Boylepoker.com Be Our Sponsored Pro challenge Winner: Noel Magner

Dublin, Ireland: March 31, 2009 – Noel Magner has won the Boylepoker.com Be Our Sponsored Pro challenge, defeating the eight other finalists over the weekend in Dublin to take down the $20,000 prize comprising sponsorship into three upcoming live events.

Boylepoker.com’s Be Our Sponsored Pro competition saw nine online qualifiers battle it out in a live to win a sponsorship package of paid entry and expenses for the Irish Open 2009, the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Manchester main event, and the World Series of Poker $1,500 no-limit hold’em event.

There were nine seats up for grabs in nine different tournaments with the winner of each tournament progressing to the final table held in Dublin’s Jackpot Club on Saturday March 28 during the Boylepoker.com Poker for the Homeless March Madness weekend.

Magner came second in the pot-limit Omaha online event which was won by Boylepoker pro Marty Smyth but under the rules of the competition, where an already sponsored Boylepoker player could not qualify for the final table, was awarded the seat.

The final table for the event was:

Seat 1 – Mark Reilly
Seat 2 – Enda Kendrick
Seat 3 – Noel Magner
Seat 4 – Pat O’Callaghan
Seat 5 – Stephen McLean
Seat 6 – Alan Reenan
Seat 8 – Patrick Aherne
Seat 9 – Barry Brennan

Paul Spillane, head of Boylepoker, said, “Congratulations to Noel and good luck in the live events he will now represent Boylepoker at. He played brilliantly to get to the final table and continued by dominating the game from the off and is now a deserving Boylepoker pro. We hope the logo is as lucky for him as it has been for the rest of the team.”

Join Boylepoker today and receive a $600 Bonus.

Paddypower.com launches additional Irish Open 2009 betting markets

paddypower.com today launches two additional Irish Open 2009 betting markets, the Sole Survivor market and 2008 Final Table Player To Last Longest market.

The Sole Survivor market offers odds on players’ chances of winning the poker room’s online qualifier promotion, which awards a €100,000 prize package to the longest-lasting paddypowerpoker.com qualifier.

The 2008 Final Table Player To Last Longest market offers odds on who among the eight final table players from last year will survive the longest in this year’s event. Irish Open 2008 champion Neil ‘Bad Beat’ Channing is the shortest odds at 4/1, while runner-up Donal Norton is available at 6/1.

2008 Final Table Player To Last Longest:

Odds are subject to change. The Irish Open 2009 betting markets can be found at paddypower.com

Book Review – Life’s a Gamble.

I first met Roy Brindley in March 2006 in Vienna on a poker trip with 14 other Irish based players to the Spring poker festival at the Concord Casino.

I remember all 16 of us going out for a meal where some had arrived very late and as a result the kitchen closed before all of us had been served. Actually Roy was the only one who wasn’t served, and while the rest of us munched on juicy sirloin steaks (one hungry chap actually ordered two steaks for himself and didn’t think to share!) Roy was left with a measly baked potato. Hardly fitting sustenance for a travelling profession poker player of his stature.

Naturally he was given plenty of stick as digital cameras were pulled out of bags and coat pockets to get a snapshot of “Roy the Boy” and his baked potato looking slightly disgusted. I’d imagine at that moment he wanted to be anywhere else but there, starving and having a bunch of cheeky and inferior poker players taking the Mickey. Little did I know at the time, the dark places Roy had been to in his past and how big a part Vienna played on his arduous and extraordinary journey towards the spotlight.

“Life’s a Gamble” is written word for word by Roy himself and is a very honest and revealing account of his life from the beginning. In fact, to borrow a term I’ve grown fond of, the book is written with a level of “unbridled honesty” that is all too rarely found among the modern poker player. The book contains no poker strategy, in fact the first half of the book mentions little poker at all as Roy recounts his childhood and exposure to hardcore gambling from an early age, his love of grey-hounds and some harrowing experiences as a greyhound trainer both in the UK and America.

Roy hasn’t just been to the bottom of the barrel, he’s been buried underneath it. How many professional poker players do you know once lived in a cardboard box on the streets or in a dog kennel, and how many will tell you truthfully about their struggles with anger and depression or their run-ins with the law? He tells his story of hardship and degeneracy with enough humility that we can’t help but be drawn into his world and even though we already know the story has a happy ending, as we read on we feel his pain as he continually falls off the wagon. Roy becomes our hero and we desperately want him to reach his goals.

