Taking place over October Bank Holiday weekend, the Irish Winter Festival features an estimated festival prizepool of €1,000,000. In addition to the Irish Masters main event (a €1,500 + €150 NLH freezeout starting on Saturday October 24th and running for three days), the festival will include a $150 + €15 NLH rebuy Super Satellite on Friday October 23rd.
A €500 + €50 NLH freezeout 2-day tournament is scheduled to start on Sunday October 25th, with a €300 + €30 Round-Of-Each (Holdem & Omaha) freezeout tournament taking place on Monday October 26th.
| Date |
Tournament |
Buy-In |
Time |
| Friday, 23rd Oct |
Irish Masters Super Satellite Rebuy |
€150 + €15 |
7pm |
| Saturday, 24th Oct |
Irish Masters NLH Freezeout – Day 1 |
€1,500 + €150 |
2pm |
| Sunday, 25th Oct |
Irish Masters NLH Freezeout – Day 2
€500 NLH Freezeout – Day 1 |
–
€500 + €50 |
2pm
4pm |
| Monday, 26th Oct |
Irish Masters NLH Freezeout – Day 3
€300 Round Of Each Freezeout
€500 NLH Freezeout – Day 2 |
–
€300 + €30
– |
2pm
2.30pm
3pm |
Irish Winter Festival Live reporting
Poker News Boy’s very own Gerry Poltorak is expected to appear in Dublin again this week following his near success at this years Boyle Poker IPO. Gerry is expected to be playing the main event, however he is also planning on reporting on the event once he exits the tournament or when he is not playing.
Poker News Boy will open up an Irish Winter Festival section once the tournament starts, which hopefully is updated regularly. Accompaning Gerry Poltorak at the Paddy Poker IWF will be his good friends Stevie ‘Allinstevie’ Devlin, Robert ‘redbob14′ Elkin and Emmett ‘Mully_85′ Mullins. So hopefully one of them can produce a good cash.
Live Reporting will appear once the events starts….
Prepare for the IWF Sole Survivor!
The Sole Survivor qualifier promotion was successfully introduced at the Irish Open 2009 where Marcel Koch won a €100,000 package. Similarly, the paddypowerpoker.com online qualifier that lasts the longest in the Irish Masters main event at the Irish Winter Festival will win a €20,000 package in addition to whatever prize money they win in the tournament.
“The Sole Survivor promotion really spiced up this year’s Irish Open”, said Paddy Power, Communications Manager for paddypowerpoker.com. “We are thrilled to launch the IWF Sole Survivor and put up €20,000 for our players to chase. It’s never too early to grab your seat and stake your claim as our next Sole Survivor!”
Check back here in the near future for more details of the Irish Winter Festival which will be held at the City West Hotel.
City West Hotel
On October 23rd – 26th some of the best players on the international poker circuit will gather in Dublin for the 2009 Irish Winter Festival.
To accommodate the 800 capacity field, the 2009 Irish Winter Festival will be held in the world-class conference centre of Citywest Hotel, Ireland’s premier Conference, Leisure and Golf Resort.
www.citywesthotel.com
Citywest is the complete resort offering superb facilities, 1,314 hotel rooms, suites and self-contained suites, lively bars and restaurants, a state of the art leisure centre and two superb Christy O’Connor Jnr-designed golf courses.
To avail of special room rates please email paddypower@citywesthotel.com or alternatively call 00353 (0)1 4010539. Please make sure to quote the promotional code IWF2009
Tournament Rules
To participate in the Irish Winter Festival all players must become members of the Jackpot Card Club. To join players must present a copy of either their passport or driving license upon registration.
Players must be 18 years of age or older to partake in any of the events at the Irish Winter Festival.
Seating assignment will be determined by random draw and will not be transferable.
This tournament will have a maximum of 10 players per table.
Each player will start with 15,000 units of chips.
Players must keep their highest denomination chips visible at all times.
English must be spoken at all times during a hand.
Players must protect their cards at all times. If a dealer takes in a hand by mistake, the hand is dead and there is no redress.
Players are not allowed to show their cards to others during a hand. If a player reveals their hand they may incur a penalty at the discretion of the tournament director.
Players not involved in a hand may not discuss the pot in progress. If they do they may incur a penalty at the discretion of the tournament director.
A new hand commences when the dealer does the first riffle.
A player must be sitting at the table when the last card is dealt to take part in a hand.
Players may not use a mobile phone at the table.
Players may not ask for a change of deck.
Players must have respect for other players, the dealers and tournament directors. Players may be subject to a penalty at the discretion of the tournament director.
The minimum bet is the amount of the big blind.
The minimum raise is double the previous bet.
When there is a race for odd chips a player can only win one chip. A player cannot be raced out of a tournament.
Players may not put chips in their pockets at any time. When moving table, players may get a chip tray to carry their chips and they must go straight to their new table.
When a player is being moved from a table they will be the next on the big blind and will go to the worst position at the new table. Players can move to the button, the small blind and the big blind. A player who intentionally dodges his blinds when moving from a broken table will forfeit the blinds and incur a penalty.
