International Poker Open - Official Thread - €100k Gtd if 700+ entries, €150 Buy-in!

carfax

Ok, just want to keep things as clear cut as possible.....All details are listed below as per charter. Registration will open later this week (between June 2nd and June 6th)......Please tell every single poker player you know about this tournament, forward this page to them and tell them they can contact stephen@pokerireland.ie for more details or if they need any help......


The International Poker Open will take place on Saturday, October 6th and Sunday, October 7th 2007.
No – Limit Texas Hold’em Freeze-out:
Day 1 (6th Oct) will take place in the Shelbourne Hall, RDS, Dublin 4, Ireland and cards will be in the air at 12 noon.
Day 2 (7th Oct) will take place in the Jackpot Casino Club, Montague Street, Dublin 2
( www.thejackpot.ie ) and play will commence at 1pm.

The buy-in will be €150 (€125+€25reg) and there will be 100% prize-pool payout.

If there are at least 700 players then the prizepool is guaranteed at €100,000. This means that Mermaid Poker will, if necessary top up the prizepool to the tune of €12,500 (or part thereof) to meet this total.

PokerIreland.ie and Mermaid Poker (groovy Danish site) are running this tournament.

Purpose of the event is commercial although we will be doing some charity fund raising in the run up to it.

The only pre-requisite is that you must pre-pay your entry fee through www.pokerireland.ie and that you must actually open an account with Mermaid (all winnings will be paid directly into these accounts) and you must of course play yourself if you are the person registered.

All players must register as soon as possible through www.pokerireland.ie and nobody will be allowed to pay cash on the day (If you don't believe me on this one you will be disappointed, I will not be going out of my way for anyone that is too lazy/stubborn to register online).......

Derek and I have put a huge amount of effort into organising this and we will be looking for help from every single tournament organiser/poker enthusiast in the country.

Mermaid are also the perfect sponsors for this event as you can contact the people that can do things right away for you (Anna Colley for example; ac@mermaidpoker.com or myself; stephen@pokerireland.ie)

10,000 starting chips. 40 min levels

12:00 1. 25-50
12:40 2. 50-100
13.20 3. 75-150
14:00 4. 100-200
14:40 5. 150-300
15:20 30 minute break – get rid of “25 chips” - chip race.
15:50 6. 200-400
16:30 7. 300-600
17:10 8. 400-800
17:50 9. 500-1000
18.30 60 minute break
19:30 10. 600-1200
20:10 11. 800-1500
20:50 12. 1000-2000
21:30 13. 1500-3000
22:10 30 minute break – get rid of “100 chips” – chip race.
22:40 14. 2000-4000
23:10 15. 3000-6000
23:50 20 min break
00:10 16. 4000-8000
00:50 17. 5000-10000
01:30…bag chips, secure chips, record chip counts and seat positions etc……

END DAY 1.

Standard payout structure will be used (ie approx top 10% paid)

Stephen Mc Lean will be tournament director and if there are any disputes he will kick butts.

DAY 2 Sunday 7th Oct - 1 hour levels (Breaks to be decided on the day…..Prob ten minutes every two hours up to final table at which point we will take the final 9 players across the road to a great restuarant for a good feed and then get back to the action until we have a winner).
14:00 6000-12000
15:00 8000-15000
16:00 10000-20000
17:00 15000-30000
18:00 18000-36000
19:00 20000-40000
20:00 30000-60000
21:00 40000-80000
22:00 50000-100000 - Blinds might be frozen at this level or then again they might not be.....We'll see how its going on the night.

Contact; stephen@pokerireland.ie if you are looking for a good rate on a B&B or hostel on Oct 6th/7th 2007.
Contact; derek@pokerireland.ie if you are looking for a good rate on a hotel for the weekend (Oct 6th/7th).

Corporate Companies; Contact derek@pokerireland.ie for information about how you can get your brand out there at this tournament (obviously we won't be advertising competitors of Mermaid Poker but we are looking for drinks companies, travel agents and all the rest to contribute something to this event).

