Poker Pro Paul Carr Requesting his Money Back

Earlier this month, the professional poker player Paul Carr went to court in an attempt to regain the amount of Euro 36,000 which is allegedly a part of his 2010 runner-up prize worth Euro 313,000 won in the Irish live poker tournament. Carr left the disputable amount to his friend Jason Ahern for safekeeping purposes; however the Irish police seized the money as possible proceeds of criminal activity after an unsuccessful drug raid in the flat occupied by Ahern's girlfriend. Ahern reacted immediately claiming that the funds did not belong to him but to his friend Carr. This was instantly followed by Carr's statement that the amount in question was part of his big 2010 award. The police was in the meantime granted a court order to keep the money until its origins were determined. Following the initial dispute in the lower District Court when Carr disagreed with a government proposal to have the money forfeited to the state, poker pro took the case to the Limerick Circuit Court earlier this month. However the prosecution requested from Judge Carroll Moran an adjournment to the New Year so as to call to the witness stand the gambling company Paddy Power, the organizer of the 2010 Irish live poker tournament, the Limerick Leader newspaper report. Despite actions taken by Carr's lawyer Michael Collins, who opposed the adjournment and said that the issue has “nothing to do with online gambling” as the funds were legally won in a regulated poker tournament, Judge Moran granted the state application for an adjournment, with a note that the full case hearing could take place in January 2013. Carr's participation in live poker tournaments started back in 2008 and his career was marked by regular small wins, with the 2010 Irish Open being his most successful appearance earning him the largest paycheck so far.