Lots of Irish Green to Be Displayed at WSOPThe WSOP Main Event Starts Next Week |
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All the green that will be seen at the Rio in the next couple weeks won't always have to do with money.
Paddy Power Poker is sending 16 poker players to Las Vegas over the coming days to compete in the World Series of Poker's main event.
They will join a 100 strong contingent of Irish players for the $10,000 buy-in main event and will battle for almost two weeks against more than 8,000 other hopefuls.
Already two Irish players, Padraig Parkinson and Andy Black, have made final tables at the world's largest poker festival, winning $203,000 and $100,000 respectively.
Neither player are strangers to the world of high-stakes poker. In 1999 Padraig came third in the WSOP main event which was won by fellow Irishman Noel Furlong, and in 2005 Andy came fifth, earning $1,750,000. So far in 2006 Padraig has made the money in four events and Andy has cashed in two events.
Irish players have a long and proud tradition at the WSOP dating back to the early 1980's when legendary bookie Terry Rogers stumbled upon the best players in the world playing for the title of World Champion. He fell in love with the hold'em poker variation and was instrumental in spreading the game beyond U.S. shores.
He developed a strong relationship with Benny Binion, owner of the Horseshoe Casino, where the event originated and his hard work in helping to promote the WSOP in Ireland meant that by the mid-1980's up to 10-percent of the players in the main event were Irish.
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