The Irish Poker Tournament Open

Author: Simon Dexter

Do you ever play poker online and hope for a big juicy cheque to fall through your front door? Me too, but does it ever happen? Well, sort of.

While preparing to leave my hotel in Dublin following the Irish Poker Tournament Open recently, I opened the bedroom door in order to place my suitcase outside only for one of those large, plastic presentation cheques to literally fall at my feet.

It glared at me, face up, its unequivocal instruction to ‘Pay Tony Chessa Twenty Eight Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifty euros’ written so boldly it was clearly not negotiable.

I looked up and down the corridor, but not a soul could be seen. Was this one of Scotland’s leading poker tournament stars having a laugh? Had I won it off him during some boozy betting session last night?

“No,” Tony told me later, “I just couldn’t get the thing on the plane, so I left it behind.”

Sadly, I didn’t even get a commission for finding it as Tony had already banked the real thing, together with a further ten thousand euros he had won in the main poker tournament.

“It was a great weekend,” the Littlewoods Poker-sponsored player laughed. “The atmosphere, organisation, people – everything about the Irish Poker Open made it enjoyable.”

He’s absolutely right. Flying back to the UK, it struck me that poker tournaments do not necessarily have to be cut-throat affairs where participants stare menacingly at each other for days on end.

More than 340 hopefuls, from professional and semi-pro players, to guys simply intent on having a good weekend, took their wives and families, girlfriends and excuses to Dublin to play extraordinarily high quality poker games.

However, in a land renowned for having a flutter, few had correctly predicted one, never mind all six, of the finalists. At more than one point in the proceedings, Tony Chessa was installed as favourite to claim the title at what is now one of Europe’s oldest poker tournaments. Indeed, after the WSOP, it is the oldest high profile poker event in the world.

Chessa became chip leader at one stage by playing his recognisable brand of aggressive poker game, which resulted in him seeing more than his fair share of action.

“That’s the way I play most of the time now,” he commented, “because of the way in which the game has changed. I’ve always been an aggressive player, but I’ve also realised that you need to cement a well-stacked position as early as possible if you’re going to be successful in poker tournaments.”

This is precisely what the ebullient Scot had endeavoured to do in an attempt to make the final table.

Having outmanoeuvred some pretty decent opponents in Dublin’s principal poker game, he eventually lost out on the river following a series of raises and re-raises after opening with a big slick (A,K). His opponent failed to improve upon his 8,10 and things were looking good for Tony until a fifth street 8 appeared and the Scot’s attention immediately turned to Monday’s session and an opportunity to add to the ten grand he’d already won.

“I always do well over here,” he said after the tournament had ended, although it would be fair to say he looked a little disconsolate following his surprise exit, courtesy of the river’s eight card. “Ah, it happens. You go there to win, but sometimes it’s just not your night,” a reflective Chessa revealed afterwards. “But I still managed to come away with nearly forty thousand euros, which isn’t bad for a weekend’s work.”

It’s difficult to argue with such an assessment, especially after a host of leading players had been tempted to Dublin’s fair city by a prize pool of more than one million euros (approximately £720,000) and left with nothing.

The final itself was played against a backdrop of anxiety. Prior to a card being dealt, there was a feeling that due to the relative inexperience of each finalist, there was every chance the game would finish early, but such sentiment proved entirely misplaced.

Nevertheless, at times it was like watching the Inter Milan side of the 60s take on today’s Chelsea: steady, with few mistakes, most of which were rapidly rectified. Frankly, it made for occasional periods of tedious play, but such caution was understandable given the amount of money at stake in this poker game.

It became increasingly tense as Vincent Mellin and Ian Woodley went heads-up and when Woodley went all-in with Ad, Js against Mellin’s pair of sevens, it was evident the end was nigh. A flop of 6h, 10s, 2d did neither man any favours and the turn (10d) meant Woodley needed an ace or a jack on the river. A 4h sealed his fate and the audience erupted.

My overwhelming memory of this poker tournament will be the manner in which it was enjoyed by everyone present and the frequency with which it was possible to strike up conversation with an array of established players, not only Tony Chessa but guys like Ollie Boyce, poker’s world speed champion who drinks Guinness as though it’s going out of fashion.

Roy Brindley told me that dozens of people had stopped by to remind him about the time they had beaten him. “If I’d lost that often, I’d be skint!” he exclaimed.

There probably were a few poker players who departed Dublin skint, but one fancies they’ll return, This was more than a poker tournament: I didn’t speak with one person who failed to have a good time and I for one cannot wait for next year. Neither can Tony Chessa, especially as he has a great chance of winning the £175,000 first prize – I’ll bet he’d find space on the plane for something of that size.

Tags: big slick, irish open, Irish Poker Tournament Open, Tony Chessa

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 1st, 2006 at 12:14 pm and is filed under Poker Tournaments.