TOURNAMENT REPORT
© Photos by Mickey May/Matchroom Sport
Big fi elds in Galway... WINNER BAGS SECOND
Report by MICKY
McCLOSKEY
While Galway in the West basked in winter sunshine, the East coast and South of Ireland and most of the UK
seemed to be grinding to a halt under a blanket of snow and ice. Airports were closed and roads blocked
making the journey to Galway very diffi cult, if not impossible. The diffi cult conditions affected not just players but also dealers and tournament staff, many of whom found themselves stranded abroad.
decided to postpone it until Friday in the hope that more players and staff could use the extra day to make the journey. For people who managed to get to Galway in time, the Poker Stars organisers decided to hold a 10,000 freeroll for all registered players on the Thursday. A good gesture on their part. With the buy in for this event, The
W
Irish Poker Championship, reduced from 2,000 in 2009 to 1,100 for this year, it could reasonably be expected to see an increased entry for 2010. That was, of course, before the severe weather took a hand in proceedings. The sponsors,
PokerStars.com, had guaranteed a 250,000 prize pool for this event based
ith the tournament scheduled to start on Thursday 2nd December, it was
on previous entries and the reduced buy in and there seemed to be a few worried faces around on the night of the opening player party on Wednesday. However, they need not have worried as 266 players took their seats for the main event, ensuring the guarantee was met with 16 entries to spare. While this part of the plan ended reasonably happily, the side events, which went ahead as planned, and the cash action seemed to suffer a bit more from lack of numbers.
None of this, of course, concerned those who went deep in the main event, least of all Canadian Nick Abou Risk, who was on course to pick up his second UKIPT title in less than six months. Nick won the Edinburgh leg of the tour in August and is now the fi rst player to win two UKIPT titles. This is all the more
TITLE
remarkable as he has only played in three legs of the tour. Played three, won two is a pretty good return in anybody’s language.
Nick took home 67,100 for his win. Second place and 41,300 went to local lady, Trish Mallin. Trish won her entry in a satellite at the Eglinton Casino and this was apparently the fi rst major tournament she ever played in. Third spot and 25,250 went to veteran Maurice Silke from Mayo. Maurice is the father of well known Irish player, Martin, who has a few titles of his own, this time showing the younger generation how to do it. I managed to have a chat with
Nick after his victory. He tells me he is 25 years old and a native of Prince Edward Island, Canada. He is married and has been living in Dublin for just under a year where he works as a computer
Die Straße war zugeschneit, und bis sie geräumt war, hatte ich kein Benzin mehr. Ich musste ja den Motor anlassen, sonst wäre ich erfroren.
Oh Mann! Hast du einen Abschleppwagen gerufen? 22
Das wollte ich, aber der Akku von meinem Telefon war auch leer... Oh nein! Das war aber wirklich eine Pechsträhne. Auch noch der Akku!
Poker Europa | JANUARY 2011 |
www.PokerEuropaOnline.com
Ja! Und das nach nur zwei Stunden Omaha. O. k., der Anruf beim Pizzaservice hat etwas länger gedauert als ich dachte, aber trotzdem!
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