Irishman eyes a fortune at final of world’s richest poker prize

WHOEVER said gambling was a fool’s game must be feeling slightly red-faced right now.

An Irish professional poker player has won the right to compete for more than €8 million and is guaranteed a take-home sum of at least €550,400, after playing his way onto the final table of the richest poker tournament in the world.

Eoghan O’Dea, 26, from Dalkey, south Dublin, last night secured his place among the “November Nine” World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas.

The Irishman — who will be one of just nine potential winners of the coveted crown — was given the opportunity after winning his way into second place in the world Texas Hold ‘em leaderboard in recent months.

While gambling is seen by many as a seriously damaging addiction, the 26-year-old’s success has highlighted that — given enough talent and a huge slice of luck — it can also be the road to financial heaven.

The final tournament, which will take place between November 5 and 7, began with 6,865 players seeking to win their way onto the table during a 12-day event at the Rio hotel and casino in Brazil. Each competitor either paid €10,000 to enter or won their way in via satellite website competitions.

Of these thousands, just nine people — Mr O’Dea; Matt Giannetti, Phil Collins and Ben Lamb from the US; Belize national Badih Bounahra; German Pius Heinz; Ukrainian Anton Makiievskyi; Briton Sam Holden; and Czech Martin Staszko — are in with a chance of winning the multimillion-euro top prize.

“I’m so happy to have made it this far,” Mr O’Dea said. “I haven’t had a great year to date in poker, but this more than makes up for it.”

The Dubliner is not the first Irishman to compete on the money-spinning stage. His father, Donnacha, is a well-known professional player who reached the final table of the World Series main event in 1983 (6th place) and 1991 (9th).

A number of other Irish players have made the final table of the competition in the past.

Among them are professional players Andrew Black (2005), Padraig Parkinson (1999), Scott Gray (2002) and Dublin businessman Noel Furlong, who won the 1999 main event.