Ireland's Greatest Ever Dead Poker Player

Of all the ghosts that haunt the Paddy Power Poker Irish Open, Jimmy Langan
stands out as Ireland’s greatest ever dead poker player. Some say that’s a
title they’d rather not contest but a titles a title so not to be sneezed at
and its got to be better than going down as, say, Ireland’s third best dead
poker player (especially if yore alive) as that’s a slippery slidey slope
with no upside that I can think of.

Irish heroes are often flawed and Jimmy did his bit to promote the
stereotype. Jimmy’s flaw was he was sometimes forgetful. Sometimes he
remembered to take the tablets. Sometimes he forgot. Now he was good craic
when he took them but great craic when he didn’t. When Jimmy was in full flow
anything cold happen and sally did. On one such occasion he was off his head
and leading the Main Event in Vegas. He drew quite a gallery and every now
and again threw cheap pieces of jewelry into the crowd. Giving stuff away
in Vegas is probably illegal and definitely frowned upon but they gave him a
walk on that one. Jimmy didn’t take it down but they sure knew he was there. All
I can tell you is that in the whole of his health he was good enough. Maybe
that’s all that matters.

On another famous occasion Jimmy was a little forgetful before a big clash
between Ireland and England’s finest. Terry Rogers was very concerned about
Jimmy’s well-being. He was also a little concerned about his own well-being as
he’d had a big bet on an Irish win and Jimmy was our main man. Sean Fagan
nobly offered to sort out this little problem.Armed with a couple of Jimmy’s
tablets he suggested to Jimmy that they go for a drink. Brandy was their
tipple of choice and Sean managed to slip the tablets into Jimmy’s glass. Not
long later Sean felt pretty tired and felt a sudden urge to go to bed. Jimmy
joined the tournament. Two days later Jimmy was still high as a kite and they
had to wake Sean from a deep sleep as it was time for the (beaten) Irish
team to go home. Rogers wasn’t too impressed that Sean had fallen for the
double switch. Personally I thought that a tad harsh. After all they knew Sean
was playing against the best.