Padraig Parkinson (born 1957 in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

) is an Irish

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game wa ...

player. He is chiefly recognised as the grand final winner of

Late Night Poker ''Late Night Poker'' is a British television series that helped popularize poker in the 2000s. It used "under the table" cameras that enabled the viewer to see each player's cards. The show originally ran for six series between 1999 and 2002 ...

series 5 (where he defeated

Korosh Nejad Korosh Nejad (born Korosh Arshadnejad) is an Iranian professional poker player based in London, England. He was born in Tehran. Nejad has played for over 30 years, but first came to the public attention with three impressive performances in t ...

) and as the third-place finisher of the

1999 World Series of Poker The 1999 World Series of Poker (WSOP) was a series of poker tournaments held at Binion's Horseshoe. Preliminary events Main Event There were 393 entrants to the main event. Each paid $10,000 to enter the tournament. At the 1999 Main Event final ...

, where he lost to fellow countryman

Noel Furlong John James Furlong (25 December 1937 – 27 June 2021) was an Irish businessman and poker player who won the 1999 World Series of Poker main event. Early life Furlong was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He originally became a millionai ...

. Originally, Parkinson refused to play in Late Night Poker, as he did not wish to have his cards shown to the audience. His mood changed when money was added to the prize pool, and sponsorship also became a factor. In his heat, he was actually the favourite with 2/1 odds against series 3 champion Phil Hellmuth's 5/2 odds. Despite this, Parkinson bet on Ken Lennaárd (who finished 2nd) at 6/1. Despite the fact that Hellmuth admitted he could see Parkinson's cards during the heat, Parkinson went on to win. Parkinson still plays numerous

tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

and has money finishes in both the

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the f ...

and

European Poker Tour The European Poker Tour (EPT) is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour (WPT), created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Tex ...

. In December 2009, he was the winner of the inaugural event of the United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour in his home town of Galway for €125,000. He also finds time to commentate on poker events including the Poker Nations Cup and the PartyPoker.com Football & Poker Legends Cup. He has been voted into the Irish Hall Of Fame, having captained Ireland to victory in Poker Nations Cup (Europe) and in 2013, he won a WPT PLO event in Paris winning €77,000 at the now-defunct Aviation Club de Paris. As of 2019, his total live tournament winnings are $1,870,474. His 17 cashes at the WSOP account for $882,460 of those winnings.World Series of Poker Earnings
, worldseriesofpoker.com

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkinson, Padraig Poker commentators Irish poker players Living people Gambling writers 1957 births