Start your poker career at the Boylepoker IPO!

Gary Clarke, 13/10/09 | Print this article

The 2009 Boylepoker International Poker Open will be held at the Regency Airport Hotel, Dublin 9, from October 16th – 18th.

This weekend the largest poker tournament in Europe returns to Dublin. From the 16th-18th October the International Poker Open will take place in the Regency Airport Hotel, Dublin 9 for what should prove an extra special weekend of poker. Poker Ireland will again host this event, along with the essential sponsorship and backing of Boylepoker.  With a current prize pool of $322,000 and climbing, this year’s tournament will now boost it’s biggest ever prize purse.

The Poker Operations Manager of Boylepoker Paul Spillane talks lyrically on the Boylepoker site this week about his first “big field” tournament at the Victoria Sporting Club. He spoke about the buzz of playing with the heavy hitters of the day such as Lucy Rokach and Simon Trumper and how big time poker had entered his life with a bang. I too remember my first big tournament and it too was a side event of a major poker tournament, in this case the Irish Open. It was April 2006 and the Jury’s Hotel Ballsbridge. I too was like an excited child. That morning I could barely concentrate on anything else but this monstrous €150 tournament I would be taking part in. Finally, a chance to play with all the names I had read so much about and saw on TV. Unfortunately for me, I was drawn on a table with 8 players I didn’t know and Bob Battersby!

But for a lot of people this weekend, they too will go through these emotions. The first big poker tournament you play will always be a special one. It’s a chance to sit down and play with the very best in the game without the gigantic entry fee. With names such as Marty Smyth, Neil Channing, Padraig Parkinson, Andy Black and Jesse May, it is little wonder how this year’s field will prove to be the biggest yet. For poker fans this is a wonderful opportunity that you just don’t get with other sports. You can’t play football with Robbie Keane unless you are a Premiership footballer, you can’t play darts with Phil Taylor unless you qualify for the World Championships but you can play AK against ex World Champion Noel Furlong for all his chips this weekend at the IPO.

I remember after I got eliminated from that crucial €150 side event being absolutely devastated. Inconsolable! But thankfully I made the most of that moment. I didn’t go home and cry (as much as I wanted to) but instead I stayed on and sampled the atmosphere of a top-end poker tournament. I remember going around with a deck of cards and a black marker and getting 52 signatures from some of the top players in the room. These ranged from Ram Vaswani to Mick McCluskey. I got Ross Boatman through to Michael Greco. I even got Bob Battersby’s too!

I can still remember the puzzled face on Mick McCloskey. “You’re joking!” he claimed. I may have been the first and last man to ask for his autograph! But as far as I was concerned he too was a poker celebrity, just like Mike Caro and the Hendon Mob. The tournament offered an experience first and a prize pool second.  That too is the message of the IPO.  While I am not saying you must badger your favourite poker players for autographs (although they do love it) it is important to remember to have fun if the IPO is your first big tournament. The $250’s will come and go over the course of your poker career but the experience of your first “big” tournament will live forever.

Gary Clarke can be contacted at gary.clarke@pokerireland.ie

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