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Poker Remembers WSOP Champion Noel Furlong

Written by Jennifer Newell
Last updated on
Jennifer Newell

Most poker fans know his name. Noel Furlong won the WSOP Main Event. Serious poker fans know that he won that title in 1999. There were 393 players in it that year, and the top prize was exactly $1M.

That WSOP Main Event final table was one for the history books in many ways, notably consisting of three Irish players: George McKeever, Padraig Parkinson, and Noel Furlong. And the latter became the only Irish player to ever win it, and he holds that place through today.

Furlong was no stranger to poker, but he was a career businessman as well. His life was full of successes before he died at the age of 83 on June 27, 2021.

Successful Businessman

John James Furlong was born in Dublin on Christmas Day in 1937. That birthday led to his nickname of Noel, which lasted throughout his life.

In 1980, the businessman founded Furlong Flooring, a manufacturer of carpeting for the UK market. They distributed their materials through Regency Carpets. And as they expanded into vinyl and hard flooring, the company grew to include Natural Solutions and Design Elements. Ultimately, in 2019, they pulled it all together as Furlong Flooring.

Today, the company maintains its headquarters in West Dublin, but its hundreds of employees span Ireland, England, and Wales.

Furlong’s business success enabled him to pursue some of his interests, such as with horses. He trained and owned horses, though he bet on them as well. In 1991, according to the Racing Post, he won approximately £1M when The Illiad finished first in the Ladbroke Hurdle. He then used half of that money to put horse Destriero into the Cheltenham Festival. That horse won the opening race. And he went on to train numerous horses through the years.

Former Ladbrokes PR Director Mike Dillon called Furlong a “courteous, proper gentleman” who “raised the profile of the race beyond anything I could ever have imagined” with his Ladbroke race. Further, “He embraced the cut and thrust of the punter-bookmaker relationship and was always fun to deal with.”

Successful Poker Player

In addition to horse racing, Furlong took up card playing in the early 1980s. He primarily played local games and but eventually impressed with his tournament success. He won events at the Irish Poker Open in 1987 and in 1989.

Perhaps those successes prompted him to travel to Las Vegas in 1989 to play in the World Series of Poker. He did play in the $10K buy-in Main Event that year alongside 177 other competitors. He made the final table, ultimately finishing in sixth place for $52,850. That 1989 WSOP went down in poker history when a young player named Phil Hellmuth beat Johnny Chan for the title.

Ten years later, Furlong had another solid WSOP visit, starting with a seventh-place finish in a $3,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament for $17,935.

Just days later, though, he played the WSOP Main Event – that same $10K buy-in World Championship that he final tabled ten years prior, and he won it. There were 393 players in it, and he beat big names like Huck Seed, Chris Bigler, Erik Seidel, and fellow countryman Padraig Parkinson at the final table to win the tournament and $1M. He was the first Irish winner – and remains the only one – as well as one of the oldest players to win the Main Event (at age 62), second only to Johnny Moss.

Furlong went on to find more success at the poker tables. He won an event at the Irish Poker Open in 2002 and final tabled another, and he won a tournament at the Irish Winter Tournament in 2003. In total, his live tournament earnings equaled $1,145,806.

Beloved Poker Player

Poker players took to social media and the poker media to share stories of Furlong upon the news of his death on June 27, 2021.

Hellmuth called Furlong a “world champion of poker.” He remembered that Furlong was an amateur when he won the WSOP Main Event in 1989. Specifically, he recalled a hand in which Furlong bluffed him out of a big pot. Hellmuth K-Q on a Q-7-4-2 board with top pair and a flush draw, but Furlong check-raised big. Hellmuth did fold, and Furlong produced pocket nines. “Well done, Noel!” Hellmuth told PokerNews. “I still have the newspaper clipping.”

Jesse May took to Twitter to recall some of his memories of Furlong.

May said that Furlong was only in Las Vegas to play that 1999 WSOP because he had been in California on business and decided to stop through Las Vegas to play. At the start of the final table being filmed for television, Huck Seed was second in chips and considered one of the best players in the world, alongside the likes of Doyle Brunson and Chip Reese. And Seidel may have been short on chips but considered one of the best in the game, perhaps the very best from New York’s Mayfair Club.

As the final table got underway, according to May, Seed limped UTG, and Furlong raised. Huck responded by moving all-in, knowing it would likely force Furlong to fold. But Furlong called with A-3 of hearts, and Seed showed J-8 of diamonds. May noted how much of an unconventional move that was for Furlong to call, especially in such a prestigious tournament against such a respected player.

“Some people might go so far as to say it was of the world calls in poker,” May said. “But to me, it’s always been one of the best, and it’s one of my favorite calls about which I’ve ever known. And Noel Furlong won the World Series of Poker with absolutely no fear at all.”

Natural Causes

Noel Furlong died peacefully at home at the age of 83. His family was with him at the time of his passing. He left behind daughters Christine, Karen, and Tara; his sister Helen; and granddaughters Alexandra, Natalia, Sophie, Halle, and Kaiya.

 

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