In late 2006, Ireland’s Cathal shinerrrShine (pictured) signed up for a PocketFives account. Since then, it’s been all uphill, as Shine has recorded over $1.2 million in tracked cashes, risen to #370 worldwide in the PocketFives Online Poker Rankings, and finished in the money on eight sites we follow. He’s the #6 player in the Sortable Poker Rankings for Ireland and tops in his hometown of Tralee.

Recently, Shine padded his online poker stats by chopping the PartyPoker $100,000 High Rolleron April 15th, a tournament that plays out on the same network as WPT Poker. He pocketed $29,000 for his work and caught up with PocketFives to regurgitate what happened. By the way, you can read our exclusive interview with noirduck, Shine’s chopping partner.

PocketFives: Thanks for joining us. Can you walk us through the PartyPoker High Roller?

Cathal Shine: I had a good stack throughout as far as I can remember and was never under too much pressure. I never really had to risk my tournament life, so I was running good. The final table was where it got a bit tricky though, as I was one-tabling at that point and knew a few of my opponents from previous tournaments. It definitely wasn’t the easiest final table I would have hoped for.

PocketFives: Why did you decide to chop? Is chopping something you normally do?

Cathal Shine: It was only my second chop since I started playing. When we got heads-up, it was very deep. I think I had about 80 big blinds and my opponent had 55, so there was still a lot of play left. I hadn’t played with [my heads-up opponent and PocketFives member]noirduck (pictured) before, so I didn’t really know much about him, but his results were really good and he was playing a good game, so I didn’t see much of an edge in it.

PartyPoker’s payout structure is pretty top-heavy too. There was a $14,000 difference between first and second, so it made sense for both of us to chop it up.

PocketFives: What else have you chopped besides this tournament?

Cathal Shine: I chopped the High Roller last year in a similar situation, but I can’t remember ever chopping before that. Other sites aren’t as top-heavy as Party, so the drop between first and second isn’t as hard to take. I don’t mind playing for the win in those situations.

PocketFives: You’ve recorded tracked cashes across eight online poker rooms. What are a few of the tournaments you look forward to each week and why?

Cathal Shine: I like iPoker, PokerStars, Party, and PokerStars.fr the best. I think I most look forward to iPoker’s Friday $100 Rebuy and $215 Sunday Major. Those both have decent structures and soft fields, so you can’t go wrong.

PocketFives: Poker is taking off in Ireland, right? You’re definitely not the first Irish player we’ve interviewed.

Cathal Shine: It’s going well here. I think it might have to do with the good live circuit we have. There are a lot of good $500, $700, and $1,000 buy-in tournaments around the country and you can usually find two or three of them every month if you don’t mind traveling a bit.

PocketFives: Did Eoghan O’Dea(pictured) making the 2011 WSOP November Ninehave any impact on poker in Ireland?

Cathal Shine: I think that was pretty good for poker here. It was talked about a lot over here and I think it got a few more people interested in the game, which is always a good thing.

PocketFives: Do you play a lot of volumeonline?

Cathal Shine: I’ve never been a big volume player. I only just recently moved up from six-tabling to eight or nine tables, which still is pretty low compared to what other people are doing. Hopefully, I can start grinding a bit more throughout the year.

I was talking to a friend of mine who 14-tabled and he was baffled that I only six-tabled. I was also only playing $100+ buy-ins where most of the fields were pretty strong, so I was missing out on a lot of the weaker tournaments like $50 freezouts and $30 rebuys, where there is a lot a value.

PocketFives: We take it you’re happy with the decision to add more tables?

Cathal Shine: It’s been going well so far, so I’ll stick with it. I might try to fit a few more tables in as I go along.

Sign up for WPT Pokerto play in this week’s High Roller on the PartyPoker network. You can get a 100% bonus if you sign up through PocketFives and use the code P5WPT. Get started.