Irish News

Jackpot a Hit After Four Years

The Jackpot, for so long Dublin's only cardroom, has reopened after nearly four years, offering tournaments every night of the week.



Owned by the same management as the Merrion Casino, the Jackpot cardroom is situated opposite the Collosus Casino on Montague Street and will be run by Duke Houghton, who formerly worked at the Merrion and Sporting Emporium.



The Merrion Casino's cardroom is unaffected by the opening.



Jackpot weekly schedule:

Monday €25 + €3 No-limit hold'em Rebuy

Tuesday €20 + €3 No-limit hold'em Freezeout for Beginners

Wednesday €100 + €10 No-limit hold'em Freezeout

Thursday €60 + €5 No-limit hold'em Double Shootout

Friday €50 + €5 No-limit hold'em Double Chance

Saturday €20 + €3 No-limit hold'em Three rebuys maximum

Sunday €50 + €5 No-limit hold'em Deep Stacks



All tournaments start at 9 p.m. A full menu is available during the operating hours of the club: 8 p.m.-8 a.m. Sunday to Thursday, and 8 p.m.-noon on Friday and Saturday. Tel: +353 (1) 478 5858.Fair Deal for Cork



Betting exchange and poker site Betfair has taken over Cork Macau Casino's popular betting lounge and poker terminals.



The new deal coincides with the announcement that the online giant will be sponsoring the 2006 Irish Classics Poker Festival and adding €10,000 to the feature €1,000 no-limit hold'em event.



The full festival schedule is as follows:

Aug. 16 No-limit hold'em bonus supersatellite (with added tickets) €100 + €10

Aug. 17 No-limit hold'em freezeout €300 + €30

Aug. 17 Pot-limit Omaha freezeout €500 + €40

Aug. 18 No-limit hold'em main event €1,000 + €70

Aug. 19 No-limit hold'em freezeout €500 + €40



The Gresham Metropole, next door to the club, has a special poker rate and can be contacted on: +353 21 4508122

Two in a Million



Cork's Macau Casino has two of its regular players in the forthcoming Ladbrokespoker.com Poker Million. Kieran "Flipper" Walsh, best known for his success in the Irish Championships, overcoming the biggest assembled field in European poker history (391), qualified via the sponsor's online poker room, while 18-year-old Patrick Sheehan won his ticket in a Macau satellite.



GALA

The newly formed Gaming and Leisure Association of Ireland (GALA) has issued a statement in relation to the proposed prosecution of casinos in Ireland by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell T.D. It reads: "The proposed action by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell T.D. in seeking to outlaw casino gaming and card games is 'over the top' and guaranteed to drive the gaming and poker industry underground, as confirmed by professor Peter Collins of Salford University during a recent Prime Time interview.



"Other EU countries, and in particular the United Kingdom, introduced responsible legislation in 2005 to regulate the industry appropriately. This year, the UK has issued draft structures for the establishment of a gambling commission to look at regulating all gambling activities in the UK.



"The Minister has refused to meet with GALA and has not responded to a letter seeking a meeting on the voluntary code of conduct for the industry, issued by our solicitors on March 26, 2006. Instead, he intends to put at risk over 300 jobs in the industry and appropriate taxes.



"The Minister has selected this aspect of the gambling industry for closure, and in doing so has raised serious questions as to the regulation of all forms of cash betting on horses, dogs, lotteries, and football. During the Cheltenham Festival alone, Irish bookies estimated that €100 million was gambled by the Irish community.



"The Minister is ignoring the reality that up to 50 percent of all gaming, including poker, bingo, and blackjack, is done on increasingly sophisticated Internet sites. The Minister is like King Canute trying to hold back the tide. The Internet sites are largely unlicensed and are not subject to any code of conduct. Why penalise the Irish casinos that have offered to work with the Irish authorities to put in place a meaningful code?

"Money-laundering regulation is a genuine concern, but it is being used as a fig leaf for a rational and reasonable debate on the benefits of a legalised gaming industry in Ireland. GALA accepts the need for the strictest controls in the transfer of money and recording, but an outright ban on one sector of the gambling industry will not achieve an appropriate result."



GALA's statement comes on the back of McDowell's statement to a financial task force, in which he declared:

"Casinos are illegal in Ireland. All commercial clubs where unlawful gaming takes place are illegal in Ireland. A number of places now are posing as casinos, under the rubric of private members clubs, and it's my intention to make sure the law is fully enforced against all of them and I'm going to close them all down, by using the law and amending the law if necessary; the Gaming and Lotteries Act of 1956."



Name Change

The 21 Club in Galway has been renamed the Royal Flush Casino and is promising high-stakes cash games to coincide with the Galway Racing Festival at the end of July. Contact Sylvester Geoghegan on +353 86 8122186 for more details.



Bridge Club the Place for Satellites

Saturday afternoon freerolls are gaining momentum at the Bridge Club in Co. Down. Guaranteeing a £250 prize pool, field sizes are now approaching 50 players a week.



The club also has been offering satellites for major events, with players earning seats in the PartyPoker.com, World Open, Ladbrokespoker.com Poker Million, and World Series of Poker. Tournament Director Paul Leckey said: "Our satellites are incredibly popular, and it is nice that our players can get into events offering a prize in excess of $1 million for as little as £50."Meanwhile, Mullingar's Crane Club and the Bridge Club are set to clash in a challenge match in which 10 players from each venue will match up to decide who has the better poker prowess. Details will follow, as it is possible other clubs may join to make this a regular interclub tournament. Interested parties should contact Paul Leckey on: +44 7860 419784.



Mapping Out Success

Poker.ie, an independent online poker company, has launched an interactive poker directory – pokermap.com.



In a global first, the Irish company managed by brothers Cian and Cormac O'Sheehan has created a site through which all casinos, events, and ad hoc poker games can be listed and their locations mapped – from Las Vegas to Longford, from Moscow to Manchester.



"Pokermap.com represents a new departure in how the worldwide poker community accesses information," explained co-director Cian at the launch of pokermap.com in Dublin.



Cormac added: "Of course we're in the business of poker, but it's our passion for the game that has really driven the development and creation of pokermap.com."



"Pokermap.com allows us to provide a service to the global poker audience and grow Ireland's poker presence on the global stage. It's a world first – so the whole Irish poker community can take pride in that," stated Cian.



The launch of pokermap.com comes on the back of the success of poker.ie, which was started on a kitchen table in 1999.



The site's growth has enabled the brothers O'Sheehan to look beyond providing playing rooms and branch out into other aspects of the poker business.