- The schedule is an ever impressive one and so many guys from the UK poker scene headed over there to try and claim their share of the Irish gold! We happened to get there a few days early and made the most of the time by getting in the ciders and the baby Guinness at the Citywest, which is a fantastic venue.
- 2019 will see the third Mammoth - Your chance to win a share of the €200,000 guaranteed minimum prizepool. 2017 had €100,000 guaranteed with 1,4,68 entries. 2018 had €150,000 guaranteed with 1,415 entries.
2020 Winter Poker Open, Tampa: 6 - 20 Dec 2020: International Irish Poker Masters Online, Online: 10 - 12 Dec 2020: United States: Wynn High Rollers, Las Vegas: 10 Dec 2020 - 10 Jan 2021: United States: DeepStack Extravaganza, Las Vegas: 13 - 30 Dec 2020: United States World Series of Poker - WSOP 2020 Main Event, Las Vegas: 17 - 19 Dec 2020.
Keep April 6th through April 13th clear in your diaries because those are the dates the 2020 Irish Poker Open festival takes place. This is the 40th edition of the Irish Poker Open and the organisers are pulling out all the stops to ensure it is one of the biggest and best on record.
Thirty-two events are scheduled across a week of poker, Guinness and that famous Irish craic. The Main Event keeps both its €1,150 buy-in and its €1 million guarantee, but we would be extremely surprised to not see the prize pool climb near €2 million.
This is because the 2019 edition attracted 1,807 players to it and they created a €1,805,870 prize pool shared among the top 223 finishers. Among those who reached the money in the 2019 Irish Poker Open Main Event included Keith Johnson, Tim Farrelly, Paul Berende, Andrew Sweeney, Ronan Sweeney, former champion Ian Simpson, another former champ in Patrick Clarke, Niall Farrell, Sean Prendiville, and Max Silver.
Weijie Zheng took down the Main Event for €300,000, only their fourth recorded live poker score and they haven’t cashed in an even since!
This Decade’s Irish Open Champions
| Year | Buy-in | Entries | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | €1,150 | 1,807 | Weijie Zheng | €300,000 |
| 2018 | €1,275 | 1,340 | Ryan Mandara | €210,000 |
| 2017 | €1,275 | 1,129 | Griffin Benger | €200,000 |
| 2016 | €1,150 | 802 | Dan Wilson | €150,000 |
| 2015 | €3,500 | 321 | Ioannis Triantafyllakis | €209,500 |
| 2014 | €2,250 | 411 | Patrick Clarke | €200,000 |
| 2013 | €2,250 | 505 | Ian Simpson | €265,000 |
| 2012 | €3,500 | 502 | Kevin Vandersmissen | €420,000 |
| 2011 | €3,500 | 615 | Niall Smyth | €550,000 |
| 2010 | €3,500 | 708 | James Mitchell | €600,000 |
2020 Irish Poker Open Schedule
| Date | Time | Tournament |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 6 Apr | 2:00 p.m. | €350 NLHE Irish Open 6-Max |
| 6:00 p.m. | €150 NLHE Deepstack | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €110 Main Event Satellite (five seats GTD) | |
| Tue 7 Apr | 1:00 p.m. | €350 NLHE Irish Open Heads Up |
| 4:00 p.m. | €250 NLHE The Hendon Mob Championship | |
| 4:00 p.m. | €2,000 NLHE Irish Open High Roller | |
| 6:00 p.m. | €150 PLO Deepstack | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €110 Main Event Satellite (10 seats GTD) | |
| Wed 8 Apr | 12:00 p.m. | €350 Irish Open heads-Up Quarter-Final |
| 12:00 p.m. | €110 Main Event Satellite (five seats GTD) | |
| 2:00 p.m. | €1,150 NLHE Irish Open Main Event Day 1A | |
| 2:00 p.m. | Irish Open Heads Up Semi-Final | |
| 3:00 p.m. | €550 NLHE Americas Cup | |
| 5:00 p.m. | Irish Open Heads Up Final | |
| 6:00 p.m. | €150 NLHE Deepstack | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €110 Main Event Satellite (20 seats GTD) | |
| Thu 9 Apr | 12:00 p.m. | €110 Main Event Satellite (five seats GTD) |
| 2:00 p.m. | €1,150 NLHE Irish Open Main Event Day 1B | |
| 3:00 p.m. | €110 Main Event Satellite (five seats GTD) | |
| 4:00 p.m. | €250 NLHE Irish Open Ladies | |
| 6:00 p.m. | €150 PLO Deepstack | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €110 Main Event Satellite (20 seats GTD) | |
| Fri 10 Apr | 2:00 p.m. | €1,150 NLHE Irish Open Main Event Day 1C |
| 6:00 p.m. | €150 NLHE Deepstack | |
| 9:00 p.m. | €1,150 NLHE Irish Open Main Event Turbo Day 1D | |
| Sat 11 Apr | 2:00 p.m. | Irish Open Main Event Day 2 |
| 4:00 p.m. | €550 NLHE JP Poker Masters Day 1 | |
| 6:00 p.m. | €150 NLHE Scalpes (€25 bounty) | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €350 PLO 6-max | |
| Sun 12 Apr | 1:00 p.m. | JP Poker Masters Final Day |
| 1:00 p.m. | PLO 6-Max Final Day | |
| 1:00 p.m. | Irish Open Main Event Day 3 | |
| 1:00 p.m. | €250 NLHE Irish Open Mini Day 1 | |
| 2:00 p.m. | €1,100 NLHE 8-Max | |
| 6:00 p.m. | €250 NLHE Liam Flood Memorial 6-Max Turbo | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €150 NLHE Deepstack Turbo | |
| Mon 13 Apr | 1:00 p.m. | 8-Max Final Day |
| 1:00 p.m. | Mini Irish Open Final Day | |
| 1:00 p.m. | Irish Open Main Event Final Day | |
| 1:00 p.m. | €250 NLHE Seniors | |
| 2:00 p.m. | €250 NLHE Tag Team | |
| 4:00 p.m. | €150 PLO Deepstack Turbo | |
| 6:00 p.m. | €150 NLHE Deepstack Turbo | |
| 8:00 p.m. | €150 NLHE Irish |
Online Satellites Coming Soon
You can see plenty of live satellites for the €1 million guaranteed 2020 Irish Poker Open Main Event are scheduled to take place at the Citywest Hotel, but it will also be possible to qualify online. An official online partner is yet to be announced, with “Big announcement in the coming weeks” posted under online satellites.
