Irish News

All About Timing

In an astute move, the grand opening of Dermot Desmond's €5.5 million Sporting Emporium Casino took place on the eve of the Merrion Casino's European Poker Tour (EPT) festival.



Its manager, bookmaker Albert Sharpe, has reportedly addressed letters to high-rolling businessmen in the property, stockbroking, and financial services sectors, hoping to attract their high-stakes business.



The sector is a million miles away from the interests of the average poker player, who is more likely to be found sourcing free tea and sandwiches than lashing around thousands on games of chance. However, plans to cash in on the poker craze remain, and the new venue already has formulated a tournament schedule. Details of this schedule will appear as soon as we have them.



Remaining With High-stakes Players …

GameAccount, an Internet gaming site owned by some of Ireland's wealthiest industrialists, is set to become the latest online leisure group to seek a stock market listing. Its billionaire owners expect a valuation of about £100 million (€147 million, $176 million), if current talks to acquire a larger rival are successful.



Backed by Michael Smurfit, chairman of the Jefferson Smurfit Group, financier Dermot Desmond, and Betfair's Andrew Black, the firm is expecting to appoint advisers, with the aim of bringing the business to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) by Christmas.



GameAccount was founded in April 2001 by London-based Dermot Smurfit, nephew of Michael, and brother of Trial and Retribution actress Victoria. The company hosts the world's largest online tournaments for backgammon, gin rummy, and blackjack, and stages golf, darts, and pool games.



Playing Aces in Galway

The 4 Aces Card Club in Galway is offering nightly hold'em tournaments starting at 9 p.m.



The venue is located on Upper Dominick Street and can be contacted on +353 91 589199.

Poker at the Dinner Table



Controversy surrounding the latest paddypower.com advertisement has ensured that the campaign has attracted a level of exposure far beyond its initial six-figure budget.



Based on Da Vinci's painting The Last Supper, it featured Jesus and the Apostles playing poker, roulette, and a variety of other card games.



According to the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI), it has resulted in one of the highest numbers of complaints for any single advertisement.



In an interview on the TV show Morning Ireland, PaddyPower Marketing Manager Ken Robertson claimed that the company intended no offense, and that the ad was meant to be lighthearted fun. When asked whether Robertson would use a similar ad mocking Islam, he quickly replied: "No, of course not!"



Meanwhile, PaddyPower has increased its annual turnover by 28 percent to €1.16 billion, making profits of €61 million in the process. Other Irish bookmakers such as Boyle Sports, Hacketts, and Celtic Bookmakers also have indicated their turnover and profits are increasing at a rapid rate. The latter two have not ruled out an entrance into the online poker market.



In an earlier issue, we incorrectly stated that Paddypowerpoker was on the same network as WilliamHillPoker and BetfairPoker; this is not the case, and our apologies go to them.



Incidentally, in a recent statement, Betfair announced an agreement to extend its contract with software providers CryptoLogic until June 2006, with an option to extend to January 2007.



Christmas Rush
Two festivals will take place in Ireland during the early part of December. First up is Cork's Christmas Poker Festival, Dec. 1-4, where there will be no-limit hold'em tournaments with buy-ins of €100, €250, €500, and €1,000 for the main event.



The feature event, to which Paddypowerpoker.com has been staging satellites, has an estimated prize pool of €150,000.

Belfast's Cavendish Club will host the Northern Ireland Open Festival, Dec. 8-11. There will be £100 and £200 hold'em freezouts, along with a £100 supersatellite for the main event, which has a £1,000 buy-in. The event is sponsored by Ladbrokespoker.com.



Without a Hiccup

Just as Mats Gavatin saw off his older, and more experienced, counterparts when landing the Dublin leg of the European Poker Tour, Dublin pensioner Paddy Hicks has been showing that age is no handicap in poker, with an impressive run of results at the Fitzwilliam Card Club.



The runner-up in the 2003 Irish Winter Festival main event, Hicks, who is well into his 70s, won the Fitz's monthly league, by virtue of a number of great results that led to a cash prize and the lion's share of a top-10 finishers freezeout.



The local character then proceeded to split a monthly €250 freezeout during his outstanding winning spree.



Cruising From Dublin

Dublin's Merrion Casino is set to stage a satellite for the Ladbrokespoker.com Caribbean Cruise in early December. It is hoped that a total of five cruise tickets, with accompanying entry into a $5,500 on-board freezout event, will be generated. The packages are worth approximately €9,200/£6,200 apiece.



The cruise sails from Miami on Saturday, Jan. 14, and visits the Virgin Islands, Antigua, St. Maartin and Hispaniola.