HISTORY OF THE IRISH AT THE WSOP
The first female at the felt
In 1981 Colette Doherty won the Irish Open. "I think she won in the region of £22,000," recalled O'Dea, "but Terry insisted she call Binion's in Las Vegas that very night and get her name down for the World Series main event that year. He kept back the $10,000 entry fee in case she tried to change her mind."
Colette was the first woman to play in the main event at the World Series and would go on to win the Irish Open again in 1991 and star in Channel 4's TV poker show Late Night Poker.
The Don makes an impact
1982 saw Donnacha O'Dea visit Vegas to play in the World Series for the first time – he came 16th out of 104 in the main event.
Unfortunately Terry Rogers was the first man out of the $10,000 buy-in tournament after just 15 minutes of play.
The next year Donnacha reached the final table of the main event, finishing 6th. 108 players entered the tournament and Donnacha won $43,200. His first attempt at limit hold'em saw him come second to Tom McEvoy.
The Irish invasion
In 1985 Rogers brought the Eccentrics Club Invitational, an international tournament he'd thrown in previous years in Dublin and the Isle of Man, to Las Vegas.
Liam Flood had won the event in 1984, beating reigning World Series main event champion 'Gentleman' Jack Keller, by flopping a house with 78 suited.
He once described this as "the high point of my career."
On this occasion the Irish were out of luck though. World Series bracelet winner Dewey Tomko beat 109 other players to take down the first prize of $123,750 at the Golden Nugget Casino. Five days later he won the Golden Nugget Grand Prix of Poker and $355,000 in prize money.
However, by the end of the Eccentric Club jaunt to Vegas EVERYONE there knew the Irish were gunning for them.
The numbers game
Rogers was now a firm fixture in the Vegas high-rollers firmament.
The 17th annual World Series of Poker program featured a profile of him.
'With his bowler cocked at a jaunty angle, Terry Rogers, a well-known Dublin, Ireland bookmaker is living the life of O'Reilly between his own participation in the World Series of Poker and his staging of the Irish Poker Championships over the Easter holidays. As chairperson of the Irish Eccentric Club, a charitable fundraising organisation, he inaugurated this Irish Poker Championship which entices his compatriots to seek a similar life of clover.'
Rogers' efforts, in conjunction with the Irish press which had given much attention to the Binion's tournament, boosted Irish participation in the World Series of Poker.
Around this time Terry regularly brought 10 to 15 players to the World Series – up to 10% of the entire field!
