One of the attractive aspects of poker in Ireland is not just the ubiquitous passion for poker you encounter, but the good spirit in which the game is played. Perhaps more than any other place, players seem to generally embrace the fickleness of fortune with smiles and shrugs, even as lady luck turns her back on them.
We saw a simple example of this just play out – Hugh Smyth jamming his short stack with and getting a call from the pocket twos of Padraig McGrath (pictured centre).
Smyth’s tournament hopes were on the line but a deuce on the flop crushed his equity to near zero and he was suddenly on the rail, hopes of a rally dismantled. Just a flip – as happens in poker, but not everyone responds well to misfortune like this…
Smyth’s response was to fist-bump his executioner, camaraderie maintained even at this painful juncture.
That’s how you play poker, and we applaud this approach. McGrath meanwhile is up to 58,000…