The PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Open 2012 kicks off today with its headline event, the €3,200 + €300 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, and poker fans can follow all the action right here at CardPlayer.com.
Running until Apr. 9 at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, Europe’s longest running no-limit hold’em tournament, and indeed the second oldest in the world (next to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas) is accompanied by an array of side events including a €500 + €60 sixhanded no-limit hold’em freezeout, a €600 + €75 pot-limit Omaha Championship, and a €1,000 no-limit hold’em freezeout.
The weekend will be filled with live music and a variety of other entertainment and with some of the poker world’s biggest and best stars taking part in all the action such as Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, James Dempsey, David Ulliot, and Faraz Jaka, it’s set to be a memorable four days at the felt.
The main event begins at 2 p.m. (local time) and players will sit down to a 20,000 starting stack with 60-minute blinds (for the first nine levels and 75 minutes thereafter). The event will once again include the €100,000 Sole Survivor which sees the last standing PaddyPowerPoker.com qualifier take down a €100,000 sponsorship package on top of any money won.
Last year Niall Smyth took down the prestigious main event topping a field of 615 including his heads-up opponent Surinder Sunar for a payday of €550,000 from a total prize pool of €1,968,000. Astonishingly, the young Irishman was also the final Paddy Power Poker qualifier remaining out of 160, meaning he added the €100,000 prize to his winnings.
Smyth qualified for the event after winning a bet he placed on the Grand National at Paddy Power; he used the money to satellite into the main event, where he turned his winnings into a life-changing sum. Those whose shadows Smyth walks in include previous champions James Mitchell, Christer Johansson, Neil Channing, and Marty Smyth.
CardPlayer.com will be following all the action as it unfolds on the journey to finding a new name to add to the wall, and punters (eligible to bet at the site) will find plenty of markets to choose from to join in the excitement. Spectators can check out the latest live stream features such as an information console, plus the stream will be re-broadcast later with hole cards and further analysis.
You can check out daily reports and watch the story unravel live here until this year’s victor is crowned on Monday, Apr. 9. The final will also be streamed live but with hole cards as the players will be sequestered with no communication with the outside world.
