IRISH OPEN LIVE UPDATES - DAY ONE

[tikay]

Welcome to sunny Dublin for the paddypowerpoker Irish Open.

It's shuffle up & deal at 5pm, & blonde will be there from start to finish.

Plan, initially, is for Dave Colclough & tikay to play, with Rhow in charge of the updating. Dave, myself, & a little network of blonde-ites, will feed Rhowena with the early action for immediate updating. And once tikay exits, it'll be the full Beauty & The Beast double act. Might take a level or two though, ol 'tikay can grind for ever in these big stack slow clock jobbies. See you mid-evening, then.......

[ariston]

Do as a favour and keep your eye on Steve Walmsley (he is burnley johns travel partner this week). He is due a big result and will probably get one now I'm not there with him 

[wsopin05]

GOOD LUCK D/C THE FLORIDA GROUP WIN BE WATCHING SO WE EXPECT A VERY GOOD SHOW, JUST WIN BABY / JUST WIN!!!!

[tikay]

Thanks Russ & WSOPin05.

The Preview / scene setting will continue now, sorry for delay, the 'puter dropped out again, pah!

[tikay]

Although the paddypowerpoker Irish Open is promoted by Liam Flood & The Merrion Casino, it is in fact being held at The City West Hotel, which is about 10km west of Dublin.

The CityWest Hotel is amassive conference centre & resort hotel, maybe 1,000 rooms. It has 2 Golf Courses, two Helipads (TWO!,Travelodge's rarely have more than one Helipad...), & is set in lovely countryside.

The Hotel has the swankiest set of courtsey cars you ever saw - a spanking new Rolls Royce, a Mercedes S600, & 4 (FOUR!) top of the range Range Rover Vogues. I fancied a ride in the roller, so asked if they could sort me out for transport to Dublin. No prob, they said, "we'll book a taxi for you".....

Despite all that, it's only 70 Euros a night to get a lovely room here this weekend. The Poker Rate is 90 Euros, but the Easter Break rate is 70 Euros, so everyone is taking an Easter Break!

I asked for the Senior Citizens Discount they said I was FAR too young. Lovely people these Dublin folks....

[tikay]

We have just had the "welcome" speech by Liam Flood & Mr Paddy Power. And on the stage, he was flanked by Tony Cascarino & Teddy Sheringham, both of whom are playing today. In fact, I believe Tony finished 9th or similar in this last year.

[tikay]

The room where the comp is being held is a sorta large ballroom, plenty of room, & all the tables are brand new, very nice.

On one side is a Portakabin jobbie which is the Cashier's office, & next to that, the sponsors have a sort of promotions stand.

One oddity is that we have to pay for tea or coffee - 2 euros for a paper cup served lukewarm out of a flask. How bizarre!

Right now, there are about 6 or 7 one table satellites for the Main Event in progress.

[tikay]

Entry costs 2,000 Euro, plus 150 Euros juice. The juice has attracted some negative comment, but as Paddy Power are adding 20k, in effect we are playing juice free.

10,000 starting chips & a 45 minute clock, blinds start at 25-25-50.

25-25-50? Nah, not a typo, we are playing 3 blinds here, two smalls & a big. No idea why, but it's quite common in Ireland.

[tikay]

Who's here? Well, this is not an exclusive list, but I have spotted the following folks, & doubtless forgotten many more.

A full local crew, headed by the likes of Padraig Parkinson, Noel Furlong, George McKeever, Frank O'Callaghan, Roy The Boy Brindley, Kevin O'Connell, Andy The Monk Black, Donnache O'Dea, & Mike Lacey, aka LuckyBlind.

From France we have Isabelle Mercier, with whom I am sure I am becoming infatuated, she really is some personality, but she's not a lady to get wrong side of.

Dave Colclough heads the big boys from the UK, with Simon Trumper, Julian Thew (and brother Graham who got 9th on Thursday), Howard Plant, Mad Marty Wilson, Julian Gardner & Dad Dave.

Carlo Citrone is here on his comeback of course, & he got 5th in the Omaha last night, in which yours truly busted out in a massive pot in 9th. Poo poo POO.

Burnley John Falconer, Mike Pura (Vienna EPT Finliist), Greg Junior Hill (Walsall runner-up), Jim Reid, David Lloyd, George Geary & his brother, Ian McDonald. By the way, young Greg Hill is on fire, & has just won his seat for tonight in a one table jobbie. Heads up with a local, Matey Boy moved in with K-9, Greg says "call" & flips over KK!

[tikay]

Live Updates from blonde?

Rhow will be on the computer, so Dave & me will be feeding the info to Rhow, & we have a little team of blonde-ites who will be providing info to Rhow. So if you have a player or players who you want to follow, just let us know.

It's a 10k chip slow clock jobbie, so tikay is hoping to grind it out for a good while, but once I am out - which could take, oh, hours - I will be on hand to help Rhow.

[tikay]

TV coverage? Well Paddy Power have a film crew here, & so does "our very own" Poker 425. We will be doing player interviews & stuff for "stock" footage, & some stuff for next week's show.

[tikay]

A couple more "names" I forgot to mention, Paul actionjack Jackson & Jon Shoeman.

[tikay]

1 hour to go now, & as other players arrive, we will let you know.

[tikay]

And right on cue, Rumit Somaiya has just walked in. These guys determind to make plenty of work for me, arriving in ones & twos.

[tikay]

And Maltese Joe Grech.