Irish Winter Festival 2011 seats available at a massive discount in the Paddy Power Poker VIP Store

The Irish Winter Festival is fast approaching and many renowned poker players are already confirmed to attend, the most notable of which is WSOP 2011 finalist Eoghan O Dea. Eoghan will play his final poker tournament at the IWF before heading off to Las Vegas the following week to play for $8.7 Million in the final of the World Series of Poker 2011.  

Joining Eoghan at the Paddy Power Poker Irish Winter Festival next weekend is poker superstar Niall Smyth; Niall will be hoping to take down his third major poker tournament this year having won the Paddy Power Poker Irish Open 2011 back in April for €650,000 followed by the Irish Poker Festival in Killarney last month for €70,000.   

Anyone can join these poker pros at the Irish Winter Festival next weekend; players can purchase their seat in the Paddy Power Poker client or at the event in the Burlington Hotel. Alternatively, for those looking for some value, there is still time to either qualify online or purchase a discounted seat in the Paddy Power Poker VIP Store.  

Qualify Online: 

The final burst of online qualifiers for the €1,100 Irish Winter Festival main event are taking place daily on Paddy Power Poker with a number of seats being won each night.  

 VIP Store: 

Paddy Power Poker has extended its VIP rewards programme to include a range of Irish Winter Festival 2011 event seats, all offered at a discounted rate compared to the standard exchange value in the Paddy Power Poker VIP scheme.  

Furthermore, anyone who purchases an Irish Winter Festival main event seat in the Paddy Power Poker VIP store will be eligible for the Sole Survivor promotion where they could be the lucky winner of an extra €20,000 at the Irish Winter Festival 2011.  

 “There is still time to get your seat for the Irish Winter Festival; the best value at the moment is to try your luck qualifying online as there are some decent overlays in the satellites this week.” said Paddy Power, Communications Manager at Paddy Power Poker. “Or if you have some Paddy Points to spare, why not purchase your seat in our VIP store at a discount. Either way, you definitely want to be rubbing shoulders with our next World Series of Poker Champion Eoghan O Dea and many the other poker celebrities the Irish Winter Festival next weekend.”

Only 3 weeks left to pocket the free €100 sports bet

Since the start of June, all players who qualified for the Irish Winter Festival 2011 on Paddy Power Poker have received a complimentary €100 sports bet, encouraging people to get in there and qualify early for the live poker event. Time is now running out, with only 3 weeks left to take advantage of this generous early bird offer.

There are plenty of ways to qualify for the IWF main event on Paddy Power Poker, here’s a quick overview:

Weekly Satellites: Qualify for the IWF main event via one of three weekly satellites that take place every Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights.

Bargain Basket: Win a daily €2 rebuy tournament and advance to the Bargain Basket Grand Final which takes place every fortnight for an IWF main event seat.

In other Irish Winter Festival news, from next week players will also be able to qualify for the €400 NLH and the €200 PLO side event tournaments on Paddy Power Poker. Both IWF side events start on Sunday 30th October 2011 in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin and both are two day events.

Players can also now buy in directly to any of the eight Irish Winter Festival events via the Paddy Power Poker client; all tournaments can be found under the Irish Winter Festival, Direct Buy In tab.

“Anyone who is planning on qualifying online for the IWF 2011 is mad not to start trying now; there are still three weeks left to bag the €100 sports bet early bird incentive.” said Paddy Power, Communications Manager for Paddy Power Poker. “We have also decided to run online qualifiers for the IWF side events for the first time ever this year, due to a number of player requests. So there really is no excuse not to join us in the Burlington Hotel this October bank holiday weekend for the IWF poker festival”

Win free sports bets while playing free poker on Paddy Power Poker 

To celebrate the start of the Premier League season, Paddy Power Poker has recently launched Free Bet Freerolls, a promotion that allows players to win free sports bets while playing free poker online. There are five incredible Free Bet Freeoll tournaments in total, taking place every night between Monday 8th – Friday 12th August 2011. Each freeroll has £500 in free bets to be won that can be placed on any sporting market. 

