Few live poker events have been around for as long as the Irish Poker Open. In fact, it’s the oldest re-occurring Texas No Limit Hold ‘Em tournament ever outside of Las Vegas. With the first event edition held 1980, the Irish Poker Open has a very noble history as the number of players speaks for itself.
It was a different time back in 1980 when the Irish Poker Open first started. Irish bookmaker and overall legend Terry Rogers organized the first ever event and Colette Doherty won it. However, the real breakthrough for the Irish Open came in 1984 when 25 Americans (who Rogers had befriended during his WSOP trip in 1979) travelled to Ireland with the purpose of partaking in the poker tournament. There were a lot of big names amongst the Americans, such as Stu Ungar, Chip Reese and Doyle Brunson. Tony Burne won the tournament and it was evidential that the Irish Open was growing.
When Rogers passed away in 1999, Liam Flood took over the Irish Poker Open with one clear mission: make this live event one of the biggest poker tournaments in the world. During his years as the man behind the tournament, he increased the numbers of participators by an average 600.
Fast forward to 2017. This was the first year the Irish Poker Open reached four digits in terms of participators, and they haven’t dropped under 1 000 since. There were very few times since 2006 that the total prize pool has been lower than €1 000 000. Since 2016, the Irish Open has been embossed by the Paul O’Reilly and JP McCann poker philosophy, and these men have proven to be the right duo for the job. One of their first orders of business was to lower the then existing €3 200 back down to €1 150, which was surely a crucial factor in increasing the amount of players travelling to Dublin.
During the years, some big names have joined the Irish Open Poker Winner's Cub. For example, in 2022 legendary poker player Steve O’Dwyer conquered over 2 040 players and won €318 700. Considering O’Dwyer is American-Irish, this almost felt like win on domestic soil for the EPT-legend.
Last year, online qualifier David Docherty won the event for €365 000. This was the second biggest Irish Poker Open every with 2 491 entrants and a €2 428 725 prize pool.
Historically, the event has been held at various locations in Dublin. It started out at the Eccentric Club that Rogers owned. Merrion Casino, Killiney Castle, the Burlington Hotel, Jury’s and Citywest are all venues that have rolled out the red carpet for the event at least once. In 2023, the event was played at the Royal Dublin Society for the first time, and the event is returning to “RDS” in 2024.
This year, Irish Poker Open will be played at the Royal Dublin Society, March 25th-April 1st. During the week there are many tournaments to choose from, such as Texas NL Mystery Bounty, Heads Up, Pot Limit Omaha, Ladies Event and many, many more. Buy-Ins are starting from €115 and going all the way up to €5 000; there are surely tournaments for all live poker enthusiasts in the Irish Poker Open schedule.
Then of course, it’s also the well-coveted Main Event. The tournament everybody wants to win. The €1 150 Irish Open Main Event has four Day 1 flights, and with a €1 000 000 GTD we can safely say it will be an exciting event. The starting stack is 30 000 and the levels on Day 1 are 45 minutes long and then move to 60 minute blinds from Day 2 onwards. There will be 14 levels during each Day 1 flight before the survivors move on to Day 2.
There’s no doubt that this year’s Irish Poker Open will be the highlight of Irish poker 2024. The organization recommends some Irish Open Hotel partners where players can secure their accommodations. The four-starred Clayton Hotel Ballsbridge is just a four-minute walk away from the Royal Dublin Society.
The Irish Poker Open has partnered up with PokerStars and PaddyPower Poker, offering players the opportunity to qualify for the event online. There are also satellites running on ChampionPoker and other iPoker skins.
The PokerStars qualifier for the Irish Open guarantees no less than 20 seats a week. On Monday, Wednesday and Fridays four seats are guaranteed and on Sundays, players can join a qualifier that has eight packages guaranteed.
However, the Irish Open qualifiers are not the only way players can secure their Main Event seat through PokerStars. The PokerStars Power Path promotion has been up and running for quite some time now, and through Power Path players can eventually get their hand on a Power Path Silver Pass. This pass is valued to $2 500 and can be used for certain live poker events. Plus The Irish Open are offering a complimentary additional €200 ticket to the €500,000 GTD Mini Irish Open to the package to all players who choose to use their Silver Pass for the Irish Open.
On PaddyPower Poker, there are PaddyPower satellites with guaranteed Main Event seats running every Tuesday and Thursday. Players are also given a opportunity to secure a place in the qualifiers through Irish Open feeders at PaddyPower. The feeders are running daily starting at €0,01.
On the iPoker Network, there are €150 qualifiers that includes the €1 150 Buy-In for the Main Event as well as an extra €1 100 in spending money, intended to cover players' travel expenses. Considering there are 30 packages to be distributed through online qualifiers, the chance to snag one should be good!
The iPoker network has many different skins, and seat and package qualifiers are running on all iPoker skins. Seats are guaranteed every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday through satellites with €50 and €100 Buy-Ins. On Sundays, package satellites are running worth €2 250, which includes the Main Event Buy-In as well as €1 100 in spending money.
