Leading poker players and celebrities are lining up to take part in the €250,000 guaranteed Irish Poker Festival in the picturesque city of Killarney, Ireland 2-5 October 2008 (main event 3-5 October).

Marty Smyth, the current Pot-Limit Omaha World Champion and recent World Open winner will be playing the €550 buy-in European ranking main event. Smyth, who began his career at Ladbrokespoker.com and plays under the name ‘Macedonia’, also landed last year’s Irish Open and finished runner-up in the Poker Million netting a haul of $2.5 million in the process. He will be a hot favourite among the likely sell-out field of 625 players.

He is likely to be joined by former snooker legends Steve Davis and Mark Williams. The pair, who between them have won eight World Snooker Championships, plan to dash back from the China Open.

Another colourful confirmation comes in the form of Matt Chapman, the effervescent presenter on At The Races television. Chapman, who is likely to feature at the opposite end of the betting market to Marty Smyth, and will be previewing the weekend’s big racing action which includes the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Cambridgeshire, said, “I’m looking forward to the craic in Killarney, I love the people, I love the place, and I love the Guinness which is just as well as my poker skills, or lack of them, means I’m likely to be spending plenty of time in the players’ lounge drinking it!”

The event is being filmed for documentary broadcast on Irish terrestrial TV station TG4 and for subsequent distribution to networks around the world. A web stream of the documentary will also be available on Ladbrokespoker.com.

The Irish Poker Festival is set to attract in excess of 600 of Europe’s leading poker aficionados to the Gleneagles INEC Hotel, Killarney. The Festival will also host a €300 no-limit hold’em freezeout supporting event on Saturday 4 October and a €170 no-limit freezeout game on Sunday 5 October.