Dublin – home to James Joyce and Bono (among others) and for the next five days the EPT Dublin, the fourth leg of this year’s tour which moves on from Baden, Austria, where Englishman Julian Thew took the honours two weeks ago.

Whilst Joyce coloured the literary world with his pen and Bono brought anthems and big sunglasses to the rock stage, the EPT players arriving for a pre-tournament soiree had their own beautiful day in mind – one that takes shape at some point on Saturday evening if all goes to plan, accompanied by a large check and a ticket to the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo later next year.

That would be for tomorrow, but tonight it was to the heart of downtown Dublin - The Gravity Bar - a lavish party type place perched above the Guinness storehouse and boasting fine drink and an even finer view – a 360 panorama of the Dublin skyline or in our case the twinkling lights of a city braced for the opening days of what is now officially Autumn (Fall to those on the western side of the Atlantic) where the sunlight hours grow short and people turn indoors for entertainment.



The Irish capital is tailor made for good company. Whoever you are, wherever you come from Dublin holds the monopoly on making you feel welcome. Here it’s literally possible to bottle hospitality and export it around the world – it’s called Guinness, an Irish stout beer and trusted ice-breaker which most sampled tonight purely to take the chill from the bones.

Cliche of course – the Emerald Isle of passion, music and the black stuff (Guinness’s alter ego) - but it could explain the popularity of this EPT leg, which traditionally captures the attention of Irishmen and Englishman from across the Sea. Last year one such traveller took honours after a thrilling performance going by the name Roland de Wolfe. Ahead of a field of hundreds Roland took the plaudits, becoming the first player ever to bag both a WPT and EPT title in the process.

Whether any more records will be set this year it’s unclear, but we’ll find out starting tomorrow at the Royal Dublin Society. Join us for the start at 2pm (9am ET).