The development of his love for poker begins half way through the book as he tells of his first ever trip to a poker game at Dublin’s Jackpot Club, where he was stunned to find himself sitting in front of Noel Furlong, a former World Series of Poker main event winner. Here he plies his trade alongside some well known characters from the Dublin poker scene. His determination to win large sums of life changing money from the get-go is palpable and he recalls how he travelled around Europe searching for big wins, including his now infamous drunken victory at the Tony G invitational. He describes poker as his redemption. “It’s been like a dock leaf around a stinging wound; an improbable cure that has done the job admirably”.

By his own admission, his determination to succeed at times drove him mad. He describes how he once almost threw €34,000 out his hotel room window because he was disgusted at coming second at the 2002 World Heads up Poker Championship in Vienna, despite the fact that after registering for the event he couldn’t even afford a taxi back to the airport.

The book is not without its flaws. Roy mentions how desperately he wanted to win the Poker Masters in 2007 because he considered a couple of $50,000 cashes in tournaments in the previous 12 months to be “small change” which if true, the first prize of $120,000 in that event could hardly be considered a much larger sum. He also recounts how Andrew Black outplayed Phil Ivey at the World Series in 2005 which he says took place with two tables remaining, but actually happened 3 tables out with 27 players left. (Brindley had 3% of Black that year).

This is purely nitpicking on my part however and it’s important for me to say that the book is a welcome diversion from a growing list of shallow and self-absorbed poker player biographies. Usually, when professional poker players start talking about themselves I tend to look for the nearest exit for fear they might start comparing themselves to Tiger Woods and Muhammad Ali, such is the monstrosity of some of their egos.

Brindley may have his knockers and while he oozes self confidence one thing he certainly doesn’t have is an over-inflated ego which is very evident from this book. His story is an inspiration to people who have struggled and are struggling, poker players, gamblers and non-gamblers alike.

A compelling and entertaining read.

Boylepoker.com to host ‘Race the Champ’ at Poker for the Homeless March Madness weekend

‘Coin Flip’ charity event added to Poker for the Homeless weekend as former Miss World Rosanna Davidson takes on World Champion Marty Smyth in A-K suited vs Q-Q challenge; eight Irish Open champions confirmed, and team event almost sold out

Dublin, Ireland: March 23, 2009 – Boylepoker.com today announced the inclusion of a special Race the Champ challenge at the March Madness weekend at Dublin’s Jackpot Club from March 27 to 29 2009 in aid of Europe’s largest charity poker fundraiser Poker for the Homeless.

Race the Champ, starting at 8 p.m. ahead of the main event at 9 p.m., will give players the chance to race pot-limit Omaha world champion Marty Smyth. Marty’s opponent will choose either A-K suited or Q-Q, while Marty will receive the hole cards not chosen by his opponent. They then play out the hand with the winner having the highest poker hand.

Players can buy in for €20 and the first round will see Marty’s opponents allowed multiple rebuys. Players who win their coin flip will progress to the next round, until one player remains. If Marty wins, the charity receives all the buy in money, and if his opponent wins he gets to keep half the cash with the charity benefiting from the other half.

The first hand of Race the Champ will see former Miss World Rosanna Davidson and Smyth.

Also confirmed for the March Madness weekend are eight former Irish Open champions: Liam Barker (1999), Noel Furlong (1987, 1989, 1992), Brian McCarthy (1986), Jenny Hegarty (2001), Christy Smith (1993), Marty Smyth (2007), Liam Flood (1996), and Irene Tier (1985). They will be joined by former Irish Open finalists Scott Gray, Padraig Parkinson, and Eamonn ‘Daisy’ O’Grady.

Sunday’s team event is on its way to selling out, with teams already confirmed including Boylepoker, Eglinton Club, Fortune Rooms, Devilfish Poker, Card Player, and Team Mafia.
The schedule of events is:

Friday March 27 – €100 + €10 no-limit hold’em freezeout. 100% of registration fee and 20% of prize pool donated to homeless charities. Satellites from 6 p.m. Event starts 9 p.m. Capacity 120 players. Former Miss World Rosanna Davidson to start proceedings with ‘Race the Champ’ challenge against Marty Smyth.

Saturday March 28 – Final table of Be Our Sponsored Pro with nine Boylepoker.com players battling it out for a $20,000 sponsorship package. Also Jackpot Cash League Final, estimated prize pool €30,000.

Sunday March 29 – €100 + €10 no-limit hold’em team event. Limited to 27 teams of 4. Entry €400 + €40 per team. 100 percent of registration fees donated to homeless charities. 60% of prize pool paid to the first three teams, 40% paid to the nine final table players. Starts 4 p.m.

