Clarke knocks out Irish Open finalists
In today's Daily Rewind we crown a new Irish Open champion in a boxing ring and show you how not to issue a $25k poker challenge.
Volpe leads WPT World Championship
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| Mike ready to go (Image: WPT) |
The $15,400 WPT World Championship made its debut in New Jersey's Borgata Casino last night and, when the cashiers finally closed the registration desks, 105 players took to the felt for Day 1A.
Amongst the stars looking to claim a slice of the $5 million guaranteed prizepool was Scott Seiver, Phil Hellmuth and Marvin 'xcrash154' Rettenmaier, but at the close of play it was Paul Volpe leading the way.
Whilst the likes of Ryan Riess, Barry Greenstein and the UK's Chris Moorman lost their stacks, Volpe was able to weave his way to the top of the 62 survivors by the time the tournament clock was stopped.
Also making it through the session was Anthony Gregg (190,600), Tony Dunst (92,200) and Faraz Jaka (14,000) who will line up on Day 2 along with those who make it through Day 1B which kicked off earlier today.
Clarke jabs his way to Irish title
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| Clarke the knockout king (Image: Paddy Power Poker) |
Paddy Power Poker's Irish Poker Open came to a conclusion last night and when the betting was over it was Patrick Clarke who was able to celebrate with a pint of Guinness.
In total 411 players took to the felt for the Easter festival and while the likes of Jesse May came close to a memorable win (he eventually fell in 17th place), it was Clarke who scooped the $276,380 top prize after beating Dave Pollock heads-up.
The final fight for the Irish Poker Open title took place in a makeshift boxing ring and, when the betting began, Clarke was able to throw knockout blows in the direction of almost all of his foes.
Indeed, after eliminating Liam Chevalier in third place, Clarke used his chip advantage to good affect until his 
scooped the final pot to earn him his first Irish Poker Open title.
Irish Poker Open 2014 Result
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| Place | Name | Prize |
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| 1st | Patrick Clarke | $276,380 | ||
| 2nd | Dave Pollock | $180,338 | ||
| 3rd | Liam Chevalier | $134,735 | ||
| 4th | Thomas O'Shea | $101,984 | ||
| 5th | Oliver Lynch | $75,314 | ||
| 6th | Michael Gilligan | $53,203 | ||
| 7th | Barry Donovan | $36,620 | ||
| 8th | Jonathan Lundy | $26,256 | ||
| 9th | Antoine Smits | $18,448 | ||
| Players: 1 (411) | ||||
How not to issue a heads-up challenge...
The poker world is full of "HU4ROLLZ" challenges and that latest one to captivate the forum crowds was issued on Friday by Todd Breyfogle.
The live player, who glides through the Twittersphere as @sharkslayerr, decided to confront his haters by challenging anyone in the Midwest to a $25,000 match.
Stating that the blinds would be $50/$100 and there would be no maximum buy-in, Breyfogle also stipulated that any challenger must prove they have $25,000 in their bank account to play.
Within a few minutes the challenge was accepted by two players and that's when the fun started.
Seemingly surprised by the acceptance, Breyfogle offered a range of rule changes and reasons why he wouldn't accept, including that he won't play anyone with a backer.
While the challenge is nothing close to the one famously issued by Tom Dwan, it's certainly a lesson in what not to do if you're trying to prove your mettle in the poker world.
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Question of the Day
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Alex Millar topped the latest high stakes leaderboard yesterday after banking $142,660. The respectable haul might be somewhat lower than recent table-topping profits, but with many of the game's best missing in action it was good enough to take Monday's crown.
After a number of weeks away from the top of any high stakes leaderboard, 'punting-peddler' made an inglorious return last night by topping the latest loss chart. Over the course of 949 hands the online pro managed to drop $127,182 and finish ahead of 'mikki696' and 'MalACEsia'.
Daily Signoff
With the WSOP getting ever closer we thought we'd finish today with this failed bluff from the 2013 Main Event.
Yesterday's Daily Rewind: Phil Hellmuth becomes the face of a burger restaurant
 Daniel Smyth has been working in the poker industry for six years as both a player and writer. He currently has a costly penchant for PLO and provides daily content for PokerStrategy.com. You can learn more about Daniel by clicking here.
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