One for the ladies in Paddy´s online poker tourney

11/12/2007

Next year's Irish Open week long poker epic will see the introduction of a new event - the Irish Open Ladies - on May 22 2008. The new contest will take the form of a no limit hold'em freezeout with a reasonable buy-in of Euro 300 + Euro 30 that should ensure a good attendance.

Paddy Power's poker chief, Nikki Newman, says: "I am very excited about it. I have always felt something of a personal compunction to help bring more women into the game. Colette Doherty, Irene Tier and Jenny Heggerty, showed us just how much power there is in the Irish ladies game. So what better backdrop could there be for a ladies poker event than the Irish Open itself!"

The Irish Open festival begins on March 19 with a Super Satellite to the Main Event, with the Euro 3 million guaranteed prize pool Main Event itself starting the following day. Buy-ins for the Main Event are Euro 4 200 + Euro 300.

The full schedule looks like this:

March 19 -- Main event super satellite Euro 300 + Euro 30
March 20 -- Irish Open main event day 1A -- Euro 4 200 + Euro 300
March 21 -- Irish Open main event day 1B -- Euro 4 200 + Euro 300
March 22 -- Irish Open Ladies no limit hold'em freezeout -- Euro 300 + Euro 30
March 22 - 23 -- Euro 1 500 no limit hold'em freezeout - Euro 1 500 + Euro 150
March 23 -- Pot limit Omaha rebuy -- Euro 400 + Euro 40
March 24 -- No limit hold'em double chance scalp -- Euro 270 + Euro 30 + Euro 30

Readers familiar with this major European tournament will notice the addition of another new contest this year - the No Limit Hold 'em Double Chance Scalp. The format for this new event will see each player starting with half their starting stack. They will then be allowed to take the second half of their chips anytime between the first hand and the first break. Players will be given a scalp chip with their second set of chips and must give their scalp (worth Euro 30) to the player who eventually knocks them out.

The Irish Open 2008 will take place at the Citywest Hotel, Dublin and registration for the event is already underway. Players wishing to register and pay online can do so at