Irish News

£100,000 Guaranteed Next for Belfast
Following on from September's hugely successful ­ladbrokespoker.com Northern Ireland Hold'em Cham­pionships – where Barry "Batroot" Craig out-battled more than 150 players for a £30,000 winner's prize – Belfast's Cavendish Club is now planning a mammoth £100,000-to-the-winner no-limit hold'em tournament.

With an entry fee of £1,500 (plus £150 registration), the event is scheduled for Dec. 17-18. Full details are yet to be finalised, although it is likely that seats will be up for grabs at one or more online cardrooms. Further updates are promised on the Club's website: www.thecavendishclub.com, or you can call on: +44 2890 324626.

The Cavendish Club, opened approximately 10 months ago, is open for business on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays from 8 p.m. onward.

Serious tournament players are advised to attend on Friday nights, when the entry fee for a no-limit hold'em competition is £100 with an optional rebuy. This tournament has a guaranteed prize pool of £4,000, although that is often comprehensively exceeded.

Friday, along with Sunday, is the best night for cash game players, with £500 sit-down games.

October's Irish Winter Festival
The numbers were up yet again for the Irish Winter Festival at the Merrion Casino, where, for the first time, Thomas Kremser acted as tournament director.

The change meant that rebuys were allowed in tournaments other than the main event (a freezout) when players held a stack less than the original starting value. Previously, players had to be out of chips to rebuy. Furthermore, top-ups were also introduced.

Incidentally, the Easter Festival will indeed be staged at Easter, when the upward trend in figures is expected to continue for the 2005 renewal.

Further ahead, there are talks afoot in regard to repeating the club's very successful World Series Satellite in 2005. Earlier this year, five main event $10,000 seats were won by locals in the largest land-based WSOP satellite Europe had to offer.

* A 200 no-limit hold'em freezout has recently been introduced at the Merrion; it takes place on the second Thursday of each month.

* The Casino is now serving alcohol on the gaming floor.

Friday's Fantastic in Fitz
Remaining in Dublin, The Fitzwilliam Card Club's Friday night 55 tournaments are now attracting field sizes ­approaching 60 players.

In fact, during the Irish Winter Festival, that figure went up to 114, as visitors opted out of the Merrion's 400 Omaha event and took their chances in the more popular hold'em event at the neighbouring venue.

Traditionally, the 250 hold'em tournament staged on the final Thursday of each month at the Fitzwilliam makes the capital's biggest figures, and with extra space currently being prepared, that's likely to be around 140 players by the year's end.

Meanwhile, the Fitzwilliam faithful recently made a visit to London's Gutshot venue for a challenge match and came home "convincing winners," according to Cardroom Manager Luke Ivory, who explained: "We retained the trophy won earlier in the year on home soil and had a wonderful time in the process. We were looked after well and had a good time all ways around."