Irishman wins $1 million and poker's top title

LAS VEGAS - Noel Furlong may just be the best liar in the world - or the luckiest.

The 61-year-old Irishman bluffed his way to a $1 million prize Thursday to prove he is the world's best poker player.

"Luck of the Irish. Luck of the Irish," several spectators yelled after Furlong won the World Series of Poker tournament.

Going one-on-one with Alan Goehring of New York, Furlong of Dublin, Ireland, was holding two fives when the dealer turned up two queens and another five. Furlong bet everything that Goehring had - more than $1 million - and won the tournament with a full house in the no-limit Texas Hold'em game.

Furlong said he figured he might win.

"The cards were falling my way," he said as officials at Binion's Horseshoe Club arranged the $1 million - all in $100 bills - on the poker table.

Furlong, who works for a carpet manufacturing business, said his win was "99 percent luck."

Goehring, a corporate bond trader and analyst, said he was just trying to play solid poker during the last hours of the tournament when Furlong won several big pots.

"I couldn't get any cards," Goehring, 36, said.

Six players were still in the game when the tournament began Thursday afternoon. By 4 p.m., only Furlong and Goehring were left and the crowd of spectators inside the downtown casino craned their necks to see the cards.

The final event of the annual tournament began Monday and attracted a record 393 players willing to pay the $10,000 entry fee.

With only a few players left, only the faithful were willing to sit through hours of boredom followed by a few minutes of excitement.

"I didn't expect these guys would be the finalists," said Speedy Ornelas of Sweetwater, Texas, who has attended every tournament since 1972. "Maybe one of these days I'll be in it."

The players are as different as the bets made in this casino. Furlong wears a suit; Goehring wears a sweatshirt and dark sunglasses.

But what every player tries to find out is who's lying. A hand gesture, a look with the eyes, a tap of a finger all could mean bluffing.

Master bluffer Furlong also won an engraved, 14-karat gold bracelet, the most coveted prize in the world of poker.

The second place winner received $768,625.

Padraig Parkinson, also of Dublin, finished third and earned $489,125. Erik Seidel of Henderson, Nev., earned $279,500 for fourth place. Chris Bigler won $212,420 for fifth place while Huck Seed of Las Vegas took home $167,700 for sixth place.

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