The high suspense action continues to hit new heights on the felt at Titan Poker as the second week of the world’s most prestigious online poker tournament series, the ECOOP III, draws to a nail-biting close. The first half of the series was a resounding success, played out in a dazzling display of talent and skill. But it was players from leading online poker room Titan Poker who dominated last week’s winners list and continue to lay claim to the much coveted cash prizes.

So far three talented Titan Poker players have taken home prestigious ECOOP bracelets, representing well over a third of the ECOOP events that have passed. Italian hairdresser Lorenzo Savallo, kick started the winning tide with his $24,518 success at the ECOOP #2 $100,000 GP. Three days later, young Canadian player “ch0ppy”, followed suite with prize winnings of $91,770 after a hard-won triumph at the ECOOP #5 $350,000 GP.

But it is talented young Titan Poker player Jochum Weenik, 22, from the Netherlands who has claimed the most recent and lucrative victory yet, after his remarkable tournament play earned him a $100,000 first prize at the ECOOP III #7 $500,000 GP. The architecture student, who played his first game of online poker a year ago, used his love of sports to help maintain his stamina and drive home his first win in the final stages of the game.

“During the final table, it was running hot and I just focused on eliminating my competitors from the table,” Jochum said. “I’ve had a couple of deep runs in big tournaments before, but was very lucky this time in that I won some important coin flips and had some good hands after the flop.”

Two other Titan Poker players finished a close second at ECOOP Events # 8 and #3. Austrian Titan Poker player franzferl and German player Drusel will take home $80,000 and $24,409 in second prize money respectively. Scores of other Titan Poker players have also finished in the money in runners-up positions.

With this Sunday’s $1.5 million GP Main Event looming on the horizon, ECOOP II fever is set to reach a new pitch as players up the pace on the felt and contend for their stake of remaining ECOOP bracelets and lucrative cash prizes.

The most important tournament on the European poker calendar has announced its long-awaited return to Dublin this April 2009 and Titan Poker, the largest online poker room on the iPoker Network, is offering players of all skill levels the opportunity to play with the biggest names in professional poker at the exciting world-class event with the launch of its twice weekly online Irish Open 2009 Super Satellites series

The longest running Hold’em tournament in Europe, the Irish Open is the continent’s answer to the World Series of Poker and is certainly no stranger to hosting scores of poker celebrities. Last year’s event was televised and the line-up read like a roll call of top professionals, including Doyle Brunson, Sorel Mizzi, Padraig Parkinson, and Ciaran O’Leary. Which is not surprising, considering the €3,001,400 prize pool attracted 667 of the game’s elite players. But it was an Englishman, Neil Channing, who stole the show with his first place win worth €801,400.

This year promises even bigger surprises on the felt when the Irish Open returns to the country’s vibrant capital from April 10th to 13th, 2009. No doubt the line-up of contenders will once again feature the seasoned best in poker, giving players a chance to test their skill set against the top of the league. This is in addition to playing for a share of a prize pool worth over €3,000,000 (the exact amount is to be announced later on in the year).

Buy-in to the Irish Open 2009 has been set at €3,200 + €300, but players can win their seats to the exciting event for as little as $2 + $0.2 at one of Titan Poker’s Sit ‘N’ Go satellites and daily qualifying tournaments. Prize packages to Dublin are valued at $6500 and include Main Event buy-in, five nights’ accommodation (worth approximately $800) and a generous allowance of up to $1000 for flights and spending money. Players will delight in the atmosphere of Ireland’s party capital and the celebratory buzz surrounding poker’s highest profile celebrities at the tables, while playing for a share of millions.