There’s also the opportunity to play seat-only qualifiers to the Main Event on the iPoker skin, ChampionPoker. These run daily with two different Buy-Ins, €50 and €100. No less than 70 seats are guaranteed through these and when winning an entry, players can decide which Main Event start flight he/she wants to play.
iPoker Irish Open feeders are starting from a mere €10. As previously mentioned, there’s a lot of different skins that utilizes the iPoker network, for example PAF, Betfair and Coolbet. The satellites and feeders can be accessed through 19 iPoker skins, meaning you can play Irish Open Coolbet satellites and compete against players on a different skin. Bet365 Poker is also a part of the iPoker network and Bet365 Poker Irish Open satellites have been around for a couple of years now.
There are a few methods to choose from when buying in to the Irish Poker Open. Cash, Credit- and debit cards, as well as PokerStars- and PaddyPower account are acceptable means of payments. The most preferred method however is LuxonPay. The Irish Open has been partner with LuxonPay for a couple of years now and it’s a smooth tool for the purpose of buying in to live poker tournaments. Players can buy tickets for tournaments on the Irish Poker Open website and the payment will be processed through LuxonPay.
What’s awesome about LuxonPay is that the players can then get the payout back to their LuxonPay wallet. The Irish Open-LuxonPay collaboration is a good one, considering all players who buy in through the website/LuxonPay will be automatically entered into a draw to receive their €1 150 Main Event entry fee back!
| Event | Winner | Payout | Total Prize Pool | Entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irish Poker Open 2023 |  David Docherty | €365 000 | €2 428 725 | 2 491 |
| Irish Poker Open 2022 | Steve O’ Dwyer | €318 700 | €1 989 000 | 2 040 |
| Irish Poker Open 2020 |  Pablo Silva | €462 100 | €2 945 000 | 2 945 |
| Irish Poker Open 2019 | Weijie Zheng | €300 000 | €1 805 870 | 1 807 |
| Irish Poker Open 2018 |  Ryan Mandara | €250 000 | €1 347 164 | 1 340 |
| Irish Poker Open 2017 |  Griffin Benger | €200 000 | €1 128 295 | 1 120 |
| Irish Poker Open 2016 | Dan Wilson | €150 000 | €801 500 | 802 |
| Irish Poker Open 2015 |  Ioannis Triantafyllakis | €200 000 | €1 027 000 | 321 |
| Irish Poker Open 2014 | Patrick Clarke | €200 000 | €822 000 | 411 |
| Irish Poker Open 2013 | Ian Simpson | €265 000 | €1 010 000 | 505 |
| Irish Poker Open 2012 |  Kevin Vandersmissen | €420 000 | €1 606 400 | 502 |
| Irish Poker Open 2011 | Niall Smyth | €550 000 | €1 968 000 | 615 |
| Irish Poker Open 2010 | James Mitchell | €600 000 | €2 265 200 | 708 |
| Irish Poker Open 2009 |  Christer Johansson | €600 000 | €2 240 000 | 700 |
| Irish Poker Open 2008 | Neil Channing | €801 000 | €3 000 000 | 667 |
| Irish Poker Open 2007 | Marty Smyth | €650 000 | €2 336 500 | 708 |
| Irish Poker Open 2006 | Vincent Melinn | €350 000 | €1 068 000 | 356 |
| Irish Poker Open 2005 | John Falconer | €146 000 | €368 000 | 174 |
| Irish Poker Open 2004 | Ivan Donaghy | €65 800 | €170 500 | 107 |
| Irish Poker Open 2003 | Joe Beevers | €50 375 | €126 000 | 104 |
| Irish Poker Open 2002 | Nick Beirne | €19 800 | €46 192 | 66 |
| Irish Poker Open 2001 | Jenny Hegarty | £28 045 | £68 400 | 92 |
| Irish Poker Open 2000 | Alan Betson | £22 140 | £20 250 | 79 |
| Irish Poker Open 1999 | Liam Barker | £19 065 | £46 500 | 76 |
| Irish Poker Open 1998 | Mickey Finn | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1997 | ||||
| Irish Poker Open 1996 | Liam Flood | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1995 | ||||
| Irish Poker Open 1994 | Mickey Finn | £15 000 | £30 000 | 39 |
| Irish Poker Open 1993 | Christy Smith | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1992 | ||||
| Irish Poker Open 1991 | Colette Doherty | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1990 | ||||
| Irish Poker Open 1989 | Noel Furlong | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1988 | Jimmy Langan | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1987 | Noel Furlong | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1986 | Bryan McCarthy | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1985 | Irene Tier | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1984 |  Tony Byrne | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1983 | Jimmy Langan | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1982 | Frank Conway | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1981 | Sean Kelly | |||
| Irish Poker Open 1980 | Colette Doherty |
