Irish online poker powerhouse Paddy Power Poker has been making the news lately, most recently with an April's Fool joke that became real when they hosted the world's largest Strip Poker Tournament. Needless to say this garnered plenty of attention, but their interim financial results recently announced for the six months to 30th June 2006 are pretty noteworthy as well. Another smart move by the Irish poker leaders was to act ahead of the intro of tax-free betting by the Irish Government by offering a "tax-free" option of their own. Yet a fourth reason Paddy Power Poker is a smart bet is the long-standing Irish Open, which was sponsored by PPP this year, and will be again next year.

