This week saw the entertaining finale of the Boyle Poker.com Irish Poker Championships in Dublin, with a surprise win by Kieran Walsh, a young poker player from Cork, who walked away with Euro 150,000.
It was no mean feat, considering the quality line-up of professional poker players included The Hendon Mob, Andy Black and Roy “The Boy” Brindley with the first three prizes of Euros 150,000, 70,000 and 30,000 going to local lads from Cork and Dublin.
Barney Boatman, the only pro who made it to the final table, walked away with fourth prize and Euro 18,000.
The championships began in September with regional heats and finals nationwide. Over 3 000 people took part making it Ireland’s biggest ever poker tournament. Andy Black said, “It was a brilliantly run tournament, which was clearly as a result of all the effort Boylesports have put in over the past few months. All their hard work has paid off.”
After the main tournament, a Heads Up international *test* was played between England and Ireland. The Hendon Mob who represented England, convincingly defeated their Irish rivals Andy Black and Padraig Parkinson.
Paul Magee, spokesperson for Boylepoker.com was delighted with the weekend. “It was a fantastic weekend of poker with some of Ireland and the world’s best poker players competing. The event has been successful and is now the biggest poker tournament in Ireland and one of the biggest in Europe. We are already looking forward to next year”.