Dark horses Scotland set the pace, feisty French fancy their chances, Republic of Ireland reaps benefit of experience.
The paddypowerpoker.com Grand Slam 2006 got off to an explosive start at Star City Casino, Birmingham yesterday as the Scots, French and Irish turned early chip advantages to their favour to almost cripple the Northern Irish, Welsh, English and Swedish teams.
The tournament, which will be televised in by Sky Sports in Europe in March 2006, played down to 12 from 42 players yesterday.
Pre-tournament outsiders Scotland proved they are no slouches - Rory Matthews ended the day as chip leader with 580,000 of the 4,200,000 chips in play - and French hero Robert ‘Le Dangereux’ Cohen battled him all they way, finishing up with 504,000.
Seasoned Irish pros Donnacha O’Dea and Padraig Parkinson led the Irish charge finishing Day One in third and fifth respectively with 476,000 and 426,000 chips.
Welsh hero Iwan Jones kept the Welsh in contention surging to a fourth place Day One finish on 427,000 chips while fellow countryman and snooker professional Mark Williams played a text-book tight game in the hope of making the final TV table – he is currently 10th with a shortstack of 178,000.
The fearless Swedes fell victim to their own aggression and only Lars Kjestrop remain in the game.
The Northern Irish also came a cropper due to early aggressive play but may have found a new star in 21 year-old Matthew Bell who has made big lay downs and played studious poker to end the day on 361,000.
The English fell on their swords at a steady clip and are out of the tournament.
The unique structure of the tournament sees an individual prize pool of €210,000 and a team prize pool of €110,000 for the highest placed team. Points are awarded according to finishing positions.
The tournament recommences at 4pm today, Wednesday 11th January 2006. The public is invited to attended the filming of the final table at Star City Casino, Birmingham.
For further information please contact Brendan Murray, Tel: 00 353 488 1759, Mob: 00 353 86 305 7469, Email: bmurray@paddypower.com