ICHUC 4Nations 2006
Team Heads-Up poker really came of age on Saturday 4th November when the ICHUC staged its inaugural 4Nations Championship. Having already stage two Great Britain versus Ireland internationals earlier in the year expectations were understandably high, and nobody was disappointed. Teams of eight from England, Scotland and Wales (Sponsored by VCPoker.com) were joined by the host team, Ireland at the Fitzwilliam Card Club, Dublin.
The ICHUC 4Nations tournament has been specially designed to be a hybrid team and individual event that also benefits charities in the UK and Ireland. Even with a relatively small buy-in (in global poker terms) of Euro200 per person some of the best heads up players in the four represented countries were keen to part of the show. In fact many top name players were disappointed not to be included in the teams. Two players on the England and Scotland teams qualified for the event through online satellite tournaments on vcpoker.com, whilst the Irish and Welsh teams included one qualifier each (the Irish qualifier through a live Green Joker Poker event) but had the added bonus of fielding snooker legends Ken Doherty and Mathew Stevens respectively.
VCBet.com ran a book on the event, the popularity of which seemed to surprise everybody. The bookies made England favourites at 7/4 just ahead of Ireland at 2/1, then Wales at 9/4 and finally Scotland at 4/1. The feeling at the Fitz was this contest was going to be between the English and the Irish and that it was too close to call. Would home advantage play a part? Would English confidence win through? These were questions floating around the cardroom all afternoon and it seemed everyone had at least one opinion to offer. Interesting individual odds from VCBet included 9-1 Favourite Dave Masters (IRE), 25-1 Mathew Stevens (WAL) and a whopping 50-1 on 1997 World Professional Snooker Champion, Ken Doherty (IRE) who was considered by those in the know to have virtually no chance of winning.
At 1430 the matches started. The first round proceeded thus:
Dave O’Callaghan (IRE) beat Phil Wise (WAL)
James Dempsey (ENG capt.) beat Rod Copeland (SCO)
Dave Baker (ENG) beat Niall O’Callaghan (IRE)
Simon John (WAL) beat Cairn Rennie (SCO)
Stephen Masterton (ENG VC Qualifier) beat Mathew Stevens (WAL)
Mike Lacey (IRE capt.) beat Paul Reast (ENG)
Billy McAllister (SCO) beat Richard Ruddling-Smith (WAL capt.)
Ken Doherty (IRE) beat Paul Foltyn (ENG)
Rob Taylor (IRE) beat Alistair Fowler (SCO)
Jen Mason (ENG) beat Gwawr Jones (WAL)
Rick Trigg (ENG) beat Barry Hands (IRE)
Mark McKenzie (SCO) beat Wayne Nash (WAL VC Qualifier)
Thomas Stott (SCO capt.) beat Gary Watter (ENG VC Qualifier)
Colette Murphy (IRE) beat Dylan Murphy (WAL)
Kevin Conway (ENG VC Qualifier) beat Martin Cavanagh (WAL)
Dave Masters (IRE) beat Stephen Donnelly (SCO)
On to round two:
Dave O’Callaghan (IRE) beat James Dempsey (ENG)
Simon John (WAL) beat Dave Baker (ENG)
Stephen Masterton (SCO) beat Mike Lacey (IRE)
Ken Doherty (IRE) beat Billy McAllister (SCO)
Jen Mason (ENG) beat Rob Taylor (IRE)
Rick Trigg (ENG) beat Mark McKenzie (SCO)
Colette Murphy (IRE) beat Thomas Stott (SCO)
Kevin Conway (ENG) beat Dave Masters (IRE)
Interesting match from round two was between Masterton and Lacey – it lasted just one hand! The Liffey Water must have proved way too tempting.
The quarter finals had a distinctly Anglo-Irish feel with three qualifiers each from England and Ireland with Scotland and Wales providing just one qualifier each.
The quarter-finals:
Dave O’Callaghan (IRE) beat Simon John (WAL) in a fantastic match up which lasted nearly four hours!!
Ken Doherty (IRE) beat Stephen Masterton (SCO). It was VC qualifier Stephen’s birthday and a dream come true to play poker against two of his snooker heroes in one day. Deffo a birthday to remember!
Jen Mason (ENG) beat Rick Trigg (ENG). In the first ‘same nation’ match up of the 4Nations Jen once again proves that being a woman is not a disadvantage in the world of poker!
Kevin Conway (ENG) beat Colette Murphy (IRE). The last of the VC Qualifiers, Kev is a well known internet player. He puts his success in this event down to Guinness with a vodka redbull chaser!
As we moved into the semi final stage a fascinating scenario had been created. Both semi-finals would be ‘same nation’ affairs which meant a Ireland versus England final was guaranteed. In the team event it also meant if the Irish finalist won then Ireland would win the ICHUC 4Nations and if the English finalist won Ireland and England would share the title.
Semi Finals:
Ken Doherty (IRE) beat Dave O’Callaghan (IRE)
Kevin Conway (ENG) beat Jen Mason (ENG).
The beaten semi-finalist were each awarded Euro500 for a long days work and attention moved immediately to the final table.
In the final Ken always seemed ahead despite a spirited fight back from Kevin. The talk of the cardroom was how calm and unreadable Ken was. After an hour of play at 00:35, ten hours after play had started and fourteen hours after the drinking started we had a winner ……………………. MR 50/1 had done it!!!! Ken Doherty was the inaugural ICHUC 4Nations champion as are his Ireland team.
Final points standings:
1st Ireland 105 pts
2ndEngland 95 pts
3rdScotland 65 pts
4thWales 50 pts
Would like to thank the Fitzwilliam and of course VCPoker.com for the support of the event which raised over £2000 for charity and has laid a foundation for a bigger 2007 and beyond.
Next years ICHUC 4Nations Championship will take place in London. See you there!
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