In the April 2006 issue of
Card Player Europe, we had what I view to be one of our very best cover stories. The piece, written by Brendan Murray, was about the 25-year celebration of the
Irish Open, and it contained some highly interesting stories about top Irish player Donnacha O'Dea, tournament director Liam Flood, and the founder of the Irish Open, former bookmaker Terry Rogers. One of my favorite passages in the piece was from Donnacha, who remembered the stunts that Terry pulled to generate interest in the
Irish Open. I quote:
"He'd publicise betting on the tournament in the Racing Post along with an event such as the
Super Bowl so that he could get around the law on advertising such events. He'd install an outsider such as "Suitcase" Johnny as the favourite. Poker players would then see these odds and think to themselves, 'Well, I'm much better than this guy who's the favourite,' and immediately want to take part in the tournament."
Nowadays, these kinds of stunts don't seem necessary anymore, simply because the tournament is highly rated within the poker community. Starting in the mid-'90s, Liam Flood did an excellent job of running this event from the five-storey Merrion Casino Club. Things got even bigger last year, when paddypowerpoker.com undertook a five-year sponsorship of the event. And this year, some additional massive steps forward have been taken. For instance, the guaranteed prize pool for the main event has been doubled from last year's €1 million to a whopping €2 million, and there will be capacity for at least 700 players. Plus, the event will be hosted in Dublin's luxurious Burlington Hotel, with decent room rates for the players, and on top of that, there will be lots of added money in the three side events. All of this will make for an exciting and potentially profitable tournament series that should appeal to many of Europe's top pros - especially taking into account that the main event will be televised throughout Europe. In fact, time permitting, I hope to be one of them - giving it my all to take over from last year's winner Vincent Melinn, and being on hand to witness the quality of this historic event.
In this issue, you will find an extensive report about the long and interesting history of the Irish Open, which is entering its 26th year. I am certain you will enjoy the story as much as I did.
