An Irish invasion is underway in Las Vegas as players from the Emerald Isle descend on the Rio Hotel and Casino looking for World Series of Poker glory.

Paddy Power Poker is sending 16 poker players to Las Vegas over the coming days to compete in the Main Event which runs from Friday 28 July to Thursday 10 August.

They will join a 100 strong contingent of Irish players for the $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournament and will battle for almost two weeks against more than 8,000 other hopefuls.

Already two Irish players, Padraig Parkinson and Andy Black, have made final tables at the world’s largest poker festival, winning $203,000 and $100,000 respectively.

Neither player are strangers to the world of high-stakes poker – in 1999 Padraig came third in the World Series main event which was won by fellow Irishman Noel Furlong, and in 2005 Andy came fifth, earning $1,750,000.

So far in 2006 Padraig has made the money in four events and Andy has cashed in two events.

Irish players have a long and proud tradition at the World Series of Poker dating back to the early 1980’s when legendary bookie Terry Rogers stumbled upon the best players in the world playing for the title of World Champion. He fell in love with the Texas Hold ‘em poker variation and was instrumental in spreading the game beyond US shores.

He developed a strong relationship with Benny Binion, owner of the Horseshoe Casino where the event was held and his hard work in helping to promote the World Series in Ireland meant that by the mid-1980’s up to 10% of the players in the main event were Irish.

Paddy Power Poker will be providing live updates on how the Irish are faring at the world’s most prestigious event courtesy of ‘Antes Up’ Tom Murphy who will be sending running reports on the progress of the event each day of the event.