This week, the Poker for the Homeless (formerly Simon Poker Day) charity tournament at the PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship in Galway was won by Waterford man Nicky Power. It was the second year the southwest Irish city triumphed in the event with Pat Storan having lifted the honours in 2008. Power also follows in the footsteps of former world champion Noel Furlong who won the event in 2007.The €330 event, of which €100 went directly to homeless charities in Ireland, raised close to €40,000. Of this, €18,200 was collected on the day from the prize pool at the charity poker tournament and will be donated to Galway Simon Community. A further €6,000 was collected in donations and €13,000 has been pledged and will be collected over the coming weeks. This money will be divided between Dublin Simon Community and Brother Kevin at the Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin.
A host of big name players littered the 128 strong field including Mike Sexton, Kenna James, Marty Smyth, Scott Gray, Ciaran O’Leary, and 'Mad' Marty Wilson. Many of Europe’s leading online poker rooms dug deep with PartyPoker.com, Ladbrokespoker.com, Boylepoker.com, BrucePoker.com, and PokerTrillion.com having offered generous support for the fund raising tournament. Tournament organisers Pokerevents.ie made a sizable donation and even the massage girls got into the giving spirit donating a generous and unexpected €380 from their wages from the weekend.
The victor, Nicky Power, who is sponsored by BrucePoker and is a former Irish Open finalist said, “This is what the weekend is all about. I got rid of my chips in the main event so I could jump into the Poker for the Homeless charity event. Some carpet salesman called Noel Furlong won it a couple of years ago so I feel a bit like a world champion now. Anto O’Callaghan made a brave stab at the title and would have been a worthy champion but I was just too good ultimately.”Padraig Parkinson, one of the organisers of the event, added, “We’d like to thank everyone who played and all the companies who contributed financially to the success of the event. Without them it wouldn’t exist and we’re deeply grateful. Congratulations to Nicky who not only won the event but brought his sponsor on board, however I think we’ll have to pay a visit to Waterford next to try and get some of that money back — they keep following Poker for the Homeless around like they were homeless themselves and I think it’s about time we went down and raided their pantry!”
The final table results were:
1st Nicky Power (Waterford) -- €7,150
2nd Anto O’Callaghan (Dublin) -- €5,000
3rd Rory Hogan (Limerick) -- €4,000
4th Barry Shafar (Glasgow) -- €2,500
5th Derek Long (Galway) -- €2,000
6th Thomas McInerny (Limerick) -- €1,450
7th Trevor McGoona (Co.Meath) -- €1,100
8th Adam Fallon (Dublin) -- €850
Poker for the Homeless will return later in the year to add to the almost €140,000 raised for Irish homeless charities over the last three years.