Niall hits the jackpot

It didn’t take Clare card sharp Niall Smyth long to drop his poker face after scooping a cool €650,000 at the Paddy Power Irish Poker Open this week.

The delighted 26-year-old from Ballyea celebrated with family and friends in Dublin this week after managing to turn a €20 Grand National bet into the massive poker jackpot.
“I just can’t believe it, I’m just getting used to it really, this is all just very surreal. I never thought I would win this, when you’re playing in a big tournament there is always a little hope there that you could end up winning but I never dreamed of this, it’s just amazing,” he told The Clare Champion,
Niall, who works at St Joseph’s Hospital was cheered on in Dublin’s Burlington Hotel by his parents Stan and Goretti, along with brothers, Mark and Ferghal; sister, Sinead and girlfriend, Kim Madigan. His other sister, Lisa, was willing him on from Haiti where she is doing volunteer work.
After a marathon four-day session of poker playing, Niall topped the field of 615 players to take down the €550,000 first prize in the early hours of Tuesday morning. He was also a double winner, scooping  €100,000 in tournament buy ins and cash for being the paddypowerpoker.com Sole Survivor, outlasting 160 online qualifiers including two at the final table.
Niall explained that he qualified for the event after winning a Grand National bet and then transferring the winnings to his poker account, going on to win a satellite tournament that set him up to beat Irish Open stalwart and former World Poker Tour champion, Surinder Sunar, from England to claim the title of 2011 poker champion.
“It started when I put €10 each way on the winner of the English Grand National, I won €200 and now I have €650,000. Surinder is such a great player.”
Niall told how he started playing poker just eight years ago with his friends and family. And he revealed that he owes his poker face to his late nan. “Anytime we would play at home she would take it really seriously, you always had to make sure you were playing your best with her,” he remembered.
According to Niall, it was the home support that kept him going through the tournament. “I had some fantastic support, everyone came up to get behind me and my family have been brilliant. And Kim really held me together all weekend,” he said.
Niall has no plans for his winnings just yet, although there will be a few holidays in the near future. And while he plans to take a few days off work, he will be back to St Joseph’s soon. “€650,000 is an amazing amount of money and it can set you up for life, but it doesn’t entitle me to retire,” he said.