To get involved, players just have to log into Paddy Power Poker, deposit any amount into their poker account with promo code FREEBET, and they will receive entry into all five freeroll tournaments. Players who finish in the top 25 in the Free Bet Freeroll tournaments will be guaranteed a free bet. The higher the place, the bigger the bet! 
1st
100

2nd – 5th
50

6th – 10th
20

11th – 15th
10

16th – 25th
5

Furthermore, anyone who qualifies for the Irish Winter Festival 2011 live poker event on Paddy Power Poker in August will also win a free €100 sports bet. The IWF buy in is set at €1000 + €100 and will be held over three days between 29th – 31st October 2011 in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin.

“We are listening to our players as they feedback through surveys and free sports bets are at the top of the wish list! What you want you get at Paddy Towers, enter Free Bet Freerolls!” said Paddy Power, Communications Manager for Paddy Power Poker. “Now players have the best of both worlds, with free poker every evening for a week and plenty of free bets given out as prizes. Now players can have a flutter on their favourite football team as the season kicks off, or maybe even a wager on who will be the next James Bond!”

From Thursday 4th August, Paddy Power Poker are hosting daily £2 NLH re-buy satellites. All players need to do is win one of these satellites and they will automatically be entered into a fortnightly IWF Bargain Basket Grand Final, where one in every eleven players will win a seat into the Irish Winter Festival 2011 worth £1,100.

The first IWF Bargain Basket Grand Final will be held on Thursday 18th August 2011 and there will be four Grand Finals in total; no direct buy in will be accepted, players must qualify for the Bargain Basket Grand Finals.

That’s not all, as Paddy Power also have their Happy Hour promotion running which gives players that chance to earn DOUBLE THE POINTS on all cash tables during set times all this month.

For further info on Happy Hours – check out the promo details on site.

Win a €1,100 Irish Winter Festival 2011 seat for just €2

Paddy Power Poker today launches IWF Bargain Basket, an online promotion that allows players to win an Irish Winter Festival 2011 seat worth €1,100 for just €2 – a cracker of a bargain! 

From Thursday 4th August, Paddy Power Poker will host daily €2 NLH re-buy satellites. All players need to do is win one of these satellites and they will automatically be entered into a fortnightly IWF Bargain Basket Grand Final, where one in every eleven players will win a seat into the Irish Winter Festival 2011 worth €1,100.  

The first IWF Bargain Basket Grand Final will be held on Thursday 18th August 2011 and there will be four Grand Finals in total; no direct buy in will be accepted, players must qualify for the Bargain Basket Grand Finals.  

IWF Bargain Basket Satellites: 

IWF Bargain Basket Grand Final Schedule: 

“Following on from the success of a similar Cheap Seats Irish Open promotion, we are delighted to introduce the IWF Bargain Basket. With €2 satellites, this is the most affordable route to qualify for the Irish Winter Festival live event in Dublin this October”, said Paddy Power, Communications Manager for Paddy Power Poker.  “Don’t forget, it benefits to qualify for the IWF on Paddy Power Poker; all our qualifiers will be in with a chance of winning an extra €20,000 at the live event in our Sole Survivor promotion.”

Value, value and more value on Paddy Power Poker this summer with cash bonuses of up to $4,000

Paddy Power Poker launches Paddy’s Iron Man, a month-long promotion which rewards regular play with prizes including entry to $2,000 freerolls and as much as $4,000 cash bonuses! Paddy’s Iron Man runs from August 1 to 30, 2011 and is a great incentive for players to rack up Paddy Points at the tables during the summer.

The more days played and the more Paddy Points earned, the better the reward!

With another great promotion under its belt, Paddy Power Poker is proving to be the value bet for poker players this summer:

Paddy’s Iron Man: Play rewarded with money added freerolls and cash bonuses of up to $4,000.

Happy Hours: Players earn double the normal amount of Paddy Points when playing on a cash table during scheduled times.

Paddy’s Green Card: Members receive a 20% discount in the Paddy Power Poker VIP store, along with other perks such as exclusive merchandise, free bets, satellite tokens and an iPad 2.

