A huge roster of online satellites on iPoker-affiliated sites gets underway shortly for both the €2.5 million guaranteed Irish Open Main Event and the €1 million guaranteed Mini Irish Open. A total of 150 Main Event seats and 200 €2,250 packages are up for grabs on the popular poker network, along with 125 Seats Only for the Mini.
The satellites start on November 10 – a good two months earlier than the satellites for the 2025 festival – and will run until March 23, only a couple of days before the 2026 festival kicks off at the RDS.
Packages galore
The €2,250 Main Event packages cover not only your €1,150 Main Event buy-in but a generous € 1,100 contribution towards your travel expenses as well. The majority of the packages will be dispensed via “flighted” satellites. The two-step qualification path starts with daily €150 “Day 1” flights and the Day 2 flight will take place every Sunday – starting on November 16. Each Sunday qualifier guarantees five packages. There are no direct buy-ins for the Day 2 – you must win your way into the Sunday events via the Day 1 qualifiers.
The iPoker network is also offering a series of exclusive micro flighted tournaments with 16 packages guaranteed during the promotion period and a buy-in cost of just €2. The €2 Day 1s run every day from November 10 with the Sunday Day 2s taking place on November 30, December 21, January 11, February 1, February 22 and March 15.
Seat-only
€50 seat-only qualifiers will be running five times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday) with a mix of re-entry tournaments and re-buy/add-on events. There will be 150 seats guaranteed before the Irish Open festival kicks off next March.
In addition to the above, heaps of feeder satellites – into both the seat-only and package qualifiers – will be on offer every day with buy-ins ranging from Centrolls to €50 for the Main, and iPoker grinders also stand to benefit from the network’s Revenue Mission promotion, rewarding players who generate a set amount of rake (between November 17 and March 22) with a ticket into the €150 package qualifiers.
Mini Irish Open
The iPoker network will also be hosting satellites for the Mini Irish Open, guaranteeing 125 seats between November 10 and March 22. The qualifiers will run three times a week (Monday, Friday and Sunday) with a mix of €10 entry with re-entries and re-buy/add-on tournaments.
The 2025 Irish Open qualifiers campaign shattered previous records, with around 20 operators joining the network-wide promotion. In total, iPoker-affiliated sites generated an impressive 376 Main Event entries (packages and seats) this year, along with 160 seats in the Mini Irish Open – almost double the 2024 number.
Big name qualifiers in 2025
Among those who qualified on iPoker this year was Norwegian pro Jon Kyte who went on to four final tables plus a further two cashes. His total haul at the 2025 Irish Open festival totalled more than €40k including €14k for finishing third in the High Roller Mystery Bounty. Another notable iPoker qualifiers included Grosvenor Ambassador and two-time GUKPT Main Event champion Cal Morreale who cashed in both the JP Poker Masters and the Mini this year, along with WSOP bracelet winner Vangelis Kaimakamis, GUKPT Blackpool champ Jamie Clossick and GUKPT Manchester winner Trevor Reardon who each cashed in three Irish Open events this year.
The launch of satellites on the iPoker network means players from all over Europe and beyond now have the chance to qualify for the 2026 Main Event for just a fraction of a euro.
The 2026 satellites will be available right across the iPoker network including Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Bet, Grosvenor Poker, Bet365, Betfred, Betsson, Betsafe, Guts, Nordicbet, Betsmith / Betsolid / Arcticbet, Boyle, Champion Poker, Coolbet, Fortuna CZ, Holland Casino, Inbet, Klondaika LV (Entain), Ninjacasino EE (Entain), Novibet, Paf, Redstar and Svenska and Swisscasinos.
Longest-running tournament in Europe
The Irish Open, which won Best Standalone Festival at this year’s Global Poker Awards, is the longest-running No Limit poker tournament in Europe. As well as the €2.5 million guaranteed €1,150 Main Event, next year’s schedule also includes the €1,000,000 guaranteed Mini Irish Open and the €1,000,000 guaranteed Luxon Pay Mystery Bounty which made its debut this year and instantly became the biggest Mystery Bounty ever held in Ireland.
Click here for the full 2026 schedule.