Tournament Organsiers; Conact; stephen@pokerireland.ie if you want to set up a stand (for free) in the RDS on Oct 6th advertising what you are doing and where you are doing it....We're trying to make this an exhibition for Irish poker as much as anything else.

Many thanks in advance to any and all Boards readers and posters 'cos I know that you will get behind this.....

There will be supporting tournaments etc on the day in the RDS.....Details will be announced during the Summer.

And last but not least a huge thank you to the Jackpot
( www.thejackpot.ie ).

If you are going to contact me about this event with a general question please email me instead......Cheers, Stephen Mc Lean; stephen@pokerireland.ie

Flushdraw

carfax wrote:

The only pre-requisite is that you must pre-pay your entry fee through www.pokerireland.ie and that you must actually open an account with Mermaid (all winnings will be paid directly into these accounts) and you must of course play yourself if you are the person registered.

Stephen, I can see this causing quite a few problems and keeping numbers down

mdwexford

very playable structure Stephen, should be a cracking event

carfax

Flushdraw wrote:

Stephen, I can see this causing quite a few problems and keeping numbers down

Why is that Tony?, are you just annoyed because I had a go at you in the Humour forum today?


Seriously though anyone that cashed in the Student Champs in January will tell you that there were no problems (and that was with Pacific, with whom we were having communication problems).....Mermaid are so solid that the money will probably be transferred on the night in question and be there ready to withdraw (or of course to be used to go heads up for houses)......

The whole reason behind it isn't even just for security risks (I know I'm not equipped to hold onto €125,000 in cash) but because of licensing difficulties as Day 1 is not being held in a casino club....So in a sense our hands are tied.

LuckyLloyd

I will be playing. The structure is great Ste.

C4Queen

Yes

---

and for those who didn’t get the connection Anna Colley are C4Queen here on boards, and presently in Cork so please don’t hesitate for one second to come and talk to me, I am never to busy to be disturbed.

We are aiming our very best to pull of this event with flying colours and make poker take even another step forward in a country that already embraced poker in a great way!

Cheers
Anna Colley

Ps.. can u all nice girls who played the ladies free roll with me pop me an email? Would love to keep in contact! And some of you played great poker!

ac@mermaidpoker.com

Flushdraw

carfax wrote:

Why is that Tony?, are you just annoyed because I had a go at you in the Humour forum today?


Seriously though anyone that cashed in the Student Champs in January will tell you that there were no problems (and that was with Pacific, with whom we were having communication problems).....Mermaid are so solid that the money will probably be transferred on the night in question and be there ready to withdraw (or of course to be used to go heads up for houses)......

I havent looked in the Humour forum today, gonna check it out now and see what you've been up to!

I've no problem registering with Mermaid or with pokerireland, but for the average person that doesnt play live or online much, it would appeal to them more if they could just turn up on the day and pay $150 rather than having to setup up an account account with a poker site.

Plus if they go deep, they wont get handed a wad of notes which feels great!! The structure is fantastic and its going to be a success but i just think the numbers might suffer a little due to this. Hopefully it wont though!

5starpool

I have a couple of questions.

If one were lucky enough to cash in this, how can one withdraw money from Mermaiid? Does the withdrawal method have to be the same as the deposit method or can you easily choose to get paid by cheque/neteller or other preference?

Will there be any issues with currency exchange rates, i.e. do Mermaid take a % if cheque is requested in € when converting from the presumably $ base currency on the site?

Are there any other preconditions attached to the site sponsorship, or could you, if you wish, literally lodge the correct amount to the penny, register an account with Mermaid without depositing anything, get paid into that account and then withdraw the winnings?

I will def be playing this by the way, just want to make sure there are no awkward issues that might come up at a later date, however inadvertently.

Mellor

Will we be able to buy-into the event closer to the start date (online in sept/october)

C4Queen

5starpool wrote:

I have a couple of questions.

If one were lucky enough to cash in this, how can one withdraw money from Mermaiid? Does the withdrawal method have to be the same as the deposit method or can you easily choose to get paid by cheque/neteller or other preference?

Will there be any issues with currency exchange rates, i.e. do Mermaid take a % if cheque is requested in € when converting from the presumably $ base currency on the site?