“Players will no doubt notice the enormous value on offer on Paddy Power Poker these days; we’ve felt that there is no better time to give back to our players and so that’s exactly what we are doing.”, said Paddy Power, Communications Manager for Paddy Power Poker. “With the newly launched Iron Man promotion, Paddy’s Green Card AND the popular Happy Hours all running at once, I’m certain the grinders out there will waste no time in taking advantage of what’s on offer – they deserve no less!”

Paddy Power Poker sponsored poker player Eoghan O’Dea flying the flag for Ireland at the largest poker tournament in the world

The 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event Championship, known to all as the biggest and most prestigious poker tournament on this planet, started on July 7th in the Rio-All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas. 6,865 players from all around the world paid $10,000 to participate in the third largest poker event ever and after eight days and more than half a million hands, the final nine have at last been reached.

Paddy Power Poker sponsored player Eoghan O’Dea is one of these lucky finalists; O’Dea is a 26-year-old poker player from Dublin, Ireland. Already a well known and respected player, he cashed in the WSOP five times, pocketed $260,000 in the 2008 Poker Million, and placed 3rd in the 2009 WPT Marrakesh for $378,227 but to name a few. The son of recognized Irish poker player Donnacha O’Dea, Eoghan and his father are the first father and son pair to make the WSOP Main Event final table. Donnacha made the WSOP final table in 1983 and again in 1991.

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

The 2011 World Series of Poker finalists, know now as the ‘November Nine’, will return to Las Vegas this November to play out the final table. Each player is guaranteed at least $782,115 which will be awarded to ninth place, however all will be returning with their eye on the first prize payout of $8,711,956. The winner will also be presented with the game’s most coveted prize – a custom-designed WSOP gold and diamond bracelet.

In the meantime, each of the finalists will return home for three months to enjoy the incredible experience that awaits them. They can expect instant fame, plenty of media attention and celebrity treatment in the coming months; but most importantly they have some time to catch up on their sleep and work on their game plan for November!

This year’s November Nine finalists are as follows:

Martin Staszko (Trinec, Czech Republic) – 40,175,000 in chips
Eoghan O’Dea (Dublin, Ireland) – 33,925,000 in chips
Matt Giannetti (Las Vegas, NV) – 24,750,000 in chips
Phil Collins (Las Vegas, NV) – 23,875,000 in chips
Ben Lamb (Tulsa, OK) – 20,875,000 in chips
Badih Bounahra (Belize City, Belize) – 19,700,000 in chips
Pius Heinz (Cologne, Germany) – 16,425,000 in chips
Anton Makiievskyi (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) – 13,825,000 in chips
Sam Holden (Sussex, UK) – 12,375,000 in chips

Free tournament buy-ins, personalised merchandise, an iPad 2 and more for elite Green Card holders

Paddy Power Poker today launches Paddys Green Card, rewarding VIP players with exclusive perks for playing on Paddy Power Poker.

This promotion is open to old and new customers alike; players must achieve Green Card status (40,000+ Paddy Points in a calendar month) between 1st August – 31st October 2011 to qualify. Once achieved, the card will be valid for a three month period on the condition that the player maintains that level of play throughout.

Paddys Green Card comes with many perks; initially players will receive a once-off gift of an exclusive hoodie and personalised silver card protector along with their shiny new Green Card. Following this, players will be eligible for the following monthly benefits for three months provided the required level of play is maintained:

- 20% discount on all bonuses available in the Paddy Power Poker VIP store

- €/£50 free bet with paddypower.com

- Live event satellite token every month worth $50

- Entry into an exclusive weekly $1,000 freeroll

Finally players who really show their loyalty to Paddy Power Poker by maintaining a rolling average of 1,300 points per day for the full 3 month period will receive a complimentary iPad 2!

Previous Full Tilt Black Card holders will be granted a short cut to becoming a Green Card holder; once they average 1,300 points over a seven day period they will awarded the exclusive card and associated benefits.

“With all he turmoil that has been, we feel there has never been a better time to reward our own loyal VIP players with some extra perks and at the same time welcome any new customers who might be looking for a new home.”, said Paddy Power, Communications Manager for Paddy Power Poker. “Weve made it especially easy for previous Full Tilt players who want to trade in their old Black Card for a shiny new Green Card – its just like everyone is saying, green is the new black!”

