Flood of Memories

"I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day." - James Joyce, 1882-1941

Introduction
The Irish and history, now there's a story; long memories and short tempers, ambivalence and passion, tumult and triumph, and tales - always the tales - stories, yarns, craic, legends, myths. The oral tradition is strong, and in poker, well, there's lots of time to talk.

Here's a story. Twenty-one years ago, 36 men and women gathered in a small room above a bookmaker's office in a working class area of inner city Dublin. They were there to play poker.

Liam Flood had been there before - each year for the previous five years, in fact. He was a bookie, a card player, a dapper gent.

His friend, Terry Rogers, was there. Terry started the Irish Open after seeing the World Series of Poker on a trip to Las Vegas in the late 1970s. Terry and Liam had been competitors in bookmaking, but now were friends.

It was Good Friday. The rest of Ireland went about its business. Women mostly prepared for church. Men mostly wondered where they might find a public house that would admit them.

And so it was to be, every Good Friday for 21 years thereafter. Liam would sit down with friends, old and new, and play cards. Terry passed on, but his legend and legacy didn't.

This is a snapshot of that legend, that legacy, a story worth telling. It's the story of the 1985 Irish Open.

Liam has made the final 16 at two World Series of Poker events, and is probably best known for his two final-table appearances on Channel 4's seminal Late Night Poker. 2006 was his most lucrative year in poker to date. He came second in the Grosvenor World Masters, London, and first in the PartyPoker.com European Open III, Maidstone, earning more than $270,000 along the way. Liam is tournament coordinator for the Irish Open.

Liam Flood and the "Maltese Falcon" Frank Mifsud, with Donnacha O'Dea and George McKeever in the background
"I think I'm saying to Frank, 'I'll be a good boy, Frank, no need to shoot me.' Frank was a bit of a rock at the poker table; ABC poker, really. With a few moves, you could do all right out of him." -Flood

Seated (from left): Dave "Banzi" Jackson, Pat Keenan, Peter Doherty, the dealer, Liam Flood
Pat Keenan dogs Peter Doherty, hitting trip deuces on the flop. Even Peter seems amused.
Pat was known in the Eccentric Club as "Mighty the Brain," and ran a half-pot seven-card stud game in the kitchen of his rural home in Ireland for 20 years.
Padraig Parkinson recalls traveling to Las Vegas in 1998 with Pat. "He showed up at the airport with a battered cardboard suitcase the size of a postage stamp, with the words 'Pat Keenan, Cootehill' emblazoned on the side. Even if Pat didn't make it home, he made sure his suitcase would."
Pat still plays poker the length and breadth of the country. Scott Gray said, "Pat may have made more money playing cards in Ireland in the last two years than anyone else."

Scott Gray, fourth-place finisher in the 2002 World Series of Poker
Scott had been a bookmaker in New York. When he returned to Ireland, he was eager to find a good card game and fell in with fellow bookie Pat Keenan.
He first played in the Irish Open in 1984, playing on behalf of Pat's brother, who had won a ticket in a satellite at Pat's kitchen game.

Seated (from left): Irene Tier, Liam "Cash" Brown, Colette Doherty, Surindar Sunar, and Mrs. Heffernan
Surindar Sunar, from Wolverhampton, England, travelled to play in the Irish Open for the first time in 1985.
Terry Rogers considered Surindar and fellow Englishman Derek Webb honorary Irishmen. "The first year I played the Irish Closed Championship, which was supposed to be for Irish players only, Surindar was stuck in the middle of it," said Padraig Parkinson. "That was Terry all over."
Viewing pictures of his first time in Dublin more than 20 years ago, Surindar said simply, "I looked so young and cool back then."

