John James Furlong (25 December 1937 – 27 June 2021) was an Irish businessman and

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player who won the 1999 World Series of Poker main event.

Early life

Furlong was born and raised in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland. He originally became a millionaire from his

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

business, Furlong Flooring. Although christened John James Furlong, he was nicknamed "Noel" because he was born on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

Poker

Furlong began playing poker in 1984, and in his first trip to the

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

in 1989, he placed 6th in the main event. That final table was won by

Phil Hellmuth Phillip Jerome Hellmuth Jr. (born July 16, 1964) is an American professional poker player who has won a record sixteen World Series of Poker bracelets. He is the winner of the Main Event of the 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the Main Even ...

, and also included two time world champion,

Johnny Chan Johnny Chan (;He has another Chinese name "Chen Qiangni" () which is also commonly used by Chinese-language media. It is a transliteration of "Johnny Chan" (as "Chen" for "Chan", "Qiangni" for "Johnny") rather than his Chinese birth name. born ...

, and business executive and professional poker player,

Lyle Berman Lyle Arnold Berman (born August 6, 1941, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American professional poker player and business executive. Business Berman grew up in Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota where he was graduated in 1964 wi ...

. According to Furlong in 1989, his mentor was Terry Rogers. Furlong stated, "He was my mentor at cards. He got me to take up the game originally." He added, "I would not have gone to Las Vegas this year to play in the World Poker Championships if not for him. He rang me two days before the event started and said, `I have two firstclass tickets to Vegas.' He persuaded me to go." Ten years later, Furlong's biggest win came in the 1999 WSOP main event, in which he won $1 million. He defeated a final table that included professional poker players,

Padraig Parkinson Padraig Parkinson (born 1957 in Galway) is an Irish poker player. He is chiefly recognised as the grand final winner of Late Night Poker series 5 (where he defeated Korosh Nejad) and as the third-place finisher of the 1999 World Series of Poke ...

Erik Seidel Erik Seidel (born November 6, 1959) is an American professional poker player from Las Vegas, Nevada, who has won nine World Series of Poker bracelets and a World Poker Tour title. In 2010, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. Early life ...

Chris Bigler Chris Bigler (born February 11, 1949 in Zurich) is a Swiss retired businessman and poker player. Bigler began playing poker in 1997 on a trip to Las Vegas and studied the game. He made the final table of the 1999 World Series of Poker (WSOP) $1 ...

, 1996 WSOP Main Event Champion

Huck Seed Huckleberry ''Huck'' Seed (born January 15, 1969) is an American professional poker player best known for winning the Main Event of the 1996 World Series of Poker. Early life Seed was born in Santa Clara, California, but grew up in Corvallis, M ...

, and

Alan Goehring Alan Goehring (born February 21, 1962) is an American retired junk bond analyst and trader from Henderson, Nevada. At the age of 37, he became a professional poker player. Goehring first made his mark on the poker circuit when he finished in 3r ...

, whom Furlong defeated in heads-up play to win the title. Until Andy Black's 5th-place finish at the

2005 World Series of Poker The 2005 World Series of Poker opened play on June 2nd, continuing through the Main Event No Limit World Championship starting on July 7th. The conclusion of the Main Event on July 15th marked the close of play, and the largest prize in sports an ...

main event, he was the top money-winning

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

poker player in the world. He is currently 6th on the Irish poker tournament money-winning list. Furlong also won the

Irish Poker Open The Irish Poker Open is the longest running No Limit Texas hold 'em poker tournament in Europe and second longest in the world after the World Series of Poker. First organised in 1980 by Terry Rogers, a well known Irish bookmaker, the tournam ...

, the longest running tournament in Europe (and now one of the largest), in 1987 and again in 1989. This tournament began in 1980, and has been held nearly every year since that time. Furlong is one of only five players in Irish Poker Open history to have won the tournament twice. In his later years, he did not travel much to play poker, preferring to concentrate on his business and other interests while playing occasionally in tournaments in Ireland and the United Kingdom. As of 2009, Furlong's total live tournament winnings exceed $1,100,000. His 3 cashes at the WSOP account for $1,070,785 of those winnings.

World Series of Poker Bracelets

Business and other interests

Furlong owned a carpet distribution company that does over $100 million worth of business a year. Because of his involvement with the carpet business, he didn't play poker frequently, usually only the WSOP and tournaments in Ireland and western

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Furlong's other interests included owning horses and working as a

horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' physical needs, as well as teaching them submissive behaviors and/or coaching them for e ...

. In March 1991 he won £1.5m from bookmakers when his horse Destriero won the

Supreme Novices' Hurdle The Supreme Novices' Hurdle is a Grade 1 National Hunt hurdle race in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham over a distance of a ...

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

Death

Furlong died on 27 June 2021 from natural causes, aged 83.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furlong, Noel 1937 births 2021 deaths Businesspeople from County Dublin Irish Poker Open winners Irish poker players World Series of Poker bracelet winners World Series of Poker Main Event winners