Are there any other preconditions attached to the site sponsorship, or could you, if you wish, literally lodge the correct amount to the penny, register an account with Mermaid without depositing anything, get paid into that account and then withdraw the winnings?

I will def be playing this by the way, just want to make sure there are no awkward issues that might come up at a later date, however inadvertently.

Hi!
Currentley you got to withdraw the same as you deposite, due to the law of money laundry. We are trying to look into it as we speak better to be safe then sorry bare in mind that if you deposite by neteller you withdraw by neteller or such.

Sure, if you deposite the amount for the tourney, and do no other play, no problem, then you go out there on october 6 th and nail the tourney and we pay you and you withdraw, simple as that.

The exchange convert isnt set by us but its normal as any sites got it.

We will however run for an example a online tourney only for you Irish players very soon, dates will be posted as soon as this cork weekend are to an end, Smile! There will also be sats to the big event in october.

In the tourney only for you irish players we will put two packets to travel to Copenhagen in september and do a live tourney here, Copenhagen open, and just maybe one or two other things ... and i will take good care of you in copenhagen, or i set my Mermaid girls on it .... just keep the jumper on lads!

More info on the online tourney and the copenhagen open event will be posted shortley, please bare with me on that one...

So now off to make me self pretty,, ME i cork starting in about 30 minutes and one got to to what one can with what god gave you

cheers
Anna

carfax

5starpool wrote:

I have a couple of questions.

If one were lucky enough to cash in this, how can one withdraw money from Mermaiid? Does the withdrawal method have to be the same as the deposit method or can you easily choose to get paid by cheque/neteller or other preference?

Will there be any issues with currency exchange rates, i.e. do Mermaid take a % if cheque is requested in € when converting from the presumably $ base currency on the site?

Are there any other preconditions attached to the site sponsorship, or could you, if you wish, literally lodge the correct amount to the penny, register an account with Mermaid without depositing anything, get paid into that account and then withdraw the winnings?

I will def be playing this by the way, just want to make sure there are no awkward issues that might come up at a later date, however inadvertently.

As far as I know you can withdraw your money by cheque too Dom. The currency issue is that Mermaid will actually have tournaments in Euro and Dollar within the next month or so I think (Anna will know better than I)......

There are absolutely no pre-conditions or post-conditions attached to this....www.pokerireland.ie is now an affilaite to Mermaid Poker so we would certainly like you to play a lot on their site but we won't try to make you. Email stephen@pokerireland.ie if you want to avail of some of our special services as regards playing on Mermaid (cheap advertisement I know, sorry mods).

carfax

Mellor wrote:

Will we be able to buy-into the event closer to the start date (online in sept/october)

Absolutely no probs, you can register now and unregister at any time before the event and you can register up until the day before the tournament.

Rb

Fantastic, will definately be there.

P.s having cashed in the NSPC (heh heh heh...go IT Tallaght!), Ste is right in saying that there were absolutely no problems in cashing out the winnings. Nor was there in depositing and registering.

carfax

rb_ie wrote:

there were absolutely no problems in depositing and registering.

maybe not for you but believe me there were problems for some people depositing and registering.....The good news is that it won't be happening this time around.....Everyone over 18 is eligible to play (thank God)......And we'll be offering help to anyone that doesn't have a credit card and still wants to play......stephen@pokerireland.ie

JP Poker

Looks great Stephen. I will let all my players know about it.

If theres anything you need, tables ect just let me know

shoutman

Definately playing this one, looks great

5starpool

carfax wrote:

As far as I know you can withdraw your money by cheque too Dom. The currency issue is that Mermaid will actually have tournaments in Euro and Dollar within the next month or so I think (Anna will know better than I)......

The only problem that I have with this is that I assume first prize will be at least €25k, let's use that for example. If, as Anna says you can only withdraw by the method you deposit then the only ways really are Credit card and Neteller. If CC then:

a) can you take 25k out of your credit card into your bank account without a % charge by a bank or anyone else?
b) As was raised in Fatboydims thread Stars only allow up to 1k on your cc. Is this true for Mermaid too? If so then how can one do it?

