Irish Poker Tour's
Team Pro
Team Aims To Promote Strong Upcoming Players
The Irish Poker Tour is delighted and excited to announce the launch of the newly-formed Irish Poker Tour Team.
By backing this Team the Irish Poker Tour intends to raise the profile of a number of young and rising poker stars. These stars will play in our regular Tour events and in all our major festivals. The Irish Poker Tour Team will be active in raising the profile of tournament poker in Ireland and promoting Irish Poker Tour events and our Team members will be available to help and encourage all players especially those that are just starting out in this thrilling game.
FESTIVAL AMBASSADOR
Andy Black
Irish Poker Tour Ambassador Andy Black is Ireland’s most successful tournament poker player.
Phil Hellmuth has described him as having an incredible mind but that’s probably because he was saying nice things about Phil at that moment. According to himself, Andy has spent more time and energy thinking about poker than is good for any person.
Happily, he is willing to share many of his insights with other players whenever they ask his opinion and often when they do not. Andy also writes a regular column for the Tour website discussing poker tactics and other nonsense.
This makes him the perfect ambassador for the Irish Poker Tour and we are delighted to see him at so many of our tourneys. Wherever Andy plays he brings a sense of occasion to the event and all players are delighted to take away a memory of the time they played against one of the true legends of world poker.
LIVE POKER STRATEGY COACH
Dara O'Kearney
Dara has written four number 1 best-selling poker strategy books (“Poker Satellite Strategy”, “PKO Poker Strategy”, “Endgame Poker Strategy: the ICM Book” and "GTO Poker Simplified") with Barry Carter and hundreds of strategy articles for various sites and magazines. I have coached dozens of players of all standards, made training videos for various sites, and cohost the Global Poker award-winning podcast The Chip Race with my good friend David Lappin.
"I have played a number of Irish Poker Tour events and I’ve absolutely loved the atmosphere and craic at them, so when they asked me to start providing strategy content for them aimed at the players who play them, I was flattered and honoured to accept."
Paul 'Rinty' Monaghan
Rinty Monaghan is the uncrowned king of Ulster poker and an Irish Poker Tour Ambassador.
Rinty is almost certainly the most liked and respected figure in Northern poker. He has built an amazing cross-community base in his club through his positive and friendly personality.
He supports all poker players and shows such respect to everyone that he automatically receives the same respect and affection in return.
Rinty is excited to represent the Tour and can hardly wait to play all over Ireland meeting old friends and new in Dublin, Galway, Killarney, Westport, Cork, and all points in between.
He sees his role as one of bringing people together in an enjoyable but competitive environment and that there is nothing to compare with the Irish Poker Tour for achieving this goal.
Robbie Bryant
Robbie Bryant is one of the best-known faces to have recently emerged on the Irish Poker scene.
Robbie won the Athlone Tour stop in the Radisson last year.
Robbie is aged 31 and is from Tullamore. He has developed into a tough and dedicated poker man whose dream job is to play poker full-time. This could be the start of something beautiful.
Ray Bryant
Ray Bryant is one of the best-known faces to have recently emerged on the Irish Poker scene.
Ray has hit the crossbar a few times at Irish Poker Tour events but cashed on his debut as an Irish Poker Tour Team Pro in Claremorris at the Mayo Poker Festival.
Amazingly, he is also 31, and from Tullamore. He says that he hasn’t wanted to do anything else. He works on his game constantly, watching training videos and discussing hands with his poker friends. His biggest wins thus far were 14th place in the WSOP Sydney and second in the IPO Dublin.
Tanya Masters
Tanya Masters was born to play poker. Raised in Dublin with a poker-mad father and three poker-mad brothers she had no choice. She started playing official tournaments in Tallaght 15 years ago but she arrived there with years of experience from playing tough games at the kitchen table. The male Masters have had numerous big-time tournament victories but Tanya is ready to blaze her own trail of success. She is determined that the opportunities offered by her new status as an Irish Poker Tour Team Pro will allow her to become the top Master on the Irish poker scene.
She is also keen to promote women’s participation and profile in Irish poker. Tanya is the Ambassador for and the driving force behind the Women of Poker Championship at the Killarney Festival and aims to make the poker scene a much more welcoming and encouraging place for female players.
Paul Carr
The regulars on the Irish Poker Tour have got what they asked for and Paul Carr has finally fulfilled his greatest ambition.
He has been elevated to the ranks of Tour Team Pro.
Paul started out playing poker machines but he is now the poker machine, his most significant cash was in the 2010 Irish Open where he finished second collecting €312,000. A regular at all our events, Paul won three Tour titles in a row in 2022 and is a fixture at the sharp end of all the major events in Ireland.
He loves talking about poker to anyone who will listen to him but refuses to listen to anyone else’s bad beat stories. With his infectious good humour and storytelling skills he will make the perfect ambassador for the People’s Tour.
Darren Harbinson
Everyone that meets Darren Harbinson takes to him immediately. The epitome of a Gentle Giant, Darren is a big man with a heart of gold; he is softly spoken with a lovely manner and a great sense of humour. When you are all-in against Darren and he wishes you good luck, he really means it and he always appears genuinely disappointed when he knocks somebody out of a tournament.
None of this means that Darren is not a dangerous opponent; in the last few months, he has won the Cork Festival High Roller, finished 3rd in the Westport Festival Main Event, and 5th in the Irish Poker Tour Final in Dublin. On top of all that he was 30th out of nearly 2,500 entrants in this year’s Irish Open.
Aged 29, a father of six from Antrim, Darren learned poker from Tour Ambassador Rinty Monaghan and blames all his successes on guidance from him and close support from his fiancé and his parents. We are delighted to welcome him to the Irish Poker Tour Team and he is delighted to continue to spread the good word about tournament poker all across the island of Ireland.