partypoker LIVE was an official partner for 2019 but there has been no news yet as to who will offer online satellites for the 2020 Irish Open Main Event. Watch this space.
Unibet Poker sponsored 2019 International Poker Open under wayThe Unibet Poker-sponsored International Poker Open is up and running with close to 250 entries already. The field will include nearly 50 players who won their seats in online satellites on Unibet Poker.
The International Poker Open is one of Europe’s longest-running and most popular poker events and has been held annually since 2008. This year’s event is taking place at Dublin’s Bonnington Hotel from October 23-28. Following the first-ever online Day 1 on Unibet Poker on Monday, the live festival kicked off on Tuesday with a Warm-Up event and super satellite to the €260 + €40 Main Event.
There were 77 entries for yesterday’s Day 1a with 14 through to Day 2, including Unibet Ambassadors David Lappin and Dara O’Kearney, winners of Best Podcast at this year’s Global Poker Awards. The Day 2 field also includes seven players who got through Unibet Poker’s online Day 1 on Monday. Well done Vinod Jadav, Ivan Tononi, Emmett Davis, Michael C Hill, Zac Sloper, Andrew Pullen and Johannes Rimpiläinen!
Today’s Day 1b field has already attracted more than 180 entries including Unibet Ambassador Ian Simpson, Scotland’s top player Niall Farrell, Irish veteran Andy Black, Jude Ainsworth and Mick Graydon. Re-entries and late registration end at the end of Level 9 for each Day 1.
This year’s International Poker Open has a live stream throughout the Main Event for the first time. You can follow all the action on https://www.twitch.tv/internationalpokeropen – with Phil “The Tower” Heald and Fintan Gavin on commentary, joined by numerous special guests.
The IPO typically has a thousand entries for its Main Event and organisers are anticipating this year’s prize pool will top €250,000. Players flock to the event from all over Ireland as well as the UK, Europe and further afield.
IPO regular David Lappin said: “I bubbled the event last year – because that’s what all great Ambassadors do! – so I’m obviously hoping for a much better finish this year. It’s a fantastic tournament – I’ve played it at least five times and really love it.” O’Kearney added: “I finished 40th in 2008 but my best IPO memory is from 2011 when they hosted the only ever Irish Poker Awards there and I picked up two awards – Best Poker Blogger and Best Social Media User.”
The IPO Main Event
There are six start flights for this year’s Main Event – with one re-entry per flight. Day 1c starts at 2pm tomorrow (Saturday, October 26); Day 1d is a “reduced clock” flight turbo with 20-minute clock starting at 8pm tomorrow while Day 1e is a Hyper Turbo with ten-minute blind levels, kicking off at 9.30am on Sunday. All Day 1 players start with a 30,000 stack.
In total, there are 18 different tournaments on the schedule including the flagship €550 High Roller along with a €120 PLO Double Chance, several €100 Nightly Freezeouts, a €120 Progressive Knockout, the €120 APAT Irish Amateur Poker Championship, a €120 #QueenRules Ladies Event, €120 No Limit Hold’em Mini Main and several super satellites for the Main Event and High Roller.
Ireland is famed for its lively nightlife and there will be a ton of entertainment going on during the festival. Scheduled events include a Buck-Shot-Pong evening with DJ and free drinks tomorrow night (Saturday, October 26), along with the “Lip Sing” themed official IPO Players Party on Sunday, October 27.
Irish Poker Open Schedule 2019 Schedule
Last year Joseph McKeown secured the biggest cash of his live poker career when he beat Irish veteran Mick McCloskey heads-up for €24,370. There were 767 entries with 95 players taking a share of the €194,435 prize pool.
Irish Poker Open 2019 Results
Nataly Sopacuaperu, Unibet Open’s Head of Events and Sponsorship, said: “Unibet loves coming to Ireland and the IPO certainly gives Unibet players a great taste of what Irish poker and hospitality is all about. Following the IPO, we’ll be hosting the last Unibet Open of 2019 with Unibet Open Paris running November 27 to December 1.”
Irish Poker Open 2019 Schedule
For full details, please visit https://internationalpokeropen.ie/.