He is chiefly recognised as the grand final winner of Late Night Poker series 5 (where he defeated Korosh Nejad) and as the third-place finisher of the 1999 World Series of Poker, where he lost to fellow countryman Noel Furlong.
[2] Originally, Parkinson refused to play in Late Night Poker, as he did not wish to have his cards shown to the audience.
His mood changed when money was added to the prize pool, and sponsorship also became a factor.
In December 2009, he was the winner of the inaugural event of the United Kingdom & Ireland Poker Tour in his home town of Galway for €125,000.
He has been voted into the Irish Hall Of Fame, having captained Ireland to victory in Poker Nations Cup (Europe) and in 2013, he won a WPT PLO event in Paris winning nearly €77,000 at the now-defunct Aviation Club de Paris.