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Noel Furlong: 'I Play Only The Satellites And The Tournaments'

By launchpoker, Nov 15, 2004
Noel Furlong: 'I Play Only The Satellites And The Tournaments'

  Noel Furlong. In 1999 he won $1,000,000 at the WSOP. A big sum, but Noel Furlong is not the one who really does need it. He has a big carpet distribution business that does $100 million a year on the two manufacturing plants. Yes, it is still a big business in Ireland.


  Noel Furlong doesn’t like to waste time. He didn’t go the a university, he plays only big tournaments, he doesn’t have a cell phone, because he doesn’t want his employees call him to find out “whether it would be white or pink toilet paper”. He doesn’t like business cards and answering machines. He doesn’t like… there are many things he doesn’t like. But all that speaks well for him.


  Everything speak well for him: his manners, his appearance. The only thing is that he is not a professional poker player. He even doesn’t know how to play cash games. Though if one day he will decide to play one he will choose only the game with the solid stakes. As it was said Noel Furlong doesn’t waste too much time on poker: “I play only the satellites and the tournaments”. Now I think you’re about to ask how he managed to win at the World Series?


  Noel is that kind of man who can focus on one thing and make the best of it. Unlike most winning poker players he’s not a tight player: “I’m either out early or I’m there with a chance. If I can arrive at the final table, I’ve found some more chances to win”. For Furlong luck plays a great role in poker. But there is also one thing that helped Furlong to win - he is great at reading people: “I though that I could hold my own, even with the likes of Erik Seidel and Huck Seed, who I believe are superb players.”


  Noel Furlong is also famous for his friendship with Terry Rogers. It was Terry Rogers who brought Noel to the WSOP every year: he just bought tickets and told Noel the he had to come. That’s how Furlong began to play at the WSOP. Why did Terry do it? Terry was dying to promote poker in Ireland. When Furlong played in the Irish Open he won thanks to Terry’s advices. And it was again thanks to Terry that Noel Furlong began to play poker in 1984. Terry Rogers – this name is well known to Irish gamblers. Terry brought a lot of Irishman to the Series. As Noel Furlong says: “He created a desire to be here”.


  Furlong's wins


1) 1989 - NL Holdem (Main Event) - 6th

2) 1999 - NL Holdem - 7th

3) 1999 - NL Holdem (Main Event) - 1st