Philip Chaimo

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May 30, 2007

Posted by : Philip Chaimo

On Wednesday 28 February, in the rarefied and intimate confines of Liverpool's River Club six lucky qualifiers sat down to play with four Anfield legends in a single table tournament qualifier for the paddypowerpoker.com Irish Open.

Jan Molby, John Aldridge, Didi Hamann and "Super Sub" David Fairclough have played in some of the biggest games in Liverpool history but none could have been prepared for the epic battle that took place at the River Club poker table.

A standing gallery of friends and family enjoyed champagne as the first hand was dealt and it wasn't long before the first man was gone. Hamann was as crafty and effective as he had been in the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul and he lured Terry Owens in on an A32 flop. Owens flipped over AQ but his cards were no match for Didi's set of threes and he was gone.

Shortly after Chris Taylor's pocket fours were taken down preflop by pocket kings and just before the break Corkman Alan Stanton (with his parents, brother and fiancée in support) pushed all-in, shortstacked, with AQ only to fall foul of Ben Passantino's ladies.

At the break the six qualifiers dined with their heroes listening to tales of on-pitch glories and getting jerseys signed.

Back at the table David Hill and David Fairclough joined the railbirds in 7th and 6th place respectively.

Next out was John Callaghan when his pocket eights were gunned down by Aldo's bullets. Four players left and two tickets to play for. The Liverpool Legends were doing themselves proud with their poker prowess as three remained out of the final four.

Didi Hamann may have done a job on AC Milan in the Champions League but he couldn't get past AC Milan supporter (sshhh don't tell the Liverpool lads!) Passantino's AK when he pushed with AQ.

Then there were three and at three it remained for several hours as a epic battle for the two Irish Open tickets took place. Molby was all in with JT on a TT4 flop. Aldo called with fours full only for a jack to spike on the river to give Jan a bigger full house.

Aldridge pushed over the top on a bluff with Q2 on a raggy flop only for Molby to call him way ahead with AK. A queen duly appeared on the turn and the three-way action continued.

Many more times Passantino would believe he had the ticket as he was either ahead all-in or watched as the others battled for all their chips. With the 150k chips in play shared evenly between them and the blinds at 4k-8k something had to give.

Unfortunately for the online qualifier when the time came it was his A8 that got called by Molby's pocket threes and there was to be no recovery. Molby and Aldrige were Dublin bound at Easter 2007 for the 26th Irish Open.

The legends of the pitch became legends of the table and in a night of genuine camaraderie and some awesome poker.

About the Irish Open
This year's event, which will be filmed for TV*, is the biggest in Europe with a €2 million guaranteed prize pool and a capacity for 700 players paying €3,300 (+€200 reg) to play over Easter Weekend 2007 against the best players in the world.

What sets the Irish Open apart from other poker tournaments is its historic legacy, unique atmosphere, famous Irish hospitality, and legendary reputation for camaraderie and 'craic'.

Last year, Dubliner Vincent Melinn won the €350,000 first prize in only his second ever live tournament and the final table was broadcast live across Europe -- a world's first.

This year the event doubles in size.

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