The first major European tournament of 2009 will take place from January 2-5. The €2,000 buy-in PartyPoker Irish Poker Championship will be hosted at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Galway, Ireland. Coverage of the main event will be televised and distributed internationally.

A wealth of big Irish poker names have already signed up for the event including Noel Furlong, Donnacha O'Dea, Marty Smyth, Padraig Parkinson, Ciaran O'Leary, Premier League II winner Andy Black, Liam Flood and last year's champion Jude Ainsworth. From overseas expect to see Mike Sexton, Kenna James, Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott, Surinder Sunar and 2008 Irish Open Champion Neil Channing.

Ian Langstaff of Winmedia Ireland Ltd, an industry leader in poker tournament coverage, said: "We are delighted to be producing and transmitting coverage of the PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship on RTÉ again this year. The fact that RTÉ are transmitting eight episodes of coverage rather than the six they did last year shows the popularity of the IPC."