With the Paddy Power Irish Open and the Irish Championships already done and dusted and the Green Joker Poker festival on the horizon, Irish poker is buzzing more than ever at the moment, and so it was with great anticipation that poker enthusiasts looked forward to this week’s Boyle Poker Waterford Open, held in, yep, you guessed it, Waterford.
Prudently overseen by tournament director and dead ringer for the ‘I shot JR’ character in Father Ted, Neill Kelly (left), the Festival’s €500 Main Event managed to attract an impressive 175 field, packed to the rafters with some of Ireland’s most fearsome players – oh, and Mike Lacey of course.
With the likes of Ken Powell, Brendan Walls and 2006 Irish Open finalist, Conor Smyth, taking their seats and riffling chips, it sure wasn’t going to be easy going for the rest of the field, who were all eagerly eying up that €27,000 first prize like a dog salivating over the rabbit.
But, with so many Irish ‘names’ present, it was the more unknown John Dee Ward who would take the event by storm, leading the pack right from the off and sailing into Day 2 with the chip lead and a formidable 127,400 stack.
Although hotly pursued by Paul Curran and Michael Douglas (no, no that Michael Douglas), Ward would ultimately carry that form beyond the first day, leading Day 3 in similar fashion with a mouth-watering 482,500, almost 200,000 more than his closest rival.
But this was to be no push-over as Colm Kennedy, Rob Taylor and last year’s WSOP hero and highest placing Brit, John Magill (right), were still alive and kicking as 18 remained.
Although Magill dropped in 14th when his A-Q was out-coin-flipped by Paddy Dooley’s Pocket Eights, Michael Douglas was on the rise, at one point shocking everyone by actually taking the chip lead off Ward with a cool 630,000 in chips as the final table loomed.
But Ward was clearly made of sturdy stuff, and, after Douglas had suffered a few painful knocks, he was eliminated by Ward in a huge pot, Douglas re-raising all-in on a J-2-5 Flop with 8-8, but being swiftly called by Ward’s J-T. At one point, Neill Kelly even commented, “John Dee Ward’s chip stack has got to be seen to be believed, he has got the Great Wall of China in front of him with over one third of the chips in play.”
However, it was Victor Brophy who would hold the chip lead as 6 poker warriors remained and, after Paul Curran was shot down by Dooley (A-9 vs. A-5, 5 on the River), the last 5 agreed to a deal, a five way chop that shocked all on-lookers as a perhaps inexperienced Brophy approved an equal split (12k each) with a commanding chip lead at his disposal.
So, a deal was struck, but even though there was just the €1,300 and the trophy left to play for (I’m not sure which is worth more…), the game continued in good spirit, the title eventually falling to the perhaps deserved John Dee Ward, who’s 10-1 heads-up chip lead was too much for Eddie Walsh to handle.
So, well done not just to the Boyle Poker Waterford Open Champion, John Dee Ward, who took home the silverware, but to the other four players (Dooley, Brophy, Kennedy and Walsh) who also grabbed their slice of the Irish pie. Of course, we also shouldn’t forget TD Neill Kelly who, by the sound of the feedback so far, did a top class job, the only cry of constructive criticism being, “No deals next year, Kelly!”
Info courtesy of Neill Kelly and the Big Slick Poker Forum