The Irish Poker Open is one of the most eagerly anticipated live poker festivals on the live poker calendar, and the wait for the 2023 edition is almost over. The 2023 Irish Open runs from April 3 through April 10 at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) in Anglesea Road, Dublin, and everything points to it being a spectacular week of poker action.
You have to go back to 1980 to find the inaugural Irish Poker Open Main Event, making the tournament the longest-running major live event after the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Since that very first event, the Irish Poker Open has grown in size and stature to the point its Main Event is a must-play tournament.
€1 million Guarantee Irish Poker Open Main Event
This year’s Irish Poker Open Main Event commands a €1,150 buy-in, and has a cool €1 million guarantee on its prize pool. There are four starting flights, each seeing players sit down with 30,000 chips, and play to 60-minute levels on Day 1A-C and 20 minutes on the turbo-structures Day 1D. Blind levels remain at an hour until three-handed play begins when the blinds shorten to 40 minutes.
Late registration remains open until the start of Day 2, and one re-entry per flight is permitted.
Irish Poker Open Main Event Day 1 Blind Structure
The blind structure is superb, and allows for the cream to rise to the top; you’d still have 25 big blinds if you bought in just before the start of Day 2! Here is the structure for the four Day 1s.
| Level | Blinds | Ante |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100/100 | |
| 2 | 100/100 | |
| 3 | 100/200 | |
| 4 | 100/200 | 200 |
| 5 | 100/300 | 300 |
| 6 | 200/400 | 400 |
| 7 | 200/500 | 500 |
| 8 | 300/600 | 600 |
| 9 | 400/800 | 800 |
| 10 | 500/1,000 | 1,000 |
Irish Poker Open Main Event Online Satellites
The Main Event should obliterate its guarantee thanks to the popularity of the tournament and the online satellites taking place at PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker. At the time of writing, 210 PokerStars players have won €1,150 Irish Poker Open Main Event seats, a number that is set to rise with PokerStars running satellites right up to the Main Event shuffling up and dealing.
March 22 at 8:00 p.m. GMT, there is a €109 buy-in satellite guaranteeing five packages to the Irish Poker Open Main Event. Those packages consist of a €1,150 Main Event buy-in plus €350 to help with any travel and accommodation expenses. A similar €109 satellite runs at 8:00 p.m. GMT on March 26 that has eight such packages guaranteed.
Of course, you can win your way into these €109 package-awarding satellites for peanuts.
Paddy Power Poker also has Irish Poker Open Main Event satellites running in the run up to the festival. At 8:00 p.m. GMT on March 23, 25, 26, 30, and April 1, there is a €50 rebuy satellite guaranteeing at least two €1,150 seats. At the same time on April 4 and 5, the same satellite runs but with five seats guaranteed. Feeders for those €50 satellites start at a mere €0.01.
2023 Irish Poker Open Schedule; PokerNews is Reporting From the Main and €5K
There are almost 40 tournaments and satellites running between April 3-10 that have buy-ins from €115 up to €5,000, and everything in between those two extremes. The €5,000 buy-in is reserved for the Irish Poker Open High Roller that is running April 4-5. There is also a €3,000 High Roller on April 8-9 that is sure to attract some supreme tournament talent.
PokerNews‘ industry-leading live reporting team will be on the ground throughout the €5,000 High Roller and the €1,150 Main Event, bringing you all of the action as it happens.
PokerNews Launches NEW Online Poker Tournament Calendar
Irish Poker Open Main Event Champions Since 2010
Some of the biggest names in the poker industry have returned home from Dublin with the Irish Poker Open Main Event trophy and top prize in tow. Steve O’Dwyer is the reigning champion, having outlasted 2,039 opponents in 2022 to claim €318,700 of the €1,989,000 prize pool. There is no doubting that O’Dwyer, who resides in Ireland, will be back in the hot seat attempting to retain his hard-earned title.
| Year | Entrants | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2,040 | €1,989,000 | Steve O’Dwyer | €318,700 |
| 2021* | 1,880 | €1,880,000 | Pavel Veksler | €265,999 |
| 2020* | 2,945 | €2,945,000 | Pablo Silva | €462,100 |
| 2019 | 1,807 | €1,805,870 | Weijie Zheng | €300,000 |
| 2018 | 1,340 | €1,347,164 | Ryan Mandara | €250,000 |
| 2017 | 1,120 | €1,128,295 | Griffin Benger | €200,000 |
| 2016 | 802 | €801,500 | Dan Wilson | €150,000 |
| 2015 | 321 | €1,027,000 | Ioannis Triantafyllakis | €200,000 |
| 2014 | 411 | €822,000 | Patrick Clarke | €200,000 |
| 2013 | 505 | €1,010,000 | Ian Simpson | €265,000 |
| 2012 | 502 | €1,606,400 | Kevin Vandersmissen | €420,000 |
| 2011 | 615 | €1,968,000 | Niall Smyth | €550,000 |
| 2010 | 708 | €2,265,200 | James Mitchell | €600,000 |
*hosted online due to COVID-19-related restrictions