When I walked into the Burlington Hotel in Central Dublin at lunchtime on Good Friday to be greeted by the sight of hundreds of people massing around foyers, tea bars and registration tables the first thought to enter my head was; what would Terry Rogers make of all this?
Terry was the instigator of the Irish Open Poker Championship way back in 1981 and the responsible for introducing Texas hold'em to the salons of Europe. He had a talent for exaggeration but I doubt that even Terry had the neck to tell people his 'baby' would one day break attendance records for a European poker tournament.
708 men and women of varying levels of skill paid €3000 + €200 registration fee each and took their seats at 2:00 pm to a precise detailing of the rules by Tournament Coordinator Liam "The Gentleman" Flood. A Paddy Power chap issued poker's immortal clarion call of "Shuffle-up and Deal," causing players to rattle their 10,000 chip starting stacks as they moved into blinds of 25-50 and the clock ticked down the one hour levels.
The obligatory concentrated hush immediately fell over the giant room housing 70 brand new green baize tables geometrically sited around a centerpiece purpose-built TV studio where arc lights blazed and flashed on a half moon shaped altar of mammon - the show table. Oh how poker in Ireland has changed since Ms Colette Doherty won this crown at the start of the eighth decade of the last century in the back room of a pub on the north side of Dublin.
Famous poker faces competed with acne scarred internet kid qualifiers and mountain men from all 32 counties of the Emerald Isle. It may be English only at the table but a proliferation of tongues the other side of the rail gave definition to the real depth of the poker community. In Ireland there is an expression, "The craic was ninety" which loosely translates as, "The fun was fabulous." If you ask me I'd have to say the craic was ninety one if not more.
Irish poker players are said to be more prone to gamble than their British or European counterparts. This was borne out to some extent on Day One when the field suffered an extraordinary decimation resulting in only 247 souls still standing by close of play. Of the 461 fallen, the notable names included: Andy Black, John Kabbaj, Mel Judah, Barny Boatman, Roy Brindley, Dave Colclough, Lucy Rokach, Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly. Carlos Mortensen, the first player eliminated, saw his pocket kings cracked by Ace King off suit which flushed up the king on the river. Carlos pleaded with Liam Flood for a re-buy before heading off with a wry smile to the €25- €50 PLO cash game. He'd lasted all of eleven minutes. Funny game, poker!
Day two didn't get any easier. The new kids on the block were dominating with Roland de Wolfe, Sorel Mizzi and Paul Zimbler taking the game to anyone who wanted to take them on. The old school, represented by Dan Harrington, Mike Sexton, Surinder Sunar and Mad Marty Wilson, composed themselves with authority, but one always had the feeling this was a tournament where it was going to take a bit more than experience to conquer.
The Irish players demanded action, and with the blinds beginning to bite, a fear of gambling to get lucky was not a position to adopt. The movement of chips between players was awesome at times and dead men walking continued to form a steady stream away from the tournament area. Marty Smyth from Belfast, Nicky Pierce from Waterford, and Galway's Thomas Finneran were the lads from the land of bogs and little people who were making the biggest impact.
The money started at 72nd place and it took what seemed like an age to get there. Once reached, the carnage was like a bad day at Beechers Brook in the Grand National. Experienced Irish pro Mick McCloskey represented the old guard and figured among the chip leaders when battle ceased way past midnight.
Forty-five contestants still had something to do on day three. The action was supposed to stop at 46 players but a single hand on one of the tables right at the end saw three all-ins with acesup against kings-up against queens. The Aces stood up - how right is that?
The penultimate day everyone and their dog is way past tired. The players do their thing for a long time and naturally the play is tight - a lot of money is at stake now and it's no longer aspirational, it's right there in front of them. It took ten hours to winnow the field down to a final table of seven.
The final table had all the razzmatazz we have come to expect, Lights, Camera action followed by lots of careful play. Five Irishmen, one Canadian and an Englishman are the gladiators in this game arena. Nothing happens fast but eventually we reach the heads-up stage where England's Roland de Wolfe slugs it out with Ireland's Marty Smyth.
Roland gets the upper hand with good aggressive play but Marty gets lucky when he survives an all-in by seeing his pocket twos make a set to beat Roland's pocket threes. The luck of the Irish maybe, but this guy couples luck with a very solid game and takes the crown after two hours of heads-up play and the small matter of six hundred and fifty large to go with it. The rumors that a deal was done three out, are indeed that, rumors.
Article by: Derek Kelly of Gutshot.com
