Sure t'was a Grand Slam altogether...

Ego and pride drive the game of poker. Without them we wouldn’t have tournaments at all because what is a tournament but a bet that you are in the top 10% of the field. It requires 90% of the entrants to be wrong too!

Just as every poker player believes that his time will come when they will be seen for the brilliant player they are (just right after this cold run of cards ends...) every nation believes they are the best. And most are wrong.

Paddy Power Poker decided it might be fun to find out which country had the best poker team and so the idea for the Grand Slam was born! 7 countries, 6 players per team, one prize.

I arrived to cover the event along with most of the Irish Team (Donnacha O'Dea, Andy Black, Padraig Parkinson, Dave O'Callaghan and Domhnall Mac A Bhaird) and found the inside of the Star Casino to be as brightly coloured as Birmingham is drab. The city represents Margret Thatcher's wetdream.

The format was that there would be 6 tables of 7 and each country would have a representative on each table. After that it would play like a standard tournie but there would be some rules against chip passing.

The teams initially were friendly and there was a great sense of camaraderie throughout but as the tournie progressed, the rivalry, while still friendly, came to the fore! Every team there wanted to win, wanted to prove that their nation is the best in the world.

Rep. Of Ireland powered forward with Padraig and The Don amassing chips like there was no tomorrow! By the close of the first day both had nearly quintupled their starting stacks. Len and Dave were sitting comfortably on 150k and 220k respectively. Andy Black unfortunately exited in 15th place when he made a poor play, calling an all in with A6s. I can't explain why he did it, and neither could Andy!

Northern Ireland came out of the traps hard and fast but the Republic was the first to lose a man when Domhnall Mac A Bhaird exited during the first level with AKo. Ivan Donaghy was next when Dave O'C played a house so beautifully that it almost broke the Northern man. He exited soon after.

He wasn’t to be the lone northern voice at the bar either as Paul Lecky and much of the rest of the N.Irish team followed soon after, leaving only the unknown Mathew Bell alone in the fray. Seeing this, the English thought it might be a *race* to the bar and swiftly followed suit exiting with just 42 points.

At the end of the day, Dave O'C lost concentration for a moment and reraised Paul Testud all in. The Frenchman prevaricated but eventually called with AQ. Dave exited but scored 15 points for the team. We left to spend the night in the sumptuous Wyatt hotel with the Irish strongly in the lead chip-wise but trailing in points.

All the same both the Scots and the French (the only two teams who could win other then the Irish) agreed that the Irish were now the favourites. Mathew Bell had ~360 and was well chipped!

The second day restarted and immediately went bad for the Irish, Padraig ran AK into AA for almost all his chips, Len had JJ outdrawn by AJ and Donnacha moved in on an aggressive button only to find him playing AA! All three Irish exited in a row and that was the end of our chances! We joined the Welsh, English, N-Irish and Swedes at the bar.

Mathew Bell still hung on and suddenly what had been a joke (that he might out score the second-last-placed team England, all on his own) seemed to be becoming less and less funny to the English. Mathew crept up the leader board making some great plays and finally exited 10th, just short of the TV table and just shy of the 37 points he needed to push N.Ireland into second last place. At 20, he's certainly one to watch!

The Scots and the French battled down to the final table. 3 Scots, 2 French remained. The others played for the individual prize but the Scots and the French had only one thing on their mind. The way the points worked, if the French lost a player then the next three players out would have to be Scots and the remaining Frenchman would have to win it. Several nerve wracking all in's were survived by both teams before Paul Testud exited amid Scot's cheers. But wait... the next man out was a Scot and directly after that another ran AQ into KK .... but fluked his way out of it. The Scots stopped cheering until finally the other Frenchman exited and they were the Grandslam winners.

During all of this drama, Lars Kjestrop from Sweden simply hoovered up chips and ran over the table in an impressive display of poker play.

The Grand Slam was a great tournie and a great idea which I'm sure will grow year on year. Congrats to the Scots but I can't help feeling it was taken from the Irish by terrible luck and cards at the wrong time. So close, but we'll be back next year.