If you deposit by Neteller and have to withdraw to here, then Neteller charge a % (2 or 3 I think without checking) to transfer to a bank account. On a sum of €25k, even 2% is €500, not inconsiderable.

If you can withdraw by cheque regardless of deposit method then this is less important.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly for a large number of readers here, this payment method will surely result in less tips for dealers.

ditpoker

shoutman wrote:

Definately playing this one, looks great

i'm not playing if luke is playing... nice structure too!

Mr.Plough

shall see you all there

Goodluck2me

5starpool wrote:

you can only withdraw by the method you deposit then .

lol at €25,000 in UKash vouchers!

looks great stephen, see you there. good luck findining dealers!

carfax

5starpool wrote:

The only problem that I have with this is that I assume first prize will be at least €25k, let's use that for example. If, as Anna says you can only withdraw by the method you deposit then the only ways really are Credit card and Neteller. If CC then:

a) can you take 25k out of your credit card into your bank account without a % charge by a bank or anyone else?
b) As was raised in Fatboydims thread Stars only allow up to 1k on your cc. Is this true for Mermaid too? If so then how can one do it?

If you deposit by Neteller and have to withdraw to here, then Neteller charge a % (2 or 3 I think without checking) to transfer to a bank account. On a sum of €25k, even 2% is €500, not inconsiderable.

If you can withdraw by cheque regardless of deposit method then this is less important.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly for a large number of readers here, this payment method will surely result in less tips for dealers.

Again, this is one of those things that you just have to be assured that we will look after every player individually and make sure everyone is happy.....I am almost certain that you can withdraw by cheque (I've never come across a site where you can't as this is how I withdraw on rare occasions).....

Your last point is very valid but as with the student champs it is very easy to tip through your online winnings (you just have to tell me how much and I can sort it out).......Which by the way reminds me that I have an envelope sitting in my bedroom with some money for dealers from the student champs - I had honestly forgotten all about it but better get it sorted before I get soooood.

Dealers get tipped far too much as it is anyway, they hardly do any work and get tons of tips from hard working poker players......



I know its not an ideal situation having to register online but it is actually the only way we can do this plus we wouldn't have the 100k guaranteed if it wasn't for Mermaid......And I really can't emphasise how big that is, I mean €100k guaranteed for €150.....

carfax

JP Poker wrote:

Looks great Stephen. I will let all my players know about it.

If theres anything you need, tables ect just let me know

Cheers JP, I'll have a few big asks of you over the next few weeks ....

Talk to you soon mate.

carfax

ditpoker wrote:

nice structure too!

Yeah, I had a little help.

carfax

5starpool wrote:

If you deposit by Neteller and have to withdraw to here, then Neteller charge a % (2 or 3 I think without checking) to transfer to a bank account. On a sum of €25k, even 2% is €500, not inconsiderable.

I have to make the point here too Dom that if we do make the 800 players required to meet the €100,000 guarantee then our expenses for this tournament are looking to be at the very least €25,000......Its possibly going to cost €20,000 for Day 1 staff alone, depending on how many Dublin based dealers we can find.

I know that this tournament is live and not online but if you are to withdraw the same sum of money due to cashing in an online tournament you encounter the same trouble.....And yet you're kind of having a go at us here (I've had a couple of glasses of wine after a very long week so don't mean to be jumping to conclusions but at the same time have to say what I'm thinking).

We're going to be putting ourselves through 5 months of really tough preparation, organising staff, equipment, and putting together a publicity campaign that will make the Irish Open look like a walk in the park.....Please try to understand how much we are going through to see that poker players are offered the best possible value at tournaments for years to come and trust our judgement in that no'one will come away from this tournament with anything but bad beat stories to give out about and possibly the odd dodgy ruling by me (and by the way, seriously now, if anyone tries to stop me for a bad beat story at the RDS its gonna get ugly)......

bottom feeder

Well done Steven with organizing such a big event, sounds fab and will deffo play it….. hope all goes well…..

