The Macau Sporting Club's sixth annual Irish Poker Classic festival is ready to begin with 165 players pre-registered for the EURO 1,500 + EURO 100 main event already including local and international stars Annette Obrestad, Rumit Somaiya, Dara Kearney, Roy "The Boy" Brindley, Mick McCloskey, Sylvester Geoghegan, Marty Smyth, Fintan Gavin, Paul Lecky, Nicky Power, Kevin O'Leary, Michael Dolan, and John Keown.

Taking place in Cork from Aug. 11 - 17, 2008, the next 10 days will see the final chance for players to qualify online for the EURO 150,000 guaranteed main event which looks likely to sell out.

There are daily USD 2 turbo feeders on Betfair at 12.30 a.m., 5.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. guaranteeing 2 seats to the weekly final on Saturday Aug. 2 and 9 at 9.30 p.m. From these weekly finals 4 seats are guaranteed to the USD 250 grand final on Sunday Aug. 10 at 7.30.pm. The grand final guarantees five USD 2,500 packages to the main event in Cork.

Players can also qualify on Green Joker Poker for as little as USD 11 in the daily rebuy tournaments at 8 p.m. which will send players to the USD 109 grand finals on Sunday Aug. 3 and 10 at 9.30 p.m. There is one seat guaranteed in each of the two remaining satellites worth EURO 1600.

The main event has a 15,000 chip starting stack with 75 minute blinds and the Macau is guaranteeing eight tickets at the mega bonus satellite on Thursday Aug. 14th. Irish players should check their local card clubs for the remaining live satellites which are taking place over the next 10 days also.