Jimmy Langan, Irish Open Champion in 1983 and 1988
Jimmy, sadly now deceased, was a successful businessman, Irish table tennis champion, and one of Ireland's greatest poker characters.
Scott Gray remembers the first time Jimmy went to Las Vegas. "Jimmy was clearing up in the cash games, so he decided to play in the main event at Binion's. He was the chip leader after day two and was totally buzzing. He'd build his chips into the shape of a cross pointing at whom he intended to take chips from. Doyle Brunson was usually at the end of that cross. He also bought up a load of cheap cosmetic jewelry, and anytime he won a pot, he would fling the jewelry into the crowd of bystanders, to rapturous cheers and applause."
Jimmy is fondly remembered as both a supremely talented player and a generous friend.
"Jimmy helped a lot of guys out," Padraig pointed out, "setting them up in business, giving them jobs and loans. When I was at the final table of the Irish Open in 1992, Jimmy appointed himself as my coach. I learned more in those four or five hours than I did in the previous two years. He was so ahead of the game with regard to tournament strategy, and he'd figured it all out himself long before the books were written about it."

Seated (from left): "Maltese" Frank Mifsud and Dave "Banzi" Jackson
Dave is, among other things, a mathematical genius and gaming industry consultant. Padraig Parkinson describes him as "the tightest player on earth."
To illustrate his prowess, Padraig recounted a story from the Irish Open in the late '80s. "I raised preflop with 10-7. Tom McEvoy reraised and Jacko called. The flop came 10-7-X. Tom went all in. Dave thought long and hard. We knew Dave was on the kings. Tom was leaning back on his chair with his feet on the table, figuring his cards were good. He began goading Dave to call. 'You have nothing to fear but fear itself,' said McEvoy. Dave called, showing K-K to McEvoy's Q-Q. The whole place was cracking up laughing. McEvoy thought it was at him, but it was because we knew Dave's form. If Tom hadn't said what he did, Dave may have folded."
Scott Gray also remembers a tale involving Jacko, which perfectly illustrates the eccentric nature of the Eccentric Club.
"I remember, once, Jacko's cards were accidentally pulled in by the dealer, but they didn't hit the muck. Jacko lost his head and Terry was called to make a ruling. He bellowed from the doorway, 'That hand's dead. You should know better; put a chip on your cards to protect them.'
"Dave replied, 'I don't have a chip, I was all in.'
"Terry said, 'Well, put a lighter or a box of matches on them, then'.
"'I don't smoke,' said Dave.
"Quick as a flash, Terry said, 'Then give that man back his cards.'
"That summed up the Eccentric Club. Anywhere else, there would have been a riot. But there, everyone just cracked up laughing and got on with it."

Padraig Parkinson laughs when recalling Famous Seamus. "He was the great ace-rag merchant. That's why he was Famous. You might raise him with K-Q suited and he'd take an age, looking pained like he was constipated, then finally make the crying call. He'd typically flip over A-3, hit his ace, then declare joyously to anyone who cared to listen, 'That's the power of the ace.'
"God, he broke a lot of hearts, that man. He caused mayhem with 'the power of the ace.'
"Another of his great phrases, which we obviously never tired of hearing, was, 'You're lucky you didn't have more money.' And he was a great man for drinking a round but not buying one."
He had a brother, too - Famous Paul.

Seated (from left): Maria, Terry Rogers and Eamon "Crazy Daisy" O'Grady; Daisy is en route to his seven-card stud championship win in 1985
At the 2006 Irish Open, a TV crew approached "Daisy" and asked if he had a game plan for the event. "No," replied Daisy. "And if I did, I wouldn't be telling it to you," he added, without missing a beat.
Maria was - and is - widely regarded as one of Europe's best dealers.

From dealer's left: Irene Tier, Liam Brown, Colette Doherty, Surindar Sunar, Margaret Heffernan, Mickey Cook, Sean Fagan, Frank Mifsud, Sean Kelly
Surindar Sunar first met Terry when the Irishman traveled to Wolverhampton, England, for the British Poker Championship at the Rubicon in the late 1970s, and the pair became firm friends.
"I won a satellite in Wolverhampton for the Irish Open, and it was my first time there," Surindar reminisced. "I took about £1,000 with me, and every year after that, without fail, I would come back with £10,000 - no more, no less."
Surindar attended every Irish Open until Terry's death in 1999.
He also made occasional appearances at the Irish Closed Championship, and on one occasion played for a weekend in Dublin's Jackpot Club, winning two of the three tournaments (including the Donnacha O'Dea Omaha Cup). He finished fifth in the third.