New $2,000 sign up bonus, $10,000 reload bonus and a Sunday night $200k guarantee

Dublin, Ireland: 1st July 2011 – Paddy Power Poker has launched a series of online poker promotions, bringing value to existing loyal customers and extending a welcoming hand to those on tilt as accounts are frozen and games suspended elsewhere in the poker world.

Any poker player looking for a new home will find that Paddy Power Poker has doubled its sign up offer, offering a huge 200% bonus on all first deposit up to $2000.

Existing customers will also benefit from Paddy’s spending spree with the launch of an incredible $10,000 Reload Bonus – twice that of any other reload bonus available online – up to 100 percent from July 1 to July 14. Players simply deposit between these dates and have 60 days to release the bonus by earning points in real money games.

If that’s not enough reason to get on board, Paddy Power Poker is also host to a Sunday night $200k guarantee tournament, daily freerolls, regular money added events and an exclusive VIP programme. As sponsors of the well-known Irish Winter Festival and Irish Open live events, Paddy Power Poker is also the place to be for the best value satellite tournaments.

Paddy Power, spokesman for Paddy Power Poker said, “A lot of poker players in Europe are on tilt at the moment and not surprisingly – some online poker rooms are simply full of it and have really let their players down. We’re here to help by offering new and existing players a solid, transparent and secure alternative with great bonuses, exclusive VIP treats, and fun promotions – and you’ll be able to play poker and access your money ALL the time.”

Return of Blind Mans Bluff World Championship & Irish Mythical Championship

Paddy Power Poker today announces the full Irish Winter Festival 2011 tournament schedule, headlined by the €1,000 + €100 NLH Freezeout main event. The festival will take place over October Bank Holiday weekend (28th – 31st October 2011) in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin. 

The €100 Blind Man’s Bluff World Championship returns on the Saturday night for its second year, an easy decision to make considering the hours of amusement the tournament provided for players and spectators alike in 2010 (see photo’s attached). In the end, Pavel Pravdukhin was able to master the mind game and took home the coveted title and just under €2,000 in cash.  

Mythical players will also be pleased to see the €100 Irish Mythical Championship tournament on the festival schedule once more, as will Omaha players due to the addition of a two-day €200 Pot Limit Omaha tournament scheduled to take place on Sunday 30th & Monday 31st October 2011.  

Once again, anyone who is looking for their last opportunity to win their ticket into the Irish Winter Festival main event, a €100 Super Satellite will take place on the Friday night and one main event seat will be awarded for every €1,100 in the pot.

“It’s that time of year again and we are excited to announce the Irish Winter Festival 2011 full schedule of events. I look forward to once more watching the comical and chaotic event that is the Blind Man’s Bluff World Championship, and am I interested to see who will take home the title of Irish Winter Festival 2011 Champion and a wad of cash to boot. It would be nice to follow the success of the Irish Open and have not only an Irish winner but also a Paddy Power Poker qualifier take the crown” said Paddy Power, Communications Manager for Paddy Power Poker. 

Full Event Schedule: 

Weekly super satellites to the Irish Winter Festival main event are running on Paddy Power Poker now:

Players who qualify for the Irish Winter Festival 2011 main event before September 1st will have the added bonus of winning a free €100 sports bet with Paddy Power.

€1,100 main event buy in and longest lasting Paddy Power Poker qualifier will win extra €20,000

Paddy Power Poker is pleased to launch the Irish Winter Festival 2011 which will take place in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin from October 28th – 31st 2011. The poker festivals headline event will be a €1,000 + €100 NLH Freezeout; a full schedule of side events will also be available and will be announced in due course. 

The Irish Winter Festival main event will once again feature a €20,000 Sole Survivor promotion, meaning that the longest lasting Paddy Power Poker qualifier in the main event will win €20,000 in addition to any event prize money they may be awarded.  

Irish Winter Festival 2011 online super satellite tournaments will commence on Paddy Power Poker on 12th June 2011 and will be held every Sunday and Monday evening with a number of IWF main events seats guaranteed. Feeders will run daily from Sunday 5th June.  

