This year’s Irish Open saw the launch of 14 brand new tournaments, never before held at the annual Dublin festival. From Old Dogs and Young Pups to the new Sviten Special, plus exciting formats such as the Shoot-out Championship and the Triathlon Championship, the hugely-expanded Irish Open schedule put fun firmly in the limelight!
The 2026 Irish Open also included a new “festival within a festival” for Deaf players along with a new Mixed 8-Game Championship High Roller, a new Ladies High Roller, a new PLO Five Card tourney and the return of the popular APAT championship which broke records once again.
Some of the new tourneys were real blockbusters, each attracting hundreds of players and creating a real buzz in the tournament room.
Triathlon Championship
The debut Irish Open Triathlon Championship was a standout highlight on the final day of this year’s festival. Well over 300 athletes shrugged off their end-of-festival muscle fatigue and limbered up to take part. The Triathlon began as a full ring tourney, then turned into a six-max and then a heads-up. Congrats to China’s Mo Xu who crowned a sensational 12 days of competition at the RDS with his first major live tournament victory and a €17,000 payday. As well as the Triathlon, Xu also secured another four Irish flags on his Hendon Mob profile by cashing in the Main Event, the Mini, the PLO 8-Max and NL 8-Max. There were 311 entries in total, creating a €93,517 prize pool with 48 runners/swimmers/cyclists paid out. 2013 Irish Open champion Ian Simpson narrowly missed the final table, finishing in 11th place for €1,600. Dara O’Kearney also cashed along with Andrew Hulme and Turbo winner Dominik Suthe.
Players go mad for Sviten Special!
Invented in Stockholm in the early 2000s, Sviten is basically a twist on Dramaha and a huge favourite with both Scandis and mixed game fans. The massive turnout of 127 players showed Sviten Special also has a bright future at the RDS with the debut €350 buy-in tournament coming tantalisingly close to beating the world record of 131 entries. As well as Sviten pioneer Friend of the Irish Open Martin “Franke” von Zweigbergk, the Dublin field attracted numerous other prominent Sviten afficionados including Riku Koivurinne, Thor Morstol and Jari Mahonen. Texan finance whizz Roderick Watson managed to outlast them all though, winning €8,560, the title and coveted trophy.
“Festival within a festival” for Deaf players
The new “Festival within a festival” for Deaf players was a resounding success. More than 150 Deaf players turned up – from all over the world – with the €200 Irish Open Deaf Championship Main Event attracting 224 entries, nearly ten times the number that took part in 2025. Congrats to champion Frank Grace who won €7,750.
The huge cohort of Deaf players relished the chance to compete in a wide range of dedicated tournaments as well as compete in mainstream tournaments. In addition to the exceptional Deaf Main Event, all four of the other tournaments for Deaf players exceeded expectations. Congrats to Robert Tronina who outlasted a humongous 121-entry field in the Deaf NLH Mystery Bounty to win €1,650 and Gregory Olson who beat a 63-entry field to snag a lifetime best cash of €4,845 in the Deaf High Roller. Canadian Anthony LoBue won the 49-entry PLO Deaf Championship for €1,550 while Anthony Wilcox defeated a 71-entry field to take down the NLH Deaf Championship for €1,930.
Karen Muir takes down Ladies High Roller
After nearly 13 hours of play – and a super intense two-hour heads-up battle – Irish Open Ambassador Karen Muir took down the 49-entry, €1,150 Ladies High Roller. The event was Karen’s idea in the first place and she was thrilled with the turnout – but even more thrilled to win her first-ever Irish Open trophy, the champion’s title and a €16,200 first prize.
182 entries for PLO 5 card
PLO 5 card may be something of a niche variant but that didn’t stop 131 players turning up for the debut event – and bringing the total number of entries up to a staggering 182. Five card specialist Richie Allen took it down, awarding him his first tournament victory on Irish soil and a €19,820 first prize. He said: “This one is really special to me because Five Card Omaha is my main game.” Also featured on the final table was Hungary’s Balazs Somodi, who once again showcased why PLO is his favourite – he won this year’s €5k PLO High Roller and finished third in the inaugural €3k Cuatro PLO High Roller.
Brandon Harris wins first trophy in Shoot-Out Championship
Brandon Harris, the highest-placed qualifier in the 2025 Main Event, outlasted a giant field of 130 entries to take down the inaugural Shoot-out Championship for €15,750. With close to $500k in live earnings at the time – but still no title – the British pro was more than a little keen to finally win a trophy! Check out the full story here.
Give a dog a bone …
Old Dog Thomas Beck proved you can’t teach an old dog new tricks when he won the inaugural Old Dogs and Young Pups tournament for €6,040. A total of 160 dogs were out of the kennels for the first day, with 80 on each side of the age divide. By Day 2, the number was down to 24 – again an equal number of oldies and young ‘uns, all in the money. The final table was a hotly contested affair, with the ratio of seniors to striplings remaining balanced throughout. Beck, 69, beat fellow Old Dog Hyndi Khomutetsky heads-up, with 30-year-old Young Pup Jan Cvach from the Czech Republic, who had the biggest bone overnight, finishing third. The total prize pool was €33,57. You can read all about it here.
Battle Royale
Mike Koch from Switzerland took down the inaugural Kings and Queens tournament after beating off competition from both genders to seize a first place prize of €5,500. The tournament pitted men against women in a unique format with starting flights matched in number – as well as equal numbers going through to Day 2. There were 102 entries overall, with 16 players making it through to the final Day 2. Although Ireland’s Shella McSweeney came into the heads-up with the chip lead, two bad beats were ultimately her undoing. She took €3,520 for runner-up.
Dowling wins €3k Cuatro PLO, Sorainen takes down NLH edition
The Cuatro is bounty with a twist; it starts off as a non-bounty tournament but once the field reaches the final 25%, all the remaining players are given a bounty token representing the full amount of the buy-in. Irish Open Ambassador Chris Dowling, widely regarded as one of the best Omaha players in Ireland, outlasted a 46-entry field to win the very first Irish Open Cuatro PLO High Roller for €46,175. In fact, he secured his victory so quickly on the final day that he was even able to make it to his son’s Gaelic Football match later on in the afternoon. Luka Sorainen from Finland took down the NLH edition for €41,000 including bounties. En route to victory, Sorainen claimed eight knockouts adding a further €24,000 to his haul for a total prize of €65,000. There were 83 entries generating a €221,402 total prize pool.
Kabbaj wins Mixed 8-Game Championship High Roller
Another big schedule debut this year was the €1,150 buy-in Mixed 8-Game Championship High Roller which garnered 70 entries. The substantial numbers cemented the Irish Open’s reputation as a haven for mixed game fans at any buy-in level. UK poker stalwart and two-time WSOP bracelet winner John Kabbaj won €19,850 after beating this year’s Deuce to Seven Triple Draw champ Ben Sweetman heads-up.