1985 Irish Open final table, heads up - Terry Rogers looks on as his son deals to "Maltese" Frank Mifsud and Irene Tier
Surindar Sunar, who went out third in the 1985 Irish Open, recalls the heads-up match between Irene Tier and Frank Mifsud.
"Frank had taken most of my chips and was a big chip leader. Irene then hit a rush of cards, doubled up twice, and that was that, she was champion."

Seated (from left): Surindar Sunar, Terry Rogers, Frank Mifsud, and Maria
"I was very happy to make the final table," said Surindar. "A key hand was when Sean Fagan had called my raise with J-10. He flopped top pair, but my aces busted him, so when the game got fourhanded, I was the chip leader.
"Threehanded, I got involved in this pot with Maltese Frank. I had flopped top pair on the flush board, and we checked it down to the river, where I made my move right into his nut flush. I wasn't very experienced in no-limit hold'em back then. I wouldn't do that now."
His games of choice at the time were pot-limit hold'em and pot-limit Omaha.

Women of the Irish Open
Before the rise in popularity of hold'em, Dublin's card scene was dominated by draw poker. Back then, women could comprise up to one-third of the field. At the Irish Open in 1985, women made up 10 percent of the field. Three women - Colette Doherty, Margaret Heffernan, and Irene Tier - made the final table, a feat that would be almost impossible today.

Before the boom in card clubs, home games were the most popular outlet for poker in Dublin. Colette has often regaled Dublin's poker players with the tale of how Frank Cruess Callaghan (second in the Irish Open, 2003) stumbled across a home game involving several women, including Colette. He made a few thousand pounds on his first visit.

Back home, like a kid at Christmas, he excitedly exclaimed that he had found the softest game of all time, and that there were "women there with jewelry and everything."

However, it didn't take "The Cruiser" more than another visit or two to realize that they were more than his match, and the fact that they were wearing jewelry did not make them an easy touch!

A few years ago, Colette and her son Peter visited Tunica, and Colette, frustrated at the length of the waiting lists for the cash games, decided to put on her acting mask and play the sweet little old granny, in hope of jumping the queue.

Of course, the guys at the tables were rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of this doddering matriarch joining them, and were happy to bend the rules and let her skip the queue.

The act worked for a number of days and Colette was tearing up the room. Then, one day, she attempted her masquerade again, and was told in no uncertain terms, "Hold on a minute, there; there's a list for the game, you know." Her ruse had been too successful.

Colette Doherty shares a laugh
Colette Doherty was the first winner of the Irish Open and the first woman to play in the World Series of Poker main event that same year (1981).

Terry insisted he hold back the $10,000 buy-in from Colette's winnings, so that he could arrange the entry with Binion's in case Colette changed her mind.

She was held in the highest esteem by the Irish poker fraternity, and had some wise words for younger players emerging on the scene.

"In many ways, she changed my life," stated Padraig Parkinson. "In 1994, three or four months before the World Series of Poker, she pulled me aside on the way back from a trip to the Vic in London. She basically said, 'Padraig, you're not going to want to hear this, and no one else is going to tell you, but unless you change your lifestyle, you're not going to make it.'

"I wouldn't have taken that from anyone else. But because it was Colette, I did. Later that year, myself and Scott Gray traveled to the World Series for the first time. That advice almost made two world champions." (Padraig finished third in the main event in 1999 and Scott finished fourth in 2002.)

Brian McCarthy (end of table), 1986 Irish Open Champion
Brian is still very active in Dublin poker, playing regularly in the Fitzwilliam Club. Padraig Parkinson tells of how Brian once telephoned a regional radio station to complain about Aer Lingus employing female pilots, saying that it was a disgrace and that passengers were entitled to be made aware of this information before flying.
This may sound a rather old-fashioned and sexist, until you discover that Brian's brother owned the radio station and had complained to Brian that no one was phoning in. Brian's ploy to help his distressed brother left the lines jumping all day.