In addition, players who get in there early and qualify for the Irish Winter Festival main event on Paddy Power Poker before 1st September 2011 will be rewarded with a free €100 sports bet with paddypower.com.  

Irish Winter Festival Satellite Schedule:

•  Sundays @ 8:00pm: €150 + €12 NLH FO – 3 Packages GTD
• Monday’s @ 8:00pm: €20 + €2 NLH R/A – 1 Seat GTD

 “Last year the Irish Winter Festival was such a success with the likes of Dennis Taylor and Eric Bristow entertaining the crowds, the introduction of the Blind Man’s Bluff World Championship, and the creation of the World’s largest chip stack which took 3 full days to build and stood at 3 meters tall. No wonder people are looking forward to the IWF 2011 already and we know it won’t disappoint!” said Paddy Power, Communications Manager for Paddy Power Poker.   

“We have reduced the buy in for the IWF main event slightly to €1,100, making it more affordable for the players; we are also excited to re-introduce our IWF Sole Survivor promotion, giving people 20,000 compelling reasons to qualify for the Irish Winter Festival on Paddy Power Poker. It couldn’t be easier right now as we are guaranteeing 3 packages every Sunday night.”

Dublin, Ireland: May 26, 2011 – Paddy Power Poker goes football crazy on Friday May 27 when it gives away a signed Lionel Messi Barcelona football shirt for free. Online poker players who deposit at the site using the code MESSI get a token to enter the freeroll scheduled for 8 p.m. which will also award 20 free Champions League sports bets worth €10/£10 each to the top 20 places.

Elsewhere Paddy Power Poker has discounted the buy ins to over two dozen of its guaranteed prize tournaments from May 28 to June 12. With up to 80 percent discounted from the buy in players get an additional bonus – those who participate in the events also have the chance to win tokens to Sunday’s $200,000 Mega Satellite games.

In week 1 players who play seven events will be eligible for one token for the Sunday $250,000 Mega Satellite on June 11 and one token for the Sunday $200,000 Mega Satellite on June 18. In week 2 players who play 7 events will be eligible for 1 token for the Sunday $200,000 Mega Satellite on June 18 and 1 for the Sunday $200,000 Mega Satellite on June 25.

Paddy Power, spokesman for Paddy Power Poker said,

“It’s a Friday football freebie frenzy for poker players at Paddy Power Poker. We’re not messing with our world-class Messi shirt giveaway ahead of the Champions League final on Saturday. Even Man U fans can join in the fun!”

Niall Smyth Spins €10 Each Way Bet On Grand National Winner Into €650,000 At Europe’s Oldest Poker Tournament

Niall Smyth has won the 2011 Paddy Power Poker Irish Open. He topped the field of 615 players at the €3,200 + €300 buy in event at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin to take down the €550,000 first prize in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Smyth was a double winner as he also scooped €100,000 in tournament buy ins and cash for being the Paddy Power Poker Sole Survivor, outlasting 160 online qualifiers including two at the final table.

The young Irishman qualified for the event after winning a Grand National bet at PaddyPower.com, transferring the winnings to his poker account and winning a satellite.

He beat Irish Open stalwart and former World Poker Tour champion Surinder Sunar from England heads up. He held a commanding chip lead at the start of the heads up dual but Sunar fought back to take the lead before losing it again and much of his momentum. In the end Smyth had to river a 5 to make a pair and overturn Sunar’s ace-high.

“Unbelievable. I just can’t believe it,” said an exhausted but elated Smyth after the 3 hour 30 minute heads up slog. “It started when I put €10 each way on the winner of the English Grand National, I won €200 euro and now I have €650,000. Surinder is such a great player, my support has been fantastic, and here I am!”

