Donal’s Corner – WSOP Memories
WSOP Memories
When I started to play poker at a serious level in the mid 1990’s in Dublin. The poker scene was pretty small and there was only one cash game that you could rely on taking place every night. This was a 1-1 PLO game in the Jackpot Casino on Montague Street. There is a reasonable argument that this was the toughest line-up for a game that size anywhere in the world at that time as regulars included legends such as Padraig Parkinson, Scott Gray, Tom Hanlon, Colette Doherty, Andy Black and Alan Betson, with occasional visits from Donnacha O’Dea who was widely considered to be Europe’s best player at the time.
To survive in this game you had to watch carefully and learn fast. You also had to stay quiet lest some of the sharpest and cruellest wits imaginable would turn their ire on you. This is also where I first heard of the WSOP; Donnacha had already won a bracelet and been to the FT of the Main Event, a feat which Padraig, Scott and Andy would all match.
The Series was still held in Binion’s in those days and the whole thing sounded like it was from another world where all the best players came together. For several years I looked forward greatly to the three weeks in May when the Series was then held; not because I had any intention of travelling to Vegas but because all the best players left town and suddenly the toughest game was not so tough any longer and a young fellow that kept his head could make enough money to keep him going for months. I was always first in when the club opened and last out when it closed.
How I loved the WSOP. I wished that they had one every month.
Summer Time is Now Poker Time
Traditionally, poker in Ireland always went quiet during the Summer as holidays and family time took precedence but that does not seem to be the case any more. Last weekend’s one day event in Portlaoise was bursting at the seams with nearly €50,000 in the Main Event prizepool for a €25k guaranteed tournament and interest in the upcoming Summer in Dublin Festival going through the roof. Between live qualifiers, online qualifiers on WPT Global, Unibet and Paddy Power, and direct bookings the Green Isle Hotel is close to capacity two weeks ahead of the first tournament.
The €50,000 guaranteed first prize in the Main Event has caught everyone’s eye but the real shrewdies are battling it out on WPTG every night where package winners are being offered a stunning €100,000 bonus if they can go all the way and take first prize in the Main.