Wes

carfax

bottom feeder wrote:

Well done Steven with organizing such a big event, sounds fab and will deffo play it….. hope all goes well…..

Wes

Cheers Wes, thanks mate.

C4Queen

Hi lads...

Right now its very late /earley and i just got security to walk me to the hotel.. :eek: one guy got a bit caried away over a ruling on the cash table....where he clearly where wrong and i right and for those who knows me, they know i dont give up if i know am right and i was also given the pot, fair and square.

so i will not have a go with the questions asked right now,,,, hehehhe.. and also a bit too many drinks...:eek: narrrrr cant ever be too many can there? but sideshowbob and Flipper...... maaaan do you two know every pub in town?

But i can assure you 100% that we will turn ourselfs inside and out to sort every issue that comes along the road and just so you know guys.... am foremost a player before am a site "worker" so i know very well where you all are coming from, i play 5-8 hrs daily online. So Beliave me, we are going to take care of things.

Talk later on
Now.. few hrs sleep!¨¨
Anna panna banana

5starpool

carfax wrote:

I know that this tournament is live and not online but if you are to withdraw the same sum of money due to cashing in an online tournament you encounter the same trouble.....And yet you're kind of having a go at us here (I've had a couple of glasses of wine after a very long week so don't mean to be jumping to conclusions but at the same time have to say what I'm thinking).

I am disappointed that you think I am having a go Steve. Asking valid questions is in no way having a go.

carfax

5starpool wrote:

I am disappointed that you think I am having a go Steve. Asking valid questions is in no way having a go.

Do you think the rest of my repsonse was valid?

5starpool

carfax wrote:

Do you think the rest of my repsonse was valid?

My questions were in no way related to the costs that you incur or the cut that is being taken. You could take 60% of the prizepool as long as it was advertised. I have no problem with the amount that is advertised as being taken.

My question is in relation to the potential extra costs that would be incurred by the people who cash, as if these are there, would go directly to Neteller or similiar if cashout by cheque is not possible. This will not help in any costs or organisational issues you may experience. I don't see how this is relevant.

The Clamper

hey there 5star

i think you have a valid point and its something i personally hadnt thought of, probably coz i dont get to take money out of these sites, my usual worry is will my CC let me have any more credit?

after all its only winners that might have a cost. so that u an me off the hook.

its something we need to investigate more with Mermaid and revert / post here

i have no doubt that we will have a positive reply on it, these Mermaids are all poker players that own the site, so they understand these things, not like its some corporate investment house full of cash-hungry business-men who dont give 2 flying monkeys for the players. these people have resolved everything we threw at them so far, so watch this space.

so far the interest has been amazing

hopefully you will be one of the players that needs this sorted, due to winnings

clamper
aka: The Clamper

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

derek/ste

looks like a cracking idea and tourney will be there with bells on!!

fiddlesticks

carfax wrote:

Yeah, I had a little help.

Sorry been really busy over weekend, but structure looks great and ill be there with bells on!

Oh and i probably dont deserve tips...

RasTa

Can I register and then un-reg ok on the site? 60% might be in Vegas when this tourney is on.

C4Queen

yes you will be able to register and unregister up to a certin point, maybe a day a head or so depending on what we set it up to be,,,

Will get bak to the other questions to you as soon as am back to work, for the moment am a bit "relaxing"........;)
AC

NeoSlicerZ

Erm, maybe I'm being slow, but where do I register on the site?

5starpool

The Clamper wrote:

hey there 5star

i think you have a valid point and its something i personally hadnt thought of, probably coz i dont get to take money out of these sites, my usual worry is will my CC let me have any more credit?

after all its only winners that might have a cost. so that u an me off the hook.

its something we need to investigate more with Mermaid and revert / post here

i have no doubt that we will have a positive reply on it, these Mermaids are all poker players that own the site, so they understand these things, not like its some corporate investment house full of cash-hungry business-men who dont give 2 flying monkeys for the players. these people have resolved everything we threw at them so far, so watch this space.

so far the interest has been amazing

hopefully you will be one of the players that needs this sorted, due to winnings

clamper
aka: The Clamper

If ye are confident that any issues that might happen in this regard will be taken care of then that is good enough for me.

