The 25th incarnation of Ireland’s best poker tournament is ready to rock
As of lunchtime today, Tuesday April 11 2006, the Paddy Power Irish Open Main Event is sold out, will the places for all 350 runners filled.
This is great news for Europe’s oldest poker tournament, which has run since 1981, and has proved over the years to be a firm favourite with UK players up for the craic.
The event which is a €3,000 buy-in with €200 registration will feature many big European names and visiting American poker legend Mike Caro.
There is a guaranteed prize pool of €1,000,000 with €50,000 added, which has drawn players from all over Europe and beyond.
Recognised poker pros such as Andy Black, Julian Thew, Bad Girl Pham, Ross Boatman, Joe Beevers, Tony Kendall and Irish poker doyen and WSOP Main Event winner Noel Furlong will all be competing along with a host of internet qualifiers.
The event will take place at the Jury’s Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland, over the Easter weekend, with the final table being covered live from 9.30pm BST on Monday April 17 on Sky Sports 2.
Paddy Power are running a book for the event and current favorites all listed at 50/1 to win the title include: Black, Thew, Paul Jackson and Roy Brindley. While returning champion John Falconer is at 66/1.
Thanks to the sell-out, the Merrion Casino Club is opening a reserve list for the Main Event. Players wishing to add their names to the list should contact the Merrion Casino Club on +353 1 662 9325 from 2pm to 6am daily.
Players who have registered for the Irish Open Main Event but not yet paid their €3,000 entry (plus €200 registration fee) must do so by 10pm on Friday April 14 2006 or their names will be taken off the registration list. The organisers request players travelling from abroad to contact the Merrion if they will not be arriving until Saturday.
On the morning of Saturday April 15 any unallocated seats will be filled on a first come, first serve basis to Single Table Satellite Tournaments at Jury’s, Ballsbridge Hotel as they fill.
Seats at the side events at the Irish Open festival are still available.
Look out for our feature on 25 years of the Irish Open, which will be hitting the website in the coming weeks.