Padraig Parkinson, ambassador for Poker for the Homeless, said, “The addition of Race the Champ should bring plenty of comedy to the proceedings. Players can take their shot at the champ but it’s going to take someone special to win several coin flips against this master of the 50/50. I think Rosanna Davidson might have what it takes to tilt him off his game though!”

Tony G, Brian Townsend and Jamie Gold sign up for paddypowerpoker.com Irish Open

paddypowerpoker.com today announces that Antanas ‘Tony G’ Gouga, Brian ‘sbrubgy’ Townsend and 2006 world champion Jamie Gold are the latest professional players to confirm their attendance at this year’s Irish Open. They join Marty Smyth, Phil ‘The Unabomber’ Laak, Ciaran ‘Big C’ O’Leary, Neil Channing and many other pre-registered professionals. The €3200 + €300 No-Limit Holdem tournament is taking place from April 10th – April 13th 2009.

Tony G is one of the most recognisable professional poker players, known for his over-the-top table talk and fearless play. He is also celebrated for the substantial charitable contributions he has made with his tournament winnings, including his large donation to various Asian and Australian causes after winning an Asian Poker Tour event.

Brian Townsend is an online poker player who has achieved legendary status among the internet poker community as a result of his cash game successes. He plays some of the highest stakes available online, specialising in short-handed and heads-up play, and is lead instructor for the popular CardRunners online poker training site.

Jamie Gold shot into poker super stardom after winning the WSOP* $10,000 Championship Event in 2006, capturing a record prize of $12,000,000 and the coveted gold bracelet. Mentored by poker legend Johnny Chan, Jamie is motivated by philanthropic ideals to devote much of his time to charitable causes via poker tournaments and other events.

Seventh annual Irish Classic Poker Festival returns to Cork this August

The Macau Sporting Club, Cork, Ireland, today announced the launch of the seventh annual Irish Classic Poker Festival from Aug. 10 to 16, 2009. The main event is a €100,000 guaranteed €1,000 + €100 no limit hold’em tournament taking place over three days from Aug. 13.

The main event has a 15,000 chip starting stack with 75 minute blinds and the Macau Sporting Club is currently guaranteeing one ticket each Tuesday in its €50 + €5 one rebuy/one add on tournament and two tickets on the last Thursday of each month in its €100 + €10 one rebuy/one add on tournament. Super satellites for all events are running daily at the club.

Online satellites for the main event will be announced on a number of networks in the coming months and live satellites will take place across Ireland between now and the festival.

Last year Rob Taylor topped a record field of 169 which included Annette Obrestad, Michael Greco, Ian Woodley, Roy Brindley, Marty Smyth, Jeff Duval, Sylvester Geoghegan, and Mick McCloskey, collecting €46,000 and the title of Irish Poker Classic champion. This year over 200 players are expected to attend what has become one of the best poker festivals in Europe.

The full line up for the festival is:
Aug. 10 Mega super satellite no-limit hold’em freezeout €100 + €10
Aug. 11 Pot-limit Omaha €200 + €20 with 2 re-buys/1 re-buy or 1 Add-on at €100 – €200 + €20
Aug. 11 Ladies event no-limit hold’em freezeout €100 + €10
Aug. 12 Mega super satellite no-limit hold’em with 1 re-buy or 1 add-on at €50 – €100 + €10
Aug. 13 Day 1A €100,000 guaranteed main event freezeout €1,000 + €100
Aug. 14 Day 1B €100,000 guaranteed main event freezeout €1,000 + €100
Aug. 15 Day 2 €100,000 guaranteed main event freezeout
Aug. 15 €250 + €25 charity event no-limit Texas hold’em freezeout €250 + €25
Aug. 16 Day 3 €100,000 guaranteed main event freezeout
Aug. 16 €200 + €20 pub challenge no-limit Texas hold’em freezeout €200 + €20

Ken Corkery, tournament coordinator, said, “Last year saw record numbers at the festival, including overseas players, and with the reduced buy in this year designed to combat recessionary woes we’re confident we can make the festival even bigger and better.”

The Irish Classic Poker Festival is held in Macau Sporting Club, Ireland’s largest gaming complex situated on the waterfront, a stone’s throw from Cork city’s finest bars and eateries with a state of art hotel and leisure centre right next door and casino’s own M Lounge and Mint Restaurant, the casino is Europe’s best kept secret.

Special accommodation rates have agreed with nearby hotels The Montenotte Hotel, Quality Hotel and Leisure Centre, Gresham Metropole Hotel, and the Clairon Hotel.

DevilfishPoker.com announces host of new international payment methods

DevilfishPoker.com announces host of new international payment methods

Fourteen new country-specific payment methods available for convenient, secure deposits and withdrawals at DevilfishPoker.com

DevilfishPoker.com today announces the addition of 14 new country-specific deposit and withdrawal methods for players at its online poker site.

