Ireland’s biggest and most prestigious poker tournament, The Irish Open, would not be the tournament it is without the backing of Paddy Power Poker. The same could be said for another major poker event in the Irish Winter Festival and adding €100,000 and €20,000 respectfully for these tournaments is a huge incentive for players. Money added to prizepools lines all our pockets in the form of added equity to poker tournaments. In the frustrating economic period surrounding us, the success this year of these two tournaments has been all the more extraordinary generating total prizepools of €2,265,200 and €650,000. All this said, the cost of hosting large scale poker festivals such as the two Paddy Power Poker events listed is astronomical. This along with months of preparation work from the site’s team has meant that Paddy Power Poker is the online site of the year for 2010.
Winner: Paddy Power Poker
Irish poker players have long yearned for an online results service for the tournaments held around the country. It can be quite frustrating to be bombarded with information in the build up to an event only to watch the stream of communication dry up completely after the event. Players want their name in lights when they win rather than being handed a cheque in an empty room full of vacated tables. The empty room they cannot avoid but being posted online afterwards as a winner is something we are surely entitled to. It’s neat and practical to view results online both for your own interest and to monitor others. It seems one man has solved this and he comes in the form of Iain Cheyne. His development of the site http://www.irishpokerankings.com has provided us with a poker database. Iain has created podcasts too known as Irish Poker Radio, which there have been dozens throughout the year. Also, Iain has been developing Irish Poker TV, an online TV channel which streams live action from poker tournaments throughout the country. His tireless work has put plenty of miles on his car as he travelled to and from his base in Longford throughout the year. His efforts have been so commendable that he’s a facile choice for this award.
Winner: Iain Cheyne
Ciaran Taggart is a rare breed. He’s a poker dealer AND he’s a capable poker player. Having learned the ropes dealing cards throughout the country, Taggart has now begun playing on the circuit. In September he went delicately close to landing the UKIPT Dublin crown on home territory only to be eliminated in 4th place for €19,500. He has captured other people’s attention too with creative squeeze plays and all-in bluffs. “He’s one of the best players’ around” says Thomas ‘The Bomber’ Nolan. “He’s ballsy, he’s aggressive and he’s willing to gamble”. He might be a chip off the old bomber’s block too as he himself knows all about wild play at the poker table. Having gone close in the €500 Irish poker Festival in Killarney and the €500 European Short-handed Poker Championships in Dublin, Taggart will be hoping he can use his near misses as a trampoline to success in 2011.
Winner: Ciaran Taggart
On the domestic front there can only be one player of the year. His performance in the €1000 non-Vegas-participants Killarney UKIPT where he manoeuvred a challenge worthy of his first big poker title ended sour when he was eliminated in 10th place for €4,450. Dejected he went back to work the next day dreaming of cruel river cards and explaining to the bewildered at the water cooler how winning €3,450 over the weekend was nothing short of heartbreaking. Gallantly, he made the trip down South once again two weeks later and duly took down the inaugural Big Slick Irish World Series of Poker for €10,000. While others walked the long corridor of discontent having lost $10,000 in the Las Vegas RIO following WSOP elimination, Newport was polishing off a well-earned battered sausage and chips at a kebab house in a rainy Waterford city. Summer came and went with and in came October, the most critical poker month of the year in Ireland. It was the month which made Nick Newport player of the year. Kicking off on Oct 1st with a €2000 score at the €500 Ladbrokes Irish Poker festival, his 21st finish from 633 runners must have seemed like yet another lost opportunity. But light was glowing in the distance. The €1500 Paddy Power Irish Winter Festival is the last big event of the year and the 2010 edition saw Nicholas Newport crowned as champion and given a cheque for €125,000. For his celebration party this time, he took part in the Fitzwilliam Card Club’s €270 end of month tournament five days later. You guessed it; he won that too, this time for €9700. Unconfirmed rumours suggest that he was in Shanahan’s on the Green for his feast on the back of that week’s efforts!
Winner: Nicholas Newport
It’s been another glorious year for John O’ Shea. It’s been a year where many of his efforts are worthy of a performance of the year. Just a forthnight ago he came second in the €10,000 high roller event at the EPT Prague for €76,000. It’s been a year glittered with European heroics, Caribbean adventures and success on the domestic front but it’s his performances stateside which have been the most noteworthy in 2010. The annual Five Star World Poker Classic held in April yields a $25,000 entry fee and is home to the types of player you would see on High Stakes Poker, Poker after Dark or indeed those lifting the bracelets on the WSOP telecasts. O’ Shea, whose home is Churchtown in South Dublin broke into these guys’ party and delivered a tremendous run for the title. Big time poker stars such as ten-time bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and 1998 World Poker Champion Scotty Nguyen were left behind as O’ Shea battled with WSOP 2004 runner up and eventual winner David Williams and high stakes online cash player David Benyamine for the $1.5 million first prize and an invitation into the highest echelons of poker elite. We watched bad live streams in the middle of the night hoping that this mouthy Irish talent could finally fulfil his ambition. Unfortunately the young Dubliner could only manage 6th place for $200,000 but it was the performance of the year by an Irish poker player and clearly demonstrates his ability on a world stage. Few could argue that today, John O ‘Shea is the best poker player in Ireland.
Winner: John O’ Shea
Gary Clarke can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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