Stars in Their Eyes

As 2009 fades into the memory there is little room for reverie in the poker world. By the time you read this we’ll have witnessed the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, the Aussie Millions, the Euro Finals of Poker, and the European Poker Tour Deauville in the first six weeks of 2010.

These will be followed swiftly by EPT stops in Copenhagen, Berlin, and Austria, as well as a plethora of mid-level games at the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour, European Masters of Poker, Paradise Poker Tour, Euro City Poker Tour, UK & Ireland Poker Tour, and Unibet Open.

From this evidence the health of the live poker environment in Europe continues to thrive and it still regularly offers up the heroes and anti-heroes we love and love to hate.

Another sign of buoyancy in the game is the record-breaking 149,169 field which played the PokerStars.com $300,000 guaranteed online tournament at the end of December.

Not only is it a remarkable number of players to be sitting down in the same game at the same time, it is a credit to PokerStars that it would wilfully fund the $150,000-odd overlay and charge zero rake for the event.

Sadly I missed participating due to travel over the holiday period but I look forward to further events of this nature from the big boys of the poker world and would not be surprised if the world’s first 250,000 player game wasn’t too far over the horizon.

Congratulations to all involved and long may poker benefit from the vision of people who are prepared to push the envelope. (See this month’s feature on Mike Sexton).

More Congratulations and Condolences
Congratulations also to long-serving Card Player columnist Padraig Parkinson on his December 2009 success at the Irish Poker Championship in Galway. A special mention should also go to runner-up Paul Marrow from the UK who agreed with Parkinson that the pair would donate €7,000 of their winnings to the Poker for the Homeless charity.

Parkinson drove to Dublin a couple of days later and promptly handed the cash over to Brother Kevin Crowley at the Capuchin Day Centre which feeds the homeless and deprived daily.

Good work gentlemen.

Finally Card Player would also like to offer its condolences to the family and friends of John McAviney, one of Ireland’s leading press photographers and an enthusiastic poker player, who passed away aged 60 in December 2009.

McAviney was responsible for photographing the Irish Open in 1985 and his iconic shots were used extensively in a photo feature on the tournament in the March 2007 issue of Card Player Europe.

He will be fondly remembered as a fine story teller, a lover of life, and a gentleman.