The Irish Poker Tour is the longest running poker tournament in all of Europe currently, and is set to get underway once again this weekend. The anticipation surrounding the event is pretty impressive, and it should draw in quite the prize pool and many well-known players as well. It will be run at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin and features a €3,000 buy-in. Last year had some huge names including players like Doyle and Todd Brunson, Phil Laak, Dario Mineri, Dan Harrington, Roland De Wolfe, and many others. In total, there were 708 players last year and they are hoping to surpass that number this year.
So far for the event running this weekend we have names like Daniel Negreanu, Carlos Mortensen, Phil Hellmuth, Eoghan O’Dea, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, Maria Ho, Faraz Jaka, James “Flushy” Dempsey, and quite a few other players who are expected to be in this event. Another interesting part of this event is that it will be part of the iSeriesLIVE, meaning that poker fans have the option to bet on the events and who they think can take it down. Negreanu is currently the favorite along with Hellmuth and O’Dea as they are 80 to 1 to take it down. Some other popular choices to win it are Jake Cody at 125 to 1, and Barny Boatman at 200 to 1.
The Irish Poker Tour started back in 1980, and was won by a player by the name of Colette Doherty. Doherty went on to make a name for herself as being the first European player and first woman to play in the World Series of Poker’s Championship Event, and even more impressive is the fact that she came back to win the event once again in 1991. She is one of four people to do this, as Mickey Finn, Noel Furlong, and Liam Flood have all won the event twice in their careers. “Mad” Marty Smyth is another well-known to win the event, and he is actually sitting with odds of 100 to 1 to win it all this year!
The event will be one to follow, especially if you are a sports bettor, so keep your eye out for the start of this event this weekend!