A professional poker player from Germany has won an $8.7m jackpot in Las Vegas.

SOME of the world’s best poker players as well as a host of hopeful amateurs gathered at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin for the start of the Paddy Power Irish Open.

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON may have shot a blemishless three under-par round 68 in the first round of the BMW Championship, the third tournament of four in the US Tour’s FedEx Championship, in Chicago yesterday, but the Irishman is having to put up with some real ribbing from a friend as he goes about his business.

Padraig Harrington hopes to keep alive the chance of a $10m (€6.9m) jackpot when he starts the BMW Championship in Chicago today, but the Irishman is also having to put up with some real ribbing from a friend as he goes about his business.

BOOKMAKER Paddy Power could be in a position to enter the potentially lucrative US market sooner than expected, with hopes rising that proposals for the legalisation of online gambling could be passed by the US government within the next 12 months.

A Co Antrim man has become a millionaire after finishing 12th in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Norway’s Eirik Bjorklund has served his last slice of pizza after carving up a 342-strong field to win the main event on the Ladbrokespoker.com Caribbean cruise.

A DUBLIN football fan had plenty to smile about after scooping a €30,000 prize in a major poker competition over the weekend.

IT’S the chance of a lifetime: to parlay an investment of just $64 into a $3 million fortune.

Guests staying at a landmark Las Vegas hotel have been told to leave after federal agents shut down the casino floor and seized money to pay staff benefits.