Sean and Don Fagan, Liam Flood and Jim Langham, an Irish international table tennis player.
Mick was full of praise for the contribution made by Terry Rogers to the development of Poker in Ireland and, eventually in Europe as a whole. He credits Terry for his pioneering efforts in this field. He tells me that Terry gave future WSOP Champion Noel Furlong his first poker lesson. His advice to Noel was to develop a strong right arm so that he could keep pushing the chips in! If there was ever to be an Irish Poker Hall of Fame, he would nominate Terry to be the first member. Indeed, he would put him on a par with Benny Binion, who was actually a friend of Terry Rogers in those early years. He considers both Benny and Terry to be the main founders and promoters of the great game we know as Texas Hold’em.