Irishman’s €30,000 win ups the ante for $1m London poker tournament

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

Stephen Hoary, originally from Crumlin but living in Newbridge, Co Kildare, has the chance to try his luck in a $1 million tournament in London next month.

He was one of a number of qualifiers to reach the final of the VCPoker.ie Irish poker tour, which was held at the Pod club in Dublin on Saturday, after entering a poker game in a pub.

After an early afternoon start with 16 competitors at two tables, Stephen was the last man standing - or sitting - by about 9.30pm, reaping a nice return from an initial €10 stake at a pub poker challenge in Tallaght.

As well as the cash prize, he will have chips worth €7,500 in the VCPoker Cup, for which the organisers hope to have a seven-figure prize fund.

Stephen’s success was made all the sweeter by the calibre of the competition, which included Irishman Andy Black, recent World Series of Poker millionaire. Also playing in Dublin was Andrew Cameron from Ontario, who qualified online through vcpoker.ie for just 10 cent.

Ian Marmion, head of Victor Chandler Ireland, said: “We wanted to take tournament poker out of the casinos to a wider audience, as there is huge demand for it and it proved to be a real success.

“We now have the biggest online poker room in Ireland,” he said.