A poker website has issued a grovelling apology to a Barrow player denied a place at a top tournament.

Craig “Sneaks” Metcalfe, of Ainslie Street, bluffed his way through two online tournaments.

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Mr Metcalfe beat off 300 players to qualify for the European Poker Tour Scandinavian Open in Copenhagen, held last week.

But unknown to him, Noble Poker, which ran the online tournaments, failed to book any places for winners to take part in the Danish competition.

Mr Metcalfe told the Evening Mail last week: “I’ve spent a lot of money at that site. I’m de-registering now, I’m pretty cheesed off.

“I’ve written a snotty email to them as I’m disappointed at the site.”

Noble Poker has now emailed the Evening Mail apologising for its error.

It said it was caused by rival website PokerStars taking up all of the online qualification seats.

A spokesman for Noble Poker said: “We sincerely apologise for that.

“This incident has been a great lesson for us and rest assured that we will not let this happen in the future.”

The spokesman said it has awarded Mr Metcalfe a cash prize of £4,581.06 in compensation, a free ticket to an online satellite tournament offering winners a seat at a German European Poker Tour event, and a free coupon to a $25,000 tournament.

Mr Metcalfe, also a member of the Furness Poker Den club, says he accepts the apology.

He said: “I can’t complain too much and I accept the apology.

“I actually played in the $25,000 tournament on Sunday night but only came 150th out of 270 people.”

Meanwhile, Furness Poker Den chairman Dave Taylor has spoken out against Noble.

Mr Taylor said: “It’s disgusting what they’ve done here.

“How can they possibly run satellites for these seats and after you’ve won tell you there’s no seats left? What a cock-up.”

He said the Den was considering quitting using Noble for its online tournaments.

Source: North-West Evening Mail