However, in a land renowned for having a flutter, few had correctly predicted one, never mind all six, of the finalists. In fact, after the first day, my money was on one of poker's "big beasts" such as Roy "The Boy" Brindley or Per Hildebrand, both of whom sat near the top of the leaderboard. However, in an extraordinary turnaround, it was the relatively unknown Irishman Vincent Mellin who, after ending the second day as chip leader, took the pounds 250,000 first prize after a showdown with Ian Wood-ley, the only one of the finalists with any known form.
Both men accumulated chips slowly as they could afford not to make the type of outrageous moves forced upon the short-stacked Paul Daley. Nor did either man suffer the incredible bad beat that resulted in Jonathan Wong leaving the table early. At times, the final was akin to watching the Inter Milan side of the 60s take on today's Chelsea: few mistakes, quickly rectified, made for occasional periods of tedious play, but such caution was understandable given the amount of money at stake.
It became increasingly tense as Mellin and Woodley went heads-up and when Woodley went "all-in" with Ad, Js against Mellin's pair of sevens, it was evident the end was nigh. A flop of 6h, 10s, 2d did neither man any favours and the turn (10d) meant Woodley needed an ace or a jack on the river. A 4h sealed his fate and the audience erupted. My overwhelming memory of this event will be the manner in which it was enjoyed by everyone present and the frequency with which it was possible to strike up conversation with an array of established players from the talkative Scot, Tony Chessa, to Ollie Boyce, poker's world speed champion who drinks Guinness as though it's going out of fashion.
Roy Brindley told me that dozens of people had stopped by to remind him about the time they had beaten him. "If I'd lost that often, I'd be skint!" he exclaimed. There were probably a few poker players leaving Dublin on Tuesday who were skint, but the sponsors are on to something by making this into more than just a poker tournament so that people enjoy a good time. I for one cannot wait for next year.
|
Custom Name Tags