Irish Open Poker Final

Jigga

There is a young man from Co. Clare called Niall Smyth in final two of Irish Open Poker Final. €550,000 is the first-place prize and he is guaranteed at least €290,000.

Fair dues to him, you can watch it live below:
http://www.paddypowerpoker.com/irish-poker-open/live

Could be a long night!

Clareman

Niall won this after a massive heads up battle, fair play to him, Niall is a great poker player and a nice lad as well.

For those of you interested, he won €550,000 as overall winner and €100,000 (split into €50,000 cash and €50,000 tournament entries) as last internet qualifier standing for his weekends work.

the watchman

I was watching final table earlier in the day but couldn't get to see the last 3/4 hours. Are there any podcasts videos anywhere that I could watch, can't seem to find any. Thanks.

badroit

...ditto. Any info on where we could watch some of this would be great.

Anyone know if any TV channels would cover highlights? Maybe Setanta?

Yurt

I watched this for the 3 day's brilliant stuff.

It will be on RTE and Sky Sports next month

badroit

Cheers Yurt. Any chance of dropping a post here if you find out when it's on? Will do the same if I come across anything.

Lady Chatterton

Girlfriend's top tip helps poker player land €650,000

By Barry Duggan

Wednesday April 27 2011



THEY have only been going out for a month, but newly crowned Irish poker champion Niall Smyth is clearly holding all the aces with his girlfriend.

Niall (26), from Ballyea, Ennis, Co Clare, is €650,000 better off after his girlfriend, Kim Madigan, convinced him to place a bet on the Grand National at Aintree earlier this month.

With the €200 he won on his €10 each way bet on race winner Ballabriggs, Niall transferred his online earnings into a Paddy Power poker account and qualified for the Irish Open event at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, over the weekend.

With Kim and friends anxiously looking on, Niall survived a mammoth four-day session to capture a total prize of €650,000 in the early hours of yesterday morning after he defeated former World Poker Tour champion Surinder Sunar.

The celebrations were continuing yesterday for the young man, who works as a multi-task attendant at St Joseph's Hospital in Ennis.

"It is absolutely amazing -- the phone has been hopping all day. People are ringing to congratulate from everywhere," Niall said.

"My girlfriend, Kim, and her brother had a big part in it. A few weeks ago, they told me they do a bet each year for the English Grand National. I didn't even know it was on and wasn't going to bother with it, but I did all the bets online and mine came in -- I can't even remember his name (Ballabriggs) now," he recalled.

Niall and Kim -- also from Ennis -- had only been going out for less than a fortnight before his success at the horse-racing.

He has been playing poker on and off for eight years and came 11th at the Irish Open two years ago. After getting through the qualifier rounds, Niall overcame the challenge of 615 poker players to capture the lucrative cash prize.

Winnings

"I'll definitely have to get Kim something and my parents also -- Stan and Goretti. They have been very good to me," he said.

A keen Manchester United fan, Niall was remaining level headed as he waited to watch the English team in last night's Champions League semi-final match on TV.

"I'll buy something with the winnings. I'll have to get a house. I live with friends in the town -- we rent a house. There'll be a few late nights there after this but I'll have to get a house at some stage," he said.

"I live and work in Ennis so it'll be somewhere around there. The money is great -- €650,000 is a hell of a lot. I won't have to worry about a mortgage, but I won't be retiring either. I'll keep on working and playing a bit more poker this year," he said.

"I'm very lucky and I realise that. So many of my friends have emigrated or left because they can't get work here or can't make a living. There are people in America, Australia and Canada.

"It was absolutely great -- once in a lifetime. I'll have to place another bet or two on that horse from the Grand National also," Niall admitted.

- Barry Duggan

Irish Independent

marco_polo

Who said nice guys finish last. . Great performance from Niall played fantastic poker for pretty well the the whole weekend, an extremely worthy winner.

Made for a very exciting night in the Burlington.

finbarrk

Is that it thats advertised for Net 2 tonight I wonder?

badroit

There's also some (legal) vids on Paddy Power's YouTube channel. Judging from last year, there should be three hourish-long programmes.

The first one for this year is already up in six parts, covering the lead-up to the final table:

http://www.youtube.com/user/PaddyPowerVideo (scroll down a bit and you'll find 'em)

marco_polo

finbarrk wrote: »

Is that it thats advertised for Net 2 tonight I wonder?

Bit late now but yes, and the final 4 is showdown is on next week at the same time. Tonights episode (the start of the final table) will be on RTE player for sure sometime tommorrow or the day after if you happened to miss it..

marco_polo

Bump.

Niall has made the final table at the Ladbrokes Irish Poker Festival in Killarney, he is currently lying in second place at the moment on 2.8m in chips with five players remaining.

http://ladbrokespokerliveevents.blogspot.com/

marco_polo

Second victory of the year in a tournament with a field of 500+ of entrants, talk about running hot. Well done yet again Niall.

Lady Chatterton

marco_polo wrote: »

Second victory of the year in a tournament with a field of 500+ of entrants, talk about running hot. Well done yet again Niall.

Thanks Marco for the update. Congrats & Well done to Niall!!!