March Runs into April

Irish poker and heart have often been mentioned in the same sentence, and rightly so. But heart is about more than shipping the tank in with air. It's about putting your hand in your pocket when it may not be full to help out those for whom a poker bad beat story would be a luxury. It was no surprise then that the Jackpot Club's March Madness weekend, sponsored by BoylePoker, got great support and why it was so much fun.

It's not just the players who get on board. We've been lucky to have the support of sports stars such as Ken Doherty, Steve Davis, and Tony Cascarino over the last couple of years, all of whom can teach us a hell of a lesson about what professionalism, no matter what you're doing, is all about.

Ken was there at the weekend, despite having a late night also known as an early morning in Killarney the night before, and we didn't even have to tell him he'd be having his picture taken with former Miss World Rosanna Davison. John O'Callaghan brought along football pundit Eamonn Dunphy, who turned out to be great craic. In the middle of the photoshoot, his coat went missing. Daisy O'Grady helpfully suggested that another midget must have stolen it! The Irish can be tough, no matter what you do for them.

The talk in the pub was of an Irish player who the previous weekend was seen eating his dinner off a plate while performing his duties in the toilet. The internet may have taught us a little bit about multitasking but sometimes you can take it a bit too far.

The team event was won by the BoylePoker team, who proved that sleep depravation is no obstacle if the desire is there. I think they were watching Marty and Tom Hanlon in action at last year's WSOP.

But the real drama came two days later. Paul Barnes from Devilfish Poker sent an email to himself, supposedly from Eamonn Connolly, one of the lads behind Poker from the Homeless, saying that Team Devilfish had been disqualified from their third place finish and would be required to return their €1000 prize as one of their team members didn't work for the site. Some team members who perhaps should have been aware that stuff like this is liable to happen on Apr. 1, were guilty of an overreaction. A perfect end to a great weekend.