Last Chance to Qualify Online for the PartyPoker Irish Poker Championship

There is only one week left to qualify online for the PartyPoker Irish Poker Championship. The main $240 weekly satellite has been moved from Tuesday to Sunday as Christmas approaches and Sunday 23rd December is the last opportunity for online players to secure their seat in the tournament. Lower buy-in tournaments are also still available for the smaller bankroll, where entry into the main satellite can be won every day of the week. For every 25 players in the main satellite, PartyPoker will provide one tournament seat and qualification for the $5,000 package starts from only $3. Over 500 qualifying satellites are also being held in pubs and clubs across Ireland.

The tournament is one of the

first major European poker events of the New Year and will be held at the fantastic Radisson Hotel & Spa, Galway, Ireland, from 4th January to 6th January 2008. It is the first major Irish poker tournament to be sponsored by PartyPoker. A spokesman for PartyPoker said "There is a definite pattern emerging to the tournament. It looks like the competitors will be split into three distinct camps. There will be a big group of local Irish players, the international online qualifiers and a good group of overseas pros".

Marcel Luske, Jon Kalmar and Robert Williamson III have recently confirmed they will be playing in Galway and are expected to be amongst the favourites for the title. One notable PartyPoker.com qualifier to look out for is 22-year-old James McManus from Dublin. In a period of two months earlier this year he went on a great run online, winning a Mini Cooper S, a Nintendo Wii and $52,000 on the bad beat jackpot.

The €2,000 buy-in is expected to produce a prize pool of between €500,000 and €1,000,000 and the tournament will be recorded for six hour-long television broadcasts on RTA, Ireland's national broadcaster and distributed internationally. Amongst the professional players who are planning to attend the event are Mike Sexton, 1999 WSOP Main Event Winner Noel Furlong, "Flying Dutchman" Marcel Luske, WSOP bracelet winners Ciaran O'Leary and Michael Keiner, Padraig Parkinson, Robert Williamson III, Jon Kalmar, Scott Gray, Bruno Fitoussi, Roy Brindley, Mad Marty Wilson, Katharine Hartree, Jeff Duvall, Alan Vinson, Steve Wong, Rory Liffey and Ben Vinson.

The schedule for the event is:

Thursday 3rd January 2008
Super Satellite €200 + €20

Friday 4th January 2008
Main Event Day 1 €2,000 (9 percent withheld) No Limit Hold'em Freezeout

Saturday 5th January 2008
Main Event Day 2 €2,000
Supporting Event €800 + €80 No Limit Hold'em Freezeout

Sunday 6th January 2008
Main Event Day 3 €2,000
Supporting Event €400 + €40 No Limit Hold'em Freezeout

Ed note: Qualify for the IPC at PartyPoker and hit the big time in 2008

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