Only an hour before the Northern Ireland Poker Championships were to begin on Friday, March 16th, Irish police paid a visit to the hotel hosting the event and shut it down. The Gardai, or Irish police force, dropped in at the City North Hotel and warned the proprietor that if the event went forward they could lose their license, and that the Gardai would return with warrants the next day. The event organizers had no choice but to cancel the event once they hotel would not host it, but did pay £100 to participants on top of refunding their money.

