Irish Poker Festival '09 Day 2

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Day 2

Who won the international game?

So, there were just two players left in the international invitational game arranged as a prelude to the Ladbrokes.com Irish Poker Festival. With Ireland already out of the running it was left to the English team represented by bbmoney and the Nordics represented by Nebuchad to fight it out heads up for the €1800 and more importantly the bragging rights and pride in the picturesque Irish town. With the chips stacks marginally in favour of bbmoney the crucial hand was played out in front of may spectators that had gathered to see the climax of a fun night's poker. Following bbmoney's limp in the SB the flop of Ks Qc 5c was checked by both players. The turn was 10c and Nebuchad bet 4k only to be re-raised to 12k by the Englishman. After a short pause the Swede called still looking perplexed. The blank 6x on the river was met with another check from the Swede. bbmoney then pushed all in for his remaing 35k+ stack and the decision and pressure was firmly on Swede's shoulders. Following a long pause and much table talk Nebuchad called. The players flipped the cards with Nebuchad first showing Kd 3c for top pair and bbmoney showing pocket 99s. The hand crippled the England team and the game was soon up - as in the very next hand the Nordics claimed victory. Noisy celebration followed but above all mutual respect was on show as all the players shook hands and applauded what was a suitable start to what is the friendliest of poker festivals. The crucial call will be debated for days to come and i am sure we have not heard the last of it until the teams get it on at the next Ladbrokes event.

Day 1 €250,000 Guaranteed Main Event

The Ladbrokes.com Irish Poker Festival main event was finally here. Following last year's phenominal turnout another 752 players turned out in the hope of capturing the first prize of €100,000. Players from all parts of the globe including Bulgaria, Poland and Latvia joined the masses from the UK and the Nordics hoping to emulate 2008 champion Jimmy McSweeney's dream win. The day's play was preceeded with the usual introductions, rules and well wishes. In addition, Ladbrokes announced the 4th Poker Cruise scheduled for January 2011. Further details on how to qualify for this much anticipated event will be available shortly.

Back to the tournament and the play was understandably slow and cagey with the opening blind level of 25/25. All the more incredible was that it took one player all of 8 minutes to lose his 15,000 starting stack. The call from the floor was met with gasps of amazement from the rest of the players and the watching public. Notable players to exit during the evening included Martin Stalros and Julian Gardner. By the time play finished at around 1am there were still 462 players still in with a chance of winning. The average stack is now 28,000 and the players will come back today at 1pm for Day 2. Here are some chip counts from the first day: