With the low turnout at the
European Poker Tour Dublin still fresh in everyone's mind, it remains a frenzied time for tournament qualification in Ireland.
With the
Irish Poker Championship, European Deep-Stack Championship, and
Irish Open firmly fixed on the horizon, the breadth and depth of events on offer is mouthwatering, from ladies tournaments to deep stacks, from extensive television coverage to multimillion euro guarantees.
This month we concentrate on what's on where, and how players can get in on some great action.
Irish Poker Championship
The first of a triumvirate of major tournaments in the Emerald Isle in the first quarter of 2008, daily satellites for the 2008 PartyPoker.com
Irish Poker Championship are under way. The event, to be held in the Radisson Hotel and Spa in Galway, Ireland, Jan. 3-6, 2008, is a €2,000 (9 percent withheld) no-limit hold'em tournament that is set to attract big names from across the continent and the U.S., as well as a multitude of local talent.
Players can qualify for as little as $3. The schedule is:
The event will be filmed for broadcast on
RTÉ, Ireland's national broadcaster, and will be distributed around the world by PartyPoker.
Details of the event and qualification can be found at www.partypokeripc.com.
European Deep-Stack Championship
The highly anticipated Green Joker Poker
European Deep-Stack Poker Championship takes place in the Drogheda Poker Club, Drogheda, Ireland, Feb. 2-10, 2008.
The €1,500 main event starts on Feb. 6. Players begin with 50,000 in chips and a one-hour clock. The two-day shorthanded hold'em event kicks the festival off on Feb.2 with a one-hour clock and 20,000 in starting chips, while the Omaha event on Feb. 4 also has a one-hour clock and 20,000 in starting chips.
Online qualifiers started on Green Joker Poker, Bluesquare, and Blonde Poker are up and running. The main satellites are $250+$20 freezeouts with packages for every $3,000 in the prize pool. This will include main-event buy-in, five nights' hotel for one person, and the rest in expenses. Satellites will initially be available on Green Joker Poker and Bluesquare.
The daily feeders to the main satellites are:
$15+$1.50 rebuy - 8:30 p.m. GMT
$30+$3 freezeout - 10 p.m. ($3+30¢ speed feeders to this daily at noon and 2 p.m.)
Players can register by online transfer on Green Joker Poker, bank wire, cheque, or cash.
The full schedule is:
Full details of the event, including structure, registration information, qualification, travel and accommodations options, are available at www.greenjokerpoker.com.
Irish Open
Paddypowerpoker.com has released details of the side-event schedule for what will be a weeklong festival of poker at the 2008
Irish Open. On top of the two-day €1,500 no-limit hold'em freezeout and €400 pot-limit Omaha rebuy event, two completely new events have been added to the schedule: the inaugural
Irish Open ladies tournament and a double-chance scalp event.
The ladies event is a celebration of the tremendous success women have enjoyed at the
Irish Open over the years. Two-time winner Colette Doherty won the very first tournament, while Irene Tier and Jenny Hegarty added their names to the roll of honour in 1985 and 2001, respectively.
Nikki Newman, head of poker at paddypowerpoker.com, is delighted to be presenting the new tournament. "I am very excited about it. Colette, Irene, and Jenny showed us just how much power there is in the Irish ladies' game. So what better backdrop could there be for a ladies poker event than the
Irish Open itself?"
The format of the double-chance scalp (€270+€30+€30) event will see players starting the event with half their starting stack. They will then be allowed to take the second half of their chips anytime between the first hand and the first break. Players will be given a scalp chip with their second set of chips, and must give it (worth €30) to the player who eventually knocks them out.
Online qualification for the €3 million-guaranteed
Irish Open main event is also in full swing at paddypowerpoker.com with weekly $320 grand-final satellites. There's a packed schedule of daily feeders to the grand final, offering qualification for as little as $2.
Players who qualify through the grand-final satellites will have the added bonus of being entered into the
Paddy First promotion. The longest-lasting paddypowerpoker.com qualifier at the 2008
Irish Open will receive free entry to the 2009 event. If that player actually wins the 2008
Irish Open, he will receive free entry to the following five
Irish Opens.
The 2008
Irish Open will take place in Citywest Hotel, Dublin, March 19-24, 2008, and players wishing to register and pay online for any of the
Irish Open events can do so now at www.irishpokeropen.com.
Brendan Murray is the European bureau chief for Card Player.