If a player is taking too much time to make a decision, another player at that table or the tournament director may ask for the clock. If this happens, the player has 60 seconds to make a decision. If the player has not acted by the time the count-down is over, the players hand will be dead.
There will be a redraw for seats at the end of play each day and a redraw at the final table.
Players must be appropriately dressed at all times within the main arena and will not be permitted to play if dressed in a manner deemed distracting to other players.
The tournament director is to consider the best interest of the game and fairness as the top priority in the decision-making process. Unusual circumstances can on occasion dictate that decisions in the interest of fairness take priority over the technical rules. The tournament director’s decision is final.
Super Satellite Rules
Tickets for the Super Satellite event are non transferable.
The only instance a ticket winner will be awarded a cash amount is if that player is already pre-registered for the event that the satellite pertains to.
Featured streaming/TV table Rules
By partaking in the Irish Winter Festival you consent that you will willingly partake in this feature table if requested. At the feature table:
Players are permitted to wear sponsors logos (without a “.com”) on their shirts only. These logos will be no larger than 10cm * 7cm on the left breast pocket and no larger than 8cm * 3cm on each sleeve.
Players may wear sunglasses, hats or other headgear provided there is no visible branding and the player’s speech and ears are visible.
Players may not wear earphones.
No other branding on any part of their body, clothing, chip protectors, or jewelry, will be permitted
Player’s general appearance and sponsors shirts must be neat and clean. These shirts must have sleeves and collars (polo shirts and t–shirts will not be permitted) and must not be white. Sponsors must be aware that their players will not be allowed play on the feature table in unsuitable clothing. Tournament organiser’s decision will be final. Substitute shirts will be provided if available.
Players may be sponsored before the event begins and not during the event. Players must notify the organiser’s of their sponsor prior to commencement of the event.
No more than one third of the feature table players may be sponsored by the one company. In the situation where more than two players (at a six seat table) or three players (at an eight seat table) players sponsored by one company have made it to the feature table, either a person representing the relevant sponsor should decide upon who wears the shirts or the Tournament Director will choose.
Paddy Power Poker and the Tournament decision will be final on what clothing complies with the above rules.
Players also consent to participating in all reasonable requests for interviews and photographs surrounding this event. Publicity will be used in press releases and on paddypowerpoker.com to promote the Irish Winter Festival. Winners of events at the Irish Winter Festival will be required for future publicity of the event.
Paddy Power Poker reserves the right to add or amend any tournament rules, as they feel appropriate
Players must be appropriately dressed at all times within the main arena and will not be permitted to play if dressed in a manner deemed distracting to other players. The tournament director & Paddy Power Poker reserve the right to refuse participation of any players that does not abide by this rule.
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The PokerStars UKIPT schedule has been released by Pokerstars and it looks like it’s going to be an absolute cracker. There are 8 events currently penciled in with a ninth event expected to be added soon which will take place in Scotland. The UKIPT schedule currently includes events in both England and Ireland including the Irish Poker Championship as well as
The PokerStars UKIPT (UK Ireland Poker Tour) is due to kick off on the 11th of December in Galway, starting with the Irish Poker Chanmpionship. This tournament is expecting to pull in some of the biggest poker players from around the UK and Ireland, and will probably attract a few of the bigger names from further a field due to PokerStars being involved with the event. The UKIPT Galway, which is expected to start on the 11th of december and run through to the 14th, which will then see one player crowned the Irish Poker Champion.
GSN’s recent poker reality-show ’2 Months 2 Million’ featured four top online poker pro’s trying to earn $2 million collectively over two-months. From November 17th -19th in London, England we’ll witness ‘2 Men 1Million’: When Full Tilt Poker pro Tom ‘durrrr” Dwan will pit his skills against poker’s biggest high-rollers in a series of heads-up challenge matches with $1 million on the line in each match!
Jude Ainsworth ‘j.thaddeus‘ is a well known name in the UK, and one of if not the biggest name among online players from Ireland. His biggest live result came when he won the €2,000 No Limit Hold’em 
The sixth and final event of this years British Masters Poker Tour has concluded and it was John Gardner who took down the tournament in great fashion winning himself a nice little £13.500.
Wow what a year for British Pro and Hit Squad Member James Akenhead, first off he is one on the November 9 elite, made the WSOPE final table finishing a respectable 9th and has now made his third final table in sucession by reaching the final of the FULL TILT Poker Million, sending Tom “Durrrr” Dwan and the Magician Antonio Esfandiari to the rail along the way. The final table will be no easy run either though as the ever tough Juha Helppi will be in attendance along with card runner founder Taylor Caby, Dag Martin Mikkelsen and the colorful figure that is Luke “_FullFlush1_” Schwarz all in attendance, with Schwarz holding the chip lead going into the final it will make for some interesting action.
Jesse May ‘The Voice of Poker’ cashes at the Boyle Poker IPO. Jesse May, more infamous for his poker commentary rather than his playing ability cashes at the Boyle Poker IPO for $700.
