The Irish team, which was sponsored by paddypowerpoker.com, overcame Scotland in the battle of the U.K. in the final of the APAT team championship in Brighton.

"The championship is an amateur event but our participation was for pride and country more than prize money," said Collins. "The European Team Championship is a new event but it will grow, as APAT has 15,000 members and the Russians, Austrians, Spanish and Italians are all expected to field teams next time. Ireland will be back to defend the title and I can't wait."

Teammates Pat O'Callaghan, Brenden Byrne, Colin O'Prey and John Murray outlasted squads from England, Wales, France, Germany, Hungary and the aforementioned Scotland.

Despite finishing the first day in third position, the Irish dominated the following days' play, and when O'Callaghan won the tournament outright, Ireland finished with a points haul significantly greater than that of runners-up Scotland.

It was a successful endeavor for paddypowerpoker.com, the most well-known online poker site native to Ireland.

"We were more than happy to sponsor the Irish team at the APAT team championship and we would like to congratulate them on taking the title and the glory back to Ireland," said Eric Booth, head of poker at paddypowerpoker.com.

"Poker is not just about the huge high buy-in tournaments played by professionals in Las Vegas; this event showed that amateur events can have the same level of excitement and that poker is for everyone."

The APAT is a division of the Amateur Poker Limited, a company incorporated in November 2005. Players start APAT National events with 10,000 in chips, a structure designed to encourage creative play throughout.

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