Easter Ireland
By Dominic Bourke
When I was one of the 18 players invited back for the second day of the main tournament I envisaged writing this article with IR£22,000 in one hand , and the lovely crystal championship trophy sat on a table next to me. One inopportune call with a pair of tens later and I was watching the final with a notepad in one hand and a mug of coffee on the table next to me, ho-hum.
The final started with the blinds at 1500-1500-3000. Gary Bush was chip leader with 80,000 of the 360,000 chips in play. Tournament organiser, Liam Flood, had mentioned on numerous occasions that the Irish were leading the English 2-0 in tournaments won so far that week. With the visitors have five finalists to the home sides' four there was a good chance the English would at least avoid a clean sweep.
The final started at a terrific pace. Inside 15 minutes we were down to six players and looking odds on to be down to five. Alan Betson had raised from the small blind with A-K off-suit. Donald Fagan had reraised all-in from the big blind with a pair of sevens, and Alan called. The first two cards on the flop were both Aces. Donald almost had his coat on when, to a gasp from players and spectaters alike, a seven hit on the river to give him a full house against Alan's trips.
With the exception of Ian Dobson, who'd been short stacked since the start of the second day, the other players were fairly level on chips. With the majority of players able to eliminate or seriously damage each other, caution became the watchword. It was some half an hour before we saw another all-in. Again it was A-K against a pair of sevens. Again it was the small blind raising with the A-K and the big blind reraisng all-in with the pair. This time it was Donald with big slick and Julian Gardner with the pair. The flop came 4-5-6, and Julian was now a decent favourite. A seven on the turn meant a split pot was the best that Donald could hope for. There was to be no last card comeback this time as a two hit on the river. Julian was now chip leader, and Donald had barely enough chips to cover the next round of blinds.
Next hand Frank McGuigan eliminated Donald Fagan, and there were now three English and two Irish players left. Alan Betson ensured he would be the highest placed Irishman in the tournament by eliminating Frank via a backdoor straight flush. The blinds were 2000-2000-4000, Alan had flat called on the button, Gary limped in from the small blind and Frank checked his big blind. The flop came down 10(h)-8(c)-5(h). Gary checked, Frank bet 18,000, Alan called and Gary folded. The turn brought the Jack of clubs. Frank moved all-in for about 40,000 and Alan called instantly. Frank showed Ace-ten off-suit and was drawing dead against Alan's 7-9 of clubs. The river should have been irrelevant, but it brought the ten of clubs. Frank improved to trips, Alan to a straight flush.
Alan and Julian each had about 140,000 chips, while Gary had 70,000 and Ian had 11,000. Ian had given an almost textbook performance on how to play a short stack. However, eventually his chip stack was eventually reduced to a single blue 1,000 unit chip, and it was his big blind. He needed to get very lucky on the next hand. He didn't, but maybe Alan Betson did. Alan had folded on the button, and both Julian and Gary called Ian's all-in big blind without looking at their cards. The hand was checked out with the board reading 8-2-7-7-3. Alan bemoaned the fact that he had bothered looking at his hand, and reached into the discards to the 2-7 off-suit that he had passed. When Gary showed his hole card's to be two 8's, Alan was somewhat happier about life. He was still joint chip leader, and Ian had exited in fourth place.
Julian and Alan now had about 145,000 chips each, and Gary had 75,000. Prizemoney for the first three places totaled just over IR£ 39,000 (about $50,000), and the three players agreed on a deal to split the prize money. While the three players continued playing for the trophy and the EPPA ranking points the spectators adjourned to the bar. Appropriately it was the sole remaining Irishman, Alan Betson, who took the title.
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