HISTORY OF THE IRISH AT THE WSOP
It all started in May 1979. Terry Rogers found himself with three days to kill in Las Vegas. He wandered into Binion's Horseshoe Casino and found himself in the middle of the biggest poker game on the planet.
His eyes lit up with excitement and his gamblers instinct kicked in. Rogers had found his spiritual home. He befriended the biggest, baddest and best poker players of them all. He didn't know it then but he would be instrumental in launching Irish poker players to the very top of the game.
An Irishman in Paradise
Like many great stories it starts with a meeting of like minds. "Terry and I were on-track bookmakers: we were competitors," recalled Liam Flood, renowned tournament director and poker player.
"We started to hold poker tournaments for charity. This was in the mid-1970's. We'd get anywhere between 100 and 300 players playing 5-card draw for £100 to £200 per game. That was a lot of people for that kind of money at the time."
"Ever year Terry would go to America on business. In May 1979 he had a few days off and went to Vegas. He saw this high stakes poker game going on and met Benny Binion and the rest is history."
Bookies edge
Always one to spot an opportunity Rogers cemented his relationship with Binion and his band of high-rolling players by taking bets from them on the outcome of the games, offering the type of long odds the Americans had never seen before.
"Guys like Benny Binion, Doyle Brunson and Chip Reese really held Terry in high esteem," said World Series bracelet winner and former Irish Olympic swimmer Donnacha O'Dea. "He'd give them great odds, better than any American bookie would give, but he still made sure he had a 20% edge."
After the 1979 World Series Terry returned to Ireland enthusing about what he'd seen. Stud and draw were the poker variants of choice in Ireland but the new variation he'd seen in Vegas, no-limit hold'em, beat them all for excitement and skill.
In the following years he returned to Vegas for the World Series with Flood but his bookmaking activities brought the attention of the Las Vegas Police Department and on one memorable occasion Terry and Liam ended up being arrested and imprisoned. The irony of being jailed for gambling in Vegas was not lost on them.
