Jude Ainsworth – 2008 Irish Poker Champion
“Stunning location, great value. If you’re going to play one tournament in Ireland this should be it”.
Jude Ainsworth currently lives with his wife Aisling in Claregalway, Galway. He started playing poker in a home game in 2004 with a group a friends. A year later he discovered the joys of online poker and soon replaced his friends with bigger fish. During this time he was studying Biochemistry and graduated with a PhD in 2008 and, in his own words ‘never got round to actually looking for a job’. Jude has had huge success with poker and seems to be one of the elite few who consistently win at it. His first major win was the IPC 2008 in Galway. Jude beat 287 other players to take that year’s title and €145,000 for 1st place. He has since found himself at final tables around Ireland, Europe and USA. Jude’s biggest win to date was this year’s SCOOP $10,000 Main Event on Pokerstars. The 2-day online event had 502 entrants and some of online’s best players including Chris ‘Moorman1’ Moorman, Jon ‘Pearljammer’ Turner and Chowdahead4. No deal was made at the final table and Jude became the outright winner picking up $963,338 for his effort. This opened the floodgates for Jude and he has since topped many online tournaments.
Jude is a regular in The Eglinton Casino and despite his online success still loves to come in and play the Monster Monthly and Wednesday freezeouts. He is one of the true gentlemen of Irish poker and he’s always welcomed at the tables.
