It’s already clear that the 2026 Irish Open festival is going to be yet another record-breaker. With 86 tournaments scheduled and new events already attracting a ton of interest, the award-winning festival at the RDS is set to be a real humdinger this year.
The Irish Open has a long history of joining forces with different poker organisations. From iPoker to The Hendon Mob Championship, the Irish Open loves involving a wide variety of poker partners to help create a truly dynamic schedule.
But much of the success of the Irish Open in recent years can be put down to the festival’s epic partnership with industry-leading poker sites PokerStars and Paddy Power, both owned by global iGaming company Flutter Entertainment.
PokerStars is the largest real money online poker site on the planet and not only has this given the Irish Open worldwide exposure, but it’s also enabled players all over the globe to qualify online for the €2.5 million guaranteed Main Event.
From 2023 to now
In 2023, the first year of the partnership, some 350 players qualified for the Main Event on PokerStars including eventual champion David Docherty who won his ticket online for just $109 and turned it into a huge €365,000 first prize.
By 2025, the figure had more than doubled with PokerStars sending 832 qualifiers to the event and Paddy Power a further 513. And these players didn’t just win a seat; many of them went on to win a ton of money. Brandon Harris from the UK, Greece’s Panteleimon Pontos and Robert Fluereci from Romania all made the final table of the Main Event – with Harris finishing in sixth place for €100,000. That’s a pretty good ROI!
This year, with six weeks still to go before the festival starts, PokerStars is already anticipating a record numbers of qualifiers. Hundreds of seats have already been won and, next month, the Sunday mega-stats kick off. Each of those comes with a 25-seat guarantee but PokerStars expects records to tumble fast with way more than 25 seats generated in each qualifier.
The partnership with PokerStars and Paddy Power has also helped the Irish Open to ramp up its offer in other areas – from the PS Live app to the new on-site merchandise shop which opens for business this year. The partnership has also kept players entertained with a series of fun promos ranging from Paddy Power’s pants giveaways in the Craic Den to last year’s “Shamrock Showdown” and this year’s “Spraggy Quid Games Night and Mystery Bounty Event”.
Paul O’Reilly, who co-owns the Irish Open with JP McCann, said: “Numbers have soared in the last three years and much of that is down to our partnership with PokerStars and Paddy Power. The oldest Hold’em tournament in Europe is now the biggest while still keeping true to what makes the Irish Open so special. The Irish Open is a must-play event for players from all over the world but … the atmosphere, the fun and the craic? That’s something that no other festival in the world has ever managed to replicate.”
Dave Curtis, PokerStars Head of Marketing Engagement Communications, said: “In our fourth year with the Irish Poker Open, we’re already seeing momentum that could eclipse the successes of the past number of years. This partnership is about more than numbers; it’s about three established brands coming together to deliver unbeatable poker, unforgettable fun, and a festival that caters to every player, from low stakes right through to the very highest levels.”
The 2026 Irish Open festival is taking place from March 26 to April 6 at the Royal Dublin Society with 86 different tournaments including the €2.5million guaranteed Main Event, €1m guaranteed Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty and €1m guaranteed Mini Irish Open.
