THEY SAY that luck comes in threes. So, if a man bets on a horse and wins and later invests his winnings in a poker game and wins, he should then play a bigger poker game and win again, right?
Right – at least in the case of Niall Smyth, a Co Clare hospital attendant who managed to turn what started out as a €10 each-way bet on the April 9th English Grand National into a cheque for €550,000 when he won the Paddy Power Poker Irish Open yesterday morning.
The part-time player outstayed 614 competitors – among them seasoned professionals such as former world series of poker winner and author Dan Harrington as well as retired sportsmen-cum-poker players Teddy Sheringham, Tony Cascarino and Reggie Corrigan – over the course of four days’ play at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin.
“It’s all very surreal,” Smyth (26), from Ballyea near Ennis, said of his win. “It’s been crazy seeing myself on websites and taking phone calls from newspapers, but I’m enjoying it.”
His voyage to winning the No Limit Texas Hold’em competition – and three-pronged run of good luck – began with a modest online bet of €10 each-way on 14-1 Ballabriggs to win the Grand National. He used his winnings to fund his entry into an online Irish Open feeder tournament; the prize for winning that was a ticket into the competition valued at €3,500.
The competition began on Friday afternoon but, by Monday, Smyth was tournament leader. He survived a three-hour head-to-head battle with English poker-playing professional Surinder Sunar to clinch the title and cheque.
The winning hand had an element of luck to it also. Smyth moved his chips in with a modest holding of a queen and a five, only to be called by Sunar who had an ace and a nine.
The dealer drew a 10, a pair of threes and a two from the deck, which meant that Smyth needed to see a queen or a five drawn as the last card to win the hand.
The dealer duly obliged and, with the fall of the five of hearts, Smyth was €550,000 better-off.
“I’m happy with the win,” he said. “I won’t be taking any drastic steps but it has set me up well.”
