Neither A Borrower Nor A Lender Be

If you build it, they will come. A lot of guys in the poker business, especially in these tough times believed that horseshit to their cost. A man bucking the trend is popular Dubliner JP McCann in his new joint in Tallaght.

When I spoke to him about our visiting his club as part of the 888 Irish Tour, he immediately said he would add €500 to the prize pool. I told him he was fucking nuts, so he changed his mind and added €1,000. Did I mention that he is Irish?

A few of the old stories were told on the night including one of my all-time favourites. It involves a conversation between Teddy, who owned the Griffen Club and Daisy O’Grady, who thought he did too!

Teddy was moaning that the club was losing €1,500 quid a week. Daisy suggested he solve the problem by closing down. “I can’t”, said Teddy. “It’s my livelihood”. Daisy suggested he get a livelihood that only cost €500 a week!

A few nights later, we were in Armagh. Peter Quigley had assured me the craic would be good and that the game was illegal. He was right on both counts as we were having a lot of fun when the police arrived. I was a bit disappointed they didn’t arrest me as being arrested would have been great for my street cred, but you can’t have everything.

Scott Gray was busy telling Terry Rogers stories. Terry, inspired by his experience on a chance visit to the WSOP, founded the Eccentric Club and introduced tournament hold’em to Europe. The club was hilarious both because of the characters that inhabited it and Terry’s own eccentricity.

One of the rules was that you couldn’t lend money on the premises. The penalty for committing this heinous offence was a year’s suspension for the guy that lent the money and nothing for the borrower. The first offender was Terry who caught himself lending money to a guy and promptly suspended himself. You couldn’t make this shit up!