Corkman beats international stars at poker championship

Cork native Kieran Walsh has fended off opposition from some of the world’s best poker players to win €150,000 at this year’s Boylepoker.com Irish Poker Championship Final in Citywest tonight.

Damian Kavanagh from Dublin was second and scooped €70,000. Kavanagh had won his entry to the final by paying just €50 to enter one of the weekly satellites in the Red Cow Hotel, which he went on to win.

Third was another Irishman, Dave Masters, and he ended up winning €30,000. Barney Boatman, one of the infamous London poker players group ‘The Hendon Mob’, was the hot favourite going into the final, but could only finish in fourth, winning €18,000.

The tournament began on Friday evening in Citywest with 398 players competing. The line up included top Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan, alongside snooker legends Steve Davis, Ken Doherty and Alex Higgins. Alex Higgins and Tommy Tiernan were unlucky to go out on the first night but Ken Doherty just missed out on winning a share of the prize when he went out late on Saturday night.

“It was a fantastic weekend of poker with some of Ireland and the world’s best poker players competing,” said Paul Magee, spokesperson for Boylepoker.com. “The tournament has been so successful and is now the biggest poker tournament in Ireland and one of the biggest in Europe. We are already looking forward to next year.”

The Boylepoker.com Irish Poker Championship began in September with regional heats and finals nationwide. More than 3,000 people took part making it Ireland’s biggest ever poker tournament. Nearly €800,000 in prize money has been given away since the tournament began.