The final table payouts were:
1: Niall Smyth (Ireland) – €550,000
2: Surinder Sunar (England) – €290,000
3: Martin Petri (Denmark) – €180,000
4: Seamus Cahill (Ireland) – €145,000
5: Aleksi Savela (Finand) – €115,000
6: Karl Rudwall (Sweden) – €85,000
7: Rob Taylor (Ireland) – €63,000
8: John Eames (UK) – €45,000
9: Niall McCann (Ireland) – €30,000

The chips counts going into the final day’s play were:
Niall Smyth – 2,038,000
John Eames -1,783,000
Aleksi Savela – 1,594,000
Martin Petri – 1,530,000
Surinder Sunar -1,366,000
Karl Rudwall – 1,329,000
Seamus Cahill – 1,310,000
Robert Taylor – 915,000
Niall McCann – 434,000

The total prize pool created was €1,968,000 and 64 players got paid with the bubble, Oliver Lynch, receiving a buy in to next year’s Irish Open from sponsor Paddy Power Poker

With the Paddy Power Poker Irish Open just a few days away the Irish bookmaker has opened a host of betting markets for the main event. The Outright Betting market has last year’s champion James Mitchell as joint co-favourite at 66/1 along with recent WPT winner Roberto Romanello, last year’s finalist Ben Roberts, WSOP bracelet winner James “Flushy” Dempsey and Irish APPT winner Dermot Blaine.

Elsewhere in the Outright Betting, which pays quarter the odds for the first five places, market punters can get Andy Black, Julian Gardner and Neil Channing at 80/1, Dan Harrington, Marty Smyth, Ross and Barny Boatman, Julian Thew, and Padraig Parkinson at 100/1 and Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott at 150/1.

Fame for its quirky markets, Paddy Power doesn’t disappoint with the Irish Open, offering a number of “last longest” match bets including:

Tony Cascarino 8/11 Vs. Teddy Sheringham Evens

Neil Channing 8/11 Vs. Richard Ashby Evens

Julian Gardner 4/5 Vs. John Kabbaj 10/11

Marty Smyth 8/11 Vs. Nicky Power Evens

Dan Harrington 2/3 Vs. Paul Marrow 11/10

John O’Shea 4/5 Vs. Rory Rees Brennan 10/11

Finally the €100,000 Sole Survivor competition has its own market co-headed by last year’s Sole Survivor winner Rob Sherwood at 33/1 with John Cassidy. Other qualifiers worth noting are WSOP bracelet winner Alan Smurfit, former EPT champion Julian Thew and Late Night Poker stalwart Kevin O’Connell all at 50/1 to be the 2011 Irish Open Sole Survivor.

Paddy Power, spokesman for the bookmaker said

Our Irish Open betting markets always prove popular and we’ve paid out big on them in the past. They’re open right up until cards are in the air and we’ll reopen them each morning so punters can get on their favourite players to keep things interesting!

Queen Elizabeth II and President Barack Obama Don Poker Faces For Irish Open As New Depositors Get Bankroll Boost

Dublin, Ireland: April 19, 2011 – Paddy Power Poker today launches a slew of bankroll benefits to European online poker players put out by the recent shutdown of online poker sites in the U.S.

As part of the move this Easter weekend’s tournaments will see increased guarantees of over $100,000 at Paddy Power Poker. Starting with a $100,000 Guaranteed on Friday April 22. Elsewhere new depositors get a massive lift with the First Deposit Bonus increasing from $600 to $1,000, up to 200 percent. Plus, they will be rewarded with a daily $1,000 First Depositors Freeroll. Those players with smaller bankrolls will be fighting to get into the two $5,000 freerolls which take place on April 22 and 23 for anyone who has deposited on the site.

Paddy Power, spokesman for the company, said, “With the upcoming visit of Queen Elizabeth and President Barak Obama to Ireland we thought we’d get into the spirit of co-operation by offering a helping hand to poker players looking for a new home. As a public limited company with over two decades in the business we’re as solid as the proverbial rock and with marquee events like the upcoming Irish Open to help us create a great community we’re sure the Queen of England and the President of the U.S. would approve of our magnanimous, bankroll boosting offers.”

The Paddy Power Poker Irish Open is Europe’s longest running poker tournament. Now in its 30th year the €3,200 + €300 event takes place over Easter weekend, April 22 to 25, at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, Ireland and will feature some of the biggest names in world poker.

There are just two days left to qualify online at Paddy Power Poker and 15 seats are guaranteed:

* Apr. 19, 20:30: €250 + €25 freezeout – 5 seats guaranteed
* Apr. 20, 20:30: €300 + €20 freezeout – 10 seats guaranteed