POKER NIGHT BUT NOT AS IT ONCE WAS
DUNDALK CARD PLAYERS GO ONLINE AS MONDAY GAME IN PUB STOPPED
ALTHOUGH there have been many issues that have been put on hold since the Pandemic closures that have come into effect a number of months ago, there are always some that manage to continue through the limitations and specially where the pub culture is concerned.
One of these has been the regular Monday night poker games which had been running in Courtney’s for a year or so, it had to stop in the pub, but the Texas Hold’em lads have managed to keep their game going through the hardship.
With a pool of around 20 players, each Monday night can see anything from 14 to 18 playing, they realised that their popular Park Street was no longer available, they decided to continue on line. With the help of Poker Stars, they set up an account where they go on line on Monday evening, register to play and then continue their game as if they were in the Card Rom in Courtney’s.
With names like Royal1rish, undoingbucky, shaneboy35, brucie2311, Macka2020, rashcash25, fahy555, ken191ken, Rkealy, Alzer44, 1957-75 and jasonIRL, they log on, pay $30 for their 30,000 chips, are given a code to get into the group and play until their last hand and prizes are given out for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. They also pay a $2 fee to Poker Stars for the opportunity to play.
They play a style of Texas Hold’em called Freeze Out which has a safety barrier. Once you have played all your chips, you can’t buy back in to the competition and therefore it limits the amount of money you can lose on any one night.
The games commence at 9pm and can continue on until 1am, depending how well the players play. So they aren’t just sitting in a room by themselves playing, they also have a WhatsApp group where they regularly message each other with encouragement and a fine selection of slagging during the proceedings.
One of their regular competitors Pat Fahy from Suil Na Mara told the Argus, ‘We started the week after the close down
Photo: Aidan Dullaghan/Newspics of the pubs. jasonIRL set the game up for us in Poker Stars. It’s just a bit of fun, nothing serious and everyone enjoys the craic. Because we are playing with a limited stake and it’s a freeze out, everyone knows that once you’ve used all your chips, that’s you finished for the night.’
‘Although we do miss the waiter service in Courtney’s, it doesn’t stop us having a few beers while we are playing and even though you’re not sitting facing your opponents, there is a chat box as part of the game but the messages on the WhatsApp group are always a great laugh and can add to the enjoyment.’
‘After each hand we play you can see on a league table how well you are doing against the rest, but you have to have your wits about you, like in a normal game, but online, if you play recklessly you can be finished for the night in only a couple of hands. But with a few astute games you can very easily be topping the leader board.’
He concluded by saying ‘I enjoy the game at home, but I think I can say for everyone playing online, we are all looking forward to Courtney’s reopening so we can get back to being up there for our game.’