One for a gamble: World Series of Poker winner Noel Furlong

  PICTURE: Racing Post  

Noel is a furlong
ahead of the field

POKER PLAYERS are frequently accused of being egotistical maniacs, but for the most part a self-absorbed demeanour appears to be a vital ingredient for success.

Likewise, recent major results suggest therecklessness of youth is also integral for victory at the highest level. However, 71-year-old Noel Furlong fits into neither bracket. In fact, it would seem the more the Irishman has achieved in life the more he has distanced himself from the spotlight, despite being one of a very few who has a genuine right to wax lyrical about his achievements.

Old-timers will know the Furlong name from Dublin's Shelbourne Park greyhound track where, with his trainer wife Elizabeth, he sent out a host of gambled-on, big-race winners in the 1980s. But it was in horseracing, and 1991 in particular, that he really made his name.

It was the year the Soviet Union collapsed, the first Gulf War ende and Nirvana released the album Nevermind.

In racing, Generous was an awesome winner of the Derby and the Jenny Pitman-trained Garrison Savannah took the Gold Cup, ridden by her son Mark, before just missing out on the Grand National when finishing second to Seagram.

There was another memorable turf moment, however, when a remarkable gamble was landed in the opening event of the Cheltenham Festival, the Supreme Novices' Hurdle. The winner was Destriero, owned by a certain JJ Furlong, better known as Noel, having been born on Christmas Day.

The twice-raced five-year-old opened at a double-digit price, which he stayed at right up until the jockeys were given the order to mount. Then the cash came. Mountains of it. And his odds were cutto 6-1. The coup was carried out with clinical precision.

The Supreme Novices' is one of the most competitive races at the biggest meeting of them all, and Destriero trounced subsequent Champion Hurdle winner Granville Again by four lengths. It was as pleasing to the eye as it was to Furlong's bank balance, which grew by seven figures.

But there was more to come. A colossal ante-post gamble was running on another Furlong-ownedhorse, The Illiad, in the Champion Hurdle, where victory would see him pick up £5 million. The Illiad, who had already won Furlong a substantial figure when landing the Ladbroke Hurdle at Leopardstown two months earlier, was perhaps unsurprisingly cut to 11-2 from 33-1, but could only trail in 21st of the 24 runners.

Some might say the Furlong story came to an end here, but poker aficionados would say it was only the beginning. In 1989, Furlong had accompanied his friend Terry Rogers - a larger-than-life, now-departed bookmaker who has been credited with bringing Texas Hold'em to Europe - to Las Vegas, where he played in the World Series of Poker for the first time, finishing sixth in the $10,000-entry main event.

Such a prominent position should not have been a huge surprise as Furlong, although he had only taken up poker in 1984, had already won the Irish Open twice - in 1987 and1989. But still it was dismissed as a fluke by the home contingent.

He all but disappeared from the public eye to concentrate on his business - Furlong Flooring, the largest supplier of floor coverings in Ireland - but continued to play poker recreationally and won the Irish Open for an unprecedented third time in 1992.

But the story was still far from over. On the eve of the 1999 World Series of Poker, Furlong won himself a $10,000 entry ticket from a $200 satellite tournament. Poker immortality - and a £1 million pot - beckoned.

These days, it is easy to play down his achievement of beating 392 rivals to become world champion when field sizes average 7,000 players. However, any Vegas old-timer will tell you that at that time there were numerous players competing in the World Series who were pooling people together with the intention of putting all their eggs (and chips) in one basket. Gangs of players would be instructed to ‘dump their chips on to a teammate', who would, in turn, give them to the brains of the operation.

At the the final table, a simple raise could result in a re-raise and then  in all-in. The consequential ‘pass' would see hundreds of thousands of chips change hands without a card being shown. For Furlong to beat these tactics as a non-American was unpalatable. Even now, a decade on, there are a host of US websites keen to deride his achievement.

Within poker circles, Furlong is a complex character who is clearly not motivated by publicity - he never does interviews, my calls have gone unanswered and visits to his house have proved futile.

He is driven, but not by money. He has never refused to play in a charity event and always donates 100 per  centof his winnings. It must be concluded that, for him, it is simply the satisfaction of victory. I know there is one more big win in Furlong, and landing the Paddy Power Irish Open for a fourth time is surely one trophy he would enjoy lifting more than anyother.

The sponsor's quote of 250-1 this year is an insult to his ability. Whatever happens next week, look out for the impeccably bred racehorse Harrington, whom he owns and trains from his Curragh base.

Named after the World Series winner Dan Harrington and his distant relative, the golfer Padraig Harrington, the lightly raced seven-year-old may pop up in a high-profile handicap when the money is down.