Europe’s longest running tournament returns to Citywest Hotel

paddypowerpoker.com today launches an online registration facility for the Irish Poker Open 2009 via a customised payment gateway on the official Irish Open website.  The gateway facilitates both individual and cardroom registrations, with payment possible via credit card, bank transfer and cheque.

The Irish poker room also confirms that the Irish Open will return to Citywest Hotel, Saggart, Co. Dublin for the second year running.  This world-class venue was widely praised by players following the success of last year’s festival.

“We are delighted to launch the online registration facility for the Irish Open 2009 so that players eager to secure their seat at Europe’s longest running poker tournament can gain some peace of mind before Christmas” said Eric Booth, Head of Poker for paddypowerpoker.com.  “We’re equally happy to return to Citywest; the facilities and atmosphere there really impressed the players at the Irish Open 2008 and we expect the 2009 event to exceed the achievements of last year in both respects!”

To avail of special room rates negotiated by paddypowerpoker.com, please quote promotional code IO2009 when booking your tournament accommodation. Accommodation at Citywest can be booked through Sinead O’Connor via phone to at 00353 1 4010952 or email at paddypower@citywesthotel.com.

The Irish Poker Open has grown to be one of the best poker tournaments in the world. If there were majors in poker the Irish Poker Open would be on the list. With millions of dollars changing hands, and a rich 25 plus year history, this tournament has become a prestigious one to win. Players from around the globe will gather once again to compete for the title in Dublin on Easter weekend 2009. I am going to let you on where the roots of this tournament come from, and the evolution of the tournament over the past 25 plus years.

You can trace the roots of this tournament to a familiar place, where familiar people introduce the game of Texas Holdem to the world. Irish born Terry Rogers on a trip to Vegas visited the Horseshoe Binions Casino, and this is where he was introduced to No Limit Texas Holdem. At the time high stakes Holdem games were popular in Vegas and Rogers sought to take the game back to Ireland with him. Terry Rogers was known for his passion for poker and the first Irish open was played in 1980, which he established. The first event was a 5 card stud tournament, which was won by Collette Doherty, she later went on to become the first women to ever play in the main event at the World Series of Poker. Collette had a great career playing poker and continued her success at the Irish Poker Open becoming a two time winner in 1991. 1982 might have been the first year, poker players truly became global, when American born players traveled to Dublin to play in the Eccentric Club Invitational. Vegas legends like Amarillo Slim and Doyle Brunson joined Rogers to compete in a poker tournament.

With the success in 1982, 1983′s event was even bigger attracting more legends of the game like Stu Unger, Tom McEvoy and Chip Reese. With 33 players entered in the tournament, you’ll never guess it, but Stu Unger went out on the first hand, Tom McEvoy won the title.  In ‘84 Tony Bryne won the Irish Poker Open and Liam Flood won the Eccentric Club Invitational beating well known Gabe Kaplan heads up. In 1985 Irene Tier became the second women to win the Irish Open.

By the time of the mid 1980′s Irish poker had taken off, led by Terry Rogers. The Irish Poker Open was growing and you could find Rogers and 10 – 15 of his friends in attendance at the World Series of Poker. In the 80′s 10 – 15 players made up a large chunk of the field and Irish poker was here to stay. By 1987 Noel Furlong was winning his first Irish Open, with the help from Terry Rogers he went on to have great success at the tournament for years to come. As the ‘90′s got under way you saw winners like Christie Smith, Liam Flood and Mickey Finn and we saw the emergence of great Irish poker players like Andy Black. To this day Black is one of the best poker players in the world, but he did retire temporarily after running into Stu Unger at the World Series of Poker. As the years went on Irish poker was strong and in 2001 the poker world was witness to one of the biggest surprises of all time when Jenny Hegarty won the Irish Poker Open. In 2006 the Irish Poker Open found itself a sponsor in paddypoker.com. They have never looked back since with guaranteed prize pools of over a million, live coverage of the final table and plenty of online qualifiers.

Paddy Power Poker has made the Irish tournament more visible, worth more money and attracts more players. Poker has boomed you can commonly find thousands of players playing in events around the world. Irish poker itself is still strong and growing, there is no doubt Ireland is world poker power. Terry Rogers deserves a major place in poker history, he brought the games to Dublin. Looking outside of Ireland, Rogers was one of the first ambassadors of the game and will go down as a truly influential personality in the game.

Irish Poker Open 2009

The Irish Poker Open 2009 is going to be one of the most prixed poker tournament, with prize pools of more then a million Euros and great players from all around the world showing up to play. On Easter weekend 2009 the this tournament captures the poker world and without a doubt someone will be crowned a champion. It might be a big named player like Andy Black, Doyle Brunson or Jennifer Harmon. There is also a good chance that an amateur who qualified at paddypoker.com will be crowned the champion making his/her dreams come true. This tournament has grown and adapted with time to remain one of the top destinations in the poker world. Rich in history, plenty of prize money and respect of your peers is the reason this tournament will continue to grow and flourish. I hope everyone has there chance to compete in Ireland on Easter weekend, visit paddypowerpoker.com for qualifying details.