Irish News

Ladbrokes in Emporium move?
Reports in the Irish press have suggested that the Sporting Emporium Casino near Grafton Street in the centre of Dublin could be sold to Ladbrokes.

Opened in a blaze of glory during the back end of 2005, the Emporium is owned by financier Dermot Desmond and makes up part of his gambling empire, which includes Betdaq.com and Chronicle Bookmakers.

Potential new owner Ladbrokes is the world's best-known bookmaking organisation and proprietors of Europe's largest online poker room. It returned to the casino business in 2006 with the opening of the Ladbrokes Paddington Casino and Sports Bar in London.

The venues are remarkably similar in décor and layout, with poker featured prominently at both.

Northern Ireland Poker Championship
JPC Poker is planning one of Northern Ireland's biggest poker tournaments for the St. Patrick's Day weekend at the Empire Bingo Hall on Union Road, Belfast. Billed as the "Big One," the three-day freezeout event offers a guaranteed prize pool of £100,000.

The tournament will be held from Friday, March 16, to Sunday, March 18, with a £1,000 buy-in plus £100 registration fee. In addition to the Big One, a charity game is planned for Thursday, March 15. It will be a £250 hold'em freezeout.

To secure your place, contact JPC Poker for more info on: 0044 (+) 28 79 632304, or e-mail [email protected].

Mullan Misses
Just one of the Dublin poker players - amongst them, recent European Poker Masters winner Adrian Walshe, World Series of Poker final-table finisher Andy Black, and cash player stroke bookmaker Christy Rouke - failed in the "prop bet" to lose 10 percent of his body weight. Owen Mullan, a 12-place finisher in the 2002 WSOP main event, was reportedly never in contention in his quest to shed the pounds, but he did manage to lose several thousand Euros.

Irish Open Satellites
Paddypowerpoker.com has announced the first wave of venues holding live satellites for the €2 million-guaranteed Irish Open 2007.
Dozens of Europe's leading cardrooms are hosting satellites from now until the start of the Irish Open main event, April 6-9, in the landmark Burlington Hotel, Dublin.

Dublin's Jackpot Club, the official cardroom for the Irish Open 2007, has satellites every Thursday with a minimum of one guaranteed €3,500 ticket each week. Murat Yalcin was the first player to win his entry ticket via this route.

Irish cardrooms and casinos confirmed to run regular Irish Open satellites include:

Dublin
The Jackpot
20 Montague Street, Dublin 2
Tel: 01 478 5858
The Sporting Emporium

Anne's Lane, South Anne's Street, Dublin 2
Tel: 01 703 0600
Cork

The Macau Sporting Club
16 Patrick's Quay, Cork City
Tel: 021 4530477

Galway
4 Aces
18 Dominic Street, Galway
Tel: 091 589199

Kerry
The Cue Club
Hilliards Lane, Killarney, Co Kerry

Carlow
Big Slick Poker
Charlotte Street, Carlow
Tel: 087 2828744

Banbridge
The Bridge Club
28B Scarva St, Banbridge, BT32 3DA
Tel: 0044 28 40627711

Bangor
The Fortune Rooms
1A Valentine Rd, Bangor BT204JH
Tel: 0044 7714684804

Belfast
The Winners Club
Yorkgate Leisure Complex, Belfast, Co Antrim, BT15 1WA
Tel: 0044 2890 746952

Derry
Lucky's Bingo

Big Slick Takes Over Boyle's Events
Big Slick Poker Events has become affiliated with Boylepoker.com, taking over the mantle once held by Poker Events and running their own collection of tournaments across Ireland.

"Our aim is to bring affordable tournaments for the average poker player, giving them a chance to play in a bigger game at the end of the year," said Neill Kelly, director of Big Slick Poker.

"We will have dealers at all tables on the tour and our games will be staged on Sundays at a number of locations. Entry fees are €100, with winners earning cash and entry to our end-of-year final. Furthermore, there will be €250 entry events in March, June, and September. These too will offer grand-final tickets and cash."

Pitch Unplayable
Recently, members of Will O'Keefe's world-renowned Cultchi Club were dismayed when receiving a text message announcing: "Game cancelled, pitch unplayable."

Suffice it to say that this was Mrs. O'Keefe's call, deciding that her house was no place for a poker game this particular week.
Maximum Field Anticipated at Cork

Cork's ever progressive Macau Casino will stage its Irish Classic Poker Festival May 30-June 4. In association with Betfair, the main event at the Southern Irish venue is a €1,500 hold'em freezeout, in which a capacity 200-runner field is anticipated.

Fitz Tourneys
The Fitzwilliam Casino, open 24 hours a day, has brought forward its starting time for the end-of-month €270 hold'em freezeout tournament to 7 p.m.

The club has also introduced a €500 tournament staged every six weeks. Further details are available from the poker desk on: 00353 1 6114677.

Visit Roy Brindley at www.Roytheboy.net.