That said, the country has produced a number of deep finishes, and an inordinate number of Main Event final table members. Since the 1990’s Ireland has only won four WSOP bracelets: Donnacha O’Dea, Noel Furlong, Ciaran O’Leary, and Marty Smyth. In addition to Furlong, two other Irish players were at the 1999 WSOP Final Table including Padraig Parkinson and George McKeever –not to mention a 14 th place finish by Mickey Finn. Rogers formed The Eccentrics Club, which was a small group of top Irish poker players who would later take the poker world by storm in the 90’s, culminating with the 1999 WSOP win by Furlong. Much like the UK, Ireland has been playing poker for decades, and has produced some of poker’s biggest stars over the years, including 1999 World Series of Poker Champion Noel Furlong, one of the first, and only, true amateurs to win the WSOP.Īccording to Irish Historians, it was a man named Terry Rogers who brought No Limit Holdem to Ireland in the 1980’s after seeing it played during a trip to Las Vegas.
Ireland has a storied tradition when it comes to poker, and before the Scandinavians came on the scene in the early 2000’s it was the Irish players were considered the wild and unorthodox players who were willing to gamble it up.
