Jim puts on his poker face

Jim Brady (89) competed in Europe’s biggest "Texas hold ‘em" poker tournament last weekend.

Mr Brady travelled to Killarney with his sons Jim and Paul to compete against 633 other enthusiasts in the Ladbrokes Irish Poker Festival in the INEC.

The event is worth an estimated 4m for the local economy.

Although Mr Brady was knocked out of the competition on Saturday morning, another son, Thomas, who had travelled from England was still flying the family flag and had survived for another day.

"I'm not really a regular player, this was a once-off really but it's been very enjoyable," said Mr Brady.

"There's a fabulous atmosphere here and everyone is really friendly."

Mr Brady said he had started playing classic poker "a lifetime ago" but had never played "Texas hold 'em" until recently.

The Bradys were joined at the three-day tournament by poker players from all over Europe, who competed for the guaranteed prize fund of 250,000.

The game continued into the small hours of this morning for the first prize of 100,000.