The Liam Flood Memorial, one of the most popular Championship side events at the Irish Open, is on today with a 6pm start and €350 buy. The turbo format suits this one-of-a-kind event which gets hectic in every possible way. FYI, late reg is open for the first eight levels.
The event was inaugurated in 2015, the year after the passing of Flood, long-standing organiser and beloved fixture of the Irish Open, and it’s been one of the key Championship tournaments ever since.
Flood liked his stacks short and his structures fast, so he would have appreciated the 15-minute clock although we’re not sure he would have liked the 20k starting stack. In tribute to Dublin fast becoming the most expensive city in the world to play poker after Monte Carlo*, the buy-in is also up this year – to €350 from €250 last year.
Flood took over the full running of the Irish Open after the event’s founder Terry Rodgers died in 1999. His poker expertise and long experience of the Irish Open – both as a player and co-organiser – was coupled with sharp business acumen and a multinational network of poker friends: he wasn’t known as “The Gentleman” for nothing. This helped him steer the Irish Open from being a smallish, niche tournament to one of the largest and most prestigious poker tournaments in the world.
Last year James O’Brien took it down for €8,455 after besting a near-record field of 207 entries. The prizepool amounted to more than £44k, with 27 players taking a share. Other champions have included John O’Boyle, William Elkin, Thomas Harstad and Cathal Shine. The very first edition of the tournament – held in April 2015 – was won by Garrett Boyle, with former Irish Open champion Neil Channing finishing third.
Come down and have some fun chucking your chips around among friends through the thrilling 15 minute blind levels. It’s what Liam would have wanted.
*not true