World's richest card game a big draw for Irish poker sharks

A LARGE cohort of Irish poker professionals, chancers and dreamers are among thousands of people who have descended on Las Vegas, Nevada, this week to compete in the world’s richest card game – the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Some 70 Irish players are participating in the $10,000 (€6,400) entry Texas hold’em tournament, which kicked off at the Rio Hotel and Casino last night.

In all, some 7,000 players will enter and a prize pool in the region of $70 million has been predicted. Some 10 per cent of the field will make it into the money.

The main event, which is the centrepiece of a month-long 55-tournament series, is regarded as the poker world championships.

The format of this year’s main event has changed considerably. After 11 days of play the last nine players standing will have to take a four-month hiatus before the final table is played out and a winner emerges in November.

Last year the series attracted more than 54,000 entrants from 87 countries and awarded just under $160 million in prize money.

The reigning champion, a Californian psychologist named Jerry Yang, was well rewarded when he won $8.25 million for overcoming a field of 6,357 entrants.

Interest in poker has exploded in recent years as a result of TV coverage. The vast majority of players win their way into the main event through smaller satellite tournaments, which can be entered online for as little as $1.

One Irishman dreaming of a big pay day is Finn O’Sullivan (24) from Blackrock, Co Dublin, who has been playing online poker professionally for the past three years.

He entered an $80 online satellite tournament and won his way to a package worth $14,000, which covers his tournament fee and travel expenses.

Mr O’Sullivan, who has previously visited Las Vegas but never entered the world series, said he hoped he would gain from the experience but was modest in his expectations.

“I’ll be happy if I don’t get knocked out on day one,” he said. “This is my first time playing a tournament of this size and it’s going to be more gruelling than any I have played before.”

In recent years Irish players have performed well in the competition, with Dublin-based Andrew Black and John Magill from Ballymena, Co Antrim, scooping over $1 million for strong finishes in 2005 and 2006 respectively.