By expanding the number of deposit methods contained within the MoneyBookers solution to its site, DevilfishPoker.com is giving players across Europe and internationally the chance to make safe, secure, and more convenient deposits and withdrawals.

The full list of new deposit methods is:

• Australia – POLi
• Austria – EPS (Netpay)
• Denmark – Dankort
• Finland – Nordea Solo
• Germany – Giropay, Sofortüberweisung
• Ireland – Laser
• Italy – Carta Si, Postepay
• Netherlands – iDeal
• Poland – P24
• Spain – 4B, Euro6000
• Sweden – Nordea Solo
• Singapore – Enets
• International – Diners

Paul Barnes, CEO of DevilfishPoker.com, said, “These convenient new payment methods give an added bonus to our poker and casino players. It is testament to our commitment to safe and secure play and customer focus that we continue to expand the services we’re bringing to our players.”

Open a Devilfish Poker Account today and get a $1,000 bonus!

Boyle Poker “Be Our Sponsord Pro” Promotion.

Boylepoker.com pro and World Series of Poker Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet winner Marty Smyth has proved why he is a true world champion, winning the Omaha tournament he was hosting as part of Boylepoker.com’s Be Our Sponsored Pro competition.

Smyth beat 46 other players to win the event which would see him join eight other online qualifiers to battle it out in a live tournament on March 28, 2009 in Dublin’s Jackpot Club. The top prize is a sponsorship package comprising paid entry and expenses for the Irish Open 2009, the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Manchester main event, and the World Series of Poker $1,500 no-limit hold’em event.

However, the rules of the tournament mean that should the host player win the seat it will automatically be transferred to the second placed player which, in this case, is Noel Magner.

“I was very happy with the way I played,” said Smyth, “and knew by the final table I was in with a great shot. I’m very competitive so all I could do was go with my instincts and win the thing! I’m glad Noel Magner is getting the seat though as he played fantastically and has a strong shot at winning the sponsorship package now.”

This week sees three more chances for online poker players to win a seat. The remaining tournaments are (check tournament lobby for times):

• Turbo tournament — March 18th
• Freeroll for new players — March 19th
• Stake a pro tournament — March 20th
• Megastack tournament — March 22nd
• Tournament of champions — March 23rd
• Premier League darts tournament — March 24th
• Last chance saloon — March 25th

The schedule for the Boylepoker.com Poker for the Homeless March Madness, where the Be Our Sponsored Pro live final table takes place on Saturday March 28,

Click here to open a Boylepoker account and qualify online.

DevilfishPoker.com launches European Masters of Poker Bulgaria Qualification from just €2

Win €1,800 packages to the European Masters of Poker Varna, Bulgaria on DevilfishPoker.com from just €2; free package daily between April 1 and April 7

DevilfishPoker.com today announced its European Masters of Poker™ qualification where players can win €1,800 packages to the second leg of the five-stop tour taking place in Varna, Bulgaria from April 15 to 18.

The European Masters of Poker™ has a buy in of €1,000+100 on each stop (Spain, Czech Republic, and Malta will follow later in the year), with estimated fields of between 200 and 400 which offer participants a chance of taking home the first prize of between €50,000 to €100,000 and an EMOP trophy.

Last month 248 players flew in to Tallinn, Estonia for the first event on the tour to vie for the €248,000 prize pool. The event was won by Johanna Pyysing from Finland when, heads up, she beat former EPT Barcelona winner Bjorn-Erik Glenne to take down the €69,440 top prize.

Nicholas McMeechan qualified through DevilfishPoker for the Tallinn event and went on to finish 15th for €2,500.

DevilfishPoker.com players can qualify for as little as €2 or 200 VIP-points with nine daily satellites to the €100 Sunday Main Qualifier held at 18:40 GMT. Each package consists of €1,100 for the tournament buy-in and €700 for travel and hotel expenses with a minimum of 10 packages guaranteed in each Sunday Main Qualifier.

Wednesday sees a minimum of five packages guaranteed in the €100 Wednesday Main Qualifier at 18:40 GMT.

Additionally DevilfishPoker.com is offering seven daily raked hands races with a €1,800 seat to EMOP Bulgaria for each day’s winner. This race runs from the April 1 to 7, 2009.

The tour will also see a parallel leaderboard competition with cash prizes to those players that outperform the competition. Each player’s best three results are counted towards the leaderboard. The overall winner will walk away with an additional poker bonus cash prize and a watch worth €10,000.