ROY BRINDLEY

Weblog: Straight talking from Roy The Boy

Killarney clearly the place to stay and play

A STUDY in American publication the Journal of Gambling Studies this week suggested poker players, especially beginners, win less money the more hands they play.

Apparently the findings were the result of a case study of 27 million online poker hands. What a futile exercise; just what was it expected to show? Everyone wins the more and more they play?

Cahill Shine can now sustain a few losing months after collecting the €15,000 winner's prize in the Lakes of Killarney Poker Festival. Killarney is a great spot for card playing. There are more hotel rooms in the County Kerry town than in the country's capital and I'd suspect more B&B's than Blackpool. It's little wonder larger poker tournaments are lined up there in the coming year.

Perhaps the Greek Poker Tour Finals could end up there. That tournament concluded last weekend in its adopted home, the Concorde Card Casino in Vienna. Of the 305 entries, the top placed Greek finisher came 19th. It's no secret that Greece is not harbouring a wealth of poker talent, so Stylianos Tamaras deserves a mention.

Tamaras netted €1,183 for his exploits, a profit of €683, small change when compared to the $576,240 American William Reynolds collected in a $25,000 entry high-roller event at the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure.

I'm not sure whatis more upsetting. The winner being aged just 21, six of the eight final-table finishers being under the age of 26, or the fact that there are 359 people who were in a position to put $25,000 on the line to play cards!

More obscene sums will find new homes this week with Deauville's European Poker Tour leg likely to boast a €1million prize-fund, while Melbourne's Crown Casino are expecting a $7 million pot at the Aussie Millions.