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Copyright 2005 The Sunday Tribune plc
Sunday Tribune

March 27, 2005

HEADLINE: News - The stakes are high as poker's elite hit town looking for a good deal;

BYLINE: John Burke

BODY:
As the cream of Irish and international players gathers in Dublin this weekend for the Irish Open Poker finals, one leading contender has warned about the growing popularity of the game on the internet.

Dubliner Donnacha O'Dea, 56, said that many older players were concerned that online-poker may be open to cheating. "It's growing at a huge rate," he said. "A lot of young guys are coming into the game, first playing on the internet and then in tournaments. But the established players are concerned that it is possible for three guys to play online and share information on the cards they are holding and possibly cheat the odds against another online competitor. You don't face those problems in the traditional game, where you sit across a table from a few fellas, in a conventional setting."

O'Dea, who is reigning champ from the 2004 Poker Million competition - a highstakes game in which players qualified on the internet before meeting face-to-face for the final - is one of just several Irish players competing for the EUR130,000 pot at the Irish Open finals.

Yesterday, he was giving an online masterclasses in gambling to budding stars at the south Dublin venue before putting his chips on the table to challenge for big tournament money.

Among the other top Irish players is Belfast woman LeeAnne Smyth, whose online alias is City Chick 2. The 25year old earns £4,500 a week online and is also a successful tournament player - winning £100,000 last year at one UK event.

A graduate of Queens University in her home city, where she studied pure and applied mathematics, she gave up a career in banking to become a professional online poker player.

Others who will be hoping to add a win at the Citywest tables to their growing earnings in online poker will be Sligo man Paddy O'Connor, 35, who is one of the biggest names in the internet game.

O'Connor finished an impressive 38th out of 2,500 competitors in the World Series of Poker this year - getting called to show his hand when he was making what he describes as "a big bluff" - when he had $ 1m worth of chips on the table.

This weekend's event is organised by Paddy Powers bookmakers.

Also hoping for success this weekend will be rising poker star, former Sunday Tribune and Irish Daily Star journalist Kenny Powell, who went professional last year.

Roy 'The Boy' Brindley is also hoping to add to his impressive online success this weekend. The 35-year old has been playing in international tournaments while working from his Dublin base for the past 10 years. Brindley is sponsored by Ladbrokespoker.com and is Europe's most successful tournament player.

The latest report, from UK bookmakers Ladbrokes, shows that online poker is growing in popularity across Ireland and the UK, and that young men between the ages of 18 and 30 are the most eager players, as well as the most successful, compared to all other age groups.

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