1984 Irish Open (seated clockwise from seat No. 1): Jimmy Langan, Donnacha O'Dea, Shane Keely, Jim Heffernan, Laramie, Scott Gray, Derek Webb, Sean Kelly, Liam Flood, Mel Judah
"Jimmy Langan was, in my opinion, one of the best Irish players ever," said Liam.
Donnacha O'Dea claims, "Derek Webb was the best English player around back then.
"This was a very tough table. Looking back, you have three Irish Open winners, two World Series bracelet winners, and, of course, Scott made the World Series main-event final table."
Liam Flood recalls this Irish Open well. "I came second this year. I got heads up with Tony Byrne, who would have been quite an inexperienced player then. I was a massive chip leader, maybe by 5-to-1, and I remember Donnacha came down from a cash game upstairs, and as he was passing through, he said, "Handicap certain.'
"The turning point for me was holding K-9 and flopping a 9. I kept betting and Tony kept calling. He had A-K." Donnacha O'Dea said, "Looking at this picture, I can't help but wonder how Terry stitched me up with such a difficult table."

Suitcase Johnny
Johnny was known as Suitcase Johnny for his predilection for shouting "suitcase" when he went all in. When asked why he'd always say that, he said, "'Cos if I lose this pot, I'll have to get my suitcase."
"Terry would promote the Irish Open by placing an advert in the Racing Post or Sporting Life," recalls Liam Flood. "He'd stick someone like Suitcase Johnny in as the favourite at maybe 16-to-1 (Famous Seamus was another of his "ringers"), and the English guys would see this and go, 'Who the hell is Suitcase Johnny? I never heard of him. I could beat him.' It was a great way to drum up interest from the English players, and they came over in increasing numbers every year, so it must have worked."

Seated (from left): Jim Traynor and Big Al
A clipping from an Irish newspaper read: A Dublin bookie attending the poker tournament at Killiney Castle Hotel was conspicuous by his headgear; he sported a baseball hat with a large model seagull perched on top. He insisted, however, on remaining anonymous, referring to himself only as "Big Al." Asked why, he replied: "My wife thinks I'm out chasing women. If she knew I was gamblilng, she would kill me."

Donnacha O'Dea
1985 saw Britain's first mobile telephone call (from comedian Ernie Wise to Vodafone). Here, we see Donnacha O'Dea make Ireland's first mobile phone call. It probably involved a bookie and a conversation about golf.
Speaking about the photograph of himself in 1985, Donnacha said, "I just can't believe how young I look."

1985 - That Was the Year That Was

January - U.S. President Ronald Reagan is sworn in for a second term in office.

February - Israel begins withdrawing troops from Lebanon.

March - 38 spectators are killed in rioting on the terraces during the European Cup final between Liverpool F.C. and Juventus at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.

April - Phil Collins' Easy Lover is the No. 1 single across Europe when the 1985 Irish Open is held (April 5).

May - Dire Straits releases Brothers in Arms, which goes on to become the best-selling album of the year.

June - Air India flight 182, a Boeing 747, blows up 31,000 feet (9,500 meters) above the Atlantic Ocean, south of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.

July - Live Aid pop concerts in Philadelphia and London raise more than £50 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.

August - Japan Airlines flight 123 crashes in Japan, killing 520 people: It's the worst single-aircraft disaster in history.

September - An 8.1 Richter scale earthquake strikes Mexico City. More than 9,000 people are killed, 30,000 injured, and 95,000 left homeless.

October - Back to the Future, starring Michael J. Fox, is released. It becomes the highest-grossing movie of the year.

November - Microsoft Corporation releases the first version of Windows, Windows 1.0.

December - Gunmen kill 16 and injure more than 100 at Rome and Vienna airports.