The Clamper

no probs 5star

thanks for your input, any other matters, please feel free to post queries so that we can iron them out sooner rather than have something bite us later

clamper

FungiWalsh

Sounds like a great tourney, Stephen, I'll definitely be there. Incredible structure, especially with the buy-in. Just hope I don't play quite as shockingly as I did in the Waterford team event at your table.

C4Queen

Hi Guys!!

Well as it happens..... am still in Irland, missed my flight this morning..:p But i will 100% adress all your questions regarding the software and finacial parts ASAP when beingh back on track again.

Sorry for delays eh?

RIGHT now you cant register for the event it isnt set up by us yet but will be very soon, and also i will tomorrow or no later then wendsday give you the date on the online tourney we will throw for all irish players....

Anna

DeVore

You're not real good at getting back to Sweden, are you Anna

DeV.

C4Queen

No am crap!!

But you see.. i kind of get my self into such deep disussions early in the morning all the freaking time and my plane was due to leave 06.45 witch is really a stupid time eh? And a girl has to do what a girl has to do and also someone said: there are flights all over the world everyday so whats the big deal! ;-) True true...

But yea yea,, your right, am really no good at getting back to sweden and now i will be stucked in Dublin to wendsday so if anyone wants to meet up for a drink or know of any tourney in Dublin area tomorow evening i happily tag along and kill some houers!

Anna

C4Queen

Just back to the hotel from the casino and when i left Jimmy was chipleader and 6 platers left in the 250 game,, one can say he IS A FREAKING luck box;) and got a run of cards troughout the tourney that are amazing!

Or maye its his annoying singing that makes the card come.....

KEEP it up!
Anna

ditpoker

any chance mermaidpoker can get onto ukash.com to sort out ukash as a legitimate payment method. that will make you more accessible to the student market over here, i know a lot of people who entered the NSPC that carfax ran using ukash but mermaid dont have it as an option yet.

C4Queen

Will look into it ASAP getting back home.

Tar.Aldarion

NeoSlicerZ wrote:

Erm, maybe I'm being slow, but where do I register on the site?

As usual mister neo, you are just being slow. (:
Go in to the article, there is a link on the right.

Great job stephen et al, will register(with ease???) when I get a chance.

Frinky

Are there not going to be any antes? I thinks its a bad idea not to have antes as that with a tournament like this comes so many bad players, that just sit there waiting.....and waiting......and waiting for Aces or something

I'm sure they will get there moneys worth but it is better with antes as people will make more moves

carfax

FungiWalsh wrote:

Sounds like a great tourney, Stephen, I'll definitely be there. Incredible structure, especially with the buy-in. Just hope I don't play quite as shockingly as I did in the Waterford team event at your table.

You played some good poker at that tournament, you've got the right idea.........Maybe if I wasn't such a shockingly bad player myself I could offer you some advice.......




Anyway, just a quick note to players that there was a slight misunderstanding between Anna and I and the actual €100,000 guarantee is subject to 700 players taking part (i.e. Mermaid are going to add €12,500 if there are only 700 players).....This probably won't be relevant as judging by the support we've received so far it will actually be a field of more than 1,000 players.


Mods can you please edit my OP to reflect this....Maybe just say Guarantee is subject to at least 700 players taking part?


Registration will open real soon and we're organising a team event which will run throughout the tournament too......More details as soon as they are confirmed.

Frinky

Ah no! Really!? And I was not consulted!? :(

Must have been some college like DIT that settled on that.....hehe. Ah well sure there will be more play, only problem now is that the better plays are gonna get knocked out mid-way through the tournament as they will feel they need to get chips. They will make more moves as there are no blinds to steal and will get caught. For a less experienced player this wont happen as they will just be sitting there waiting.

Is it 150 deuros or dollars?

carfax

Frinky wrote:

Is it 150 deuros or dollars?

Its yo yos

ditpoker

Frinky wrote:

Ah no! Really!? And I was not consulted!? :(

Must have been some college like DIT that settled on that.....hehe.

i think he's on to us!