With less than three weeks to go before online satellites close, this year’s Irish Open is on track for a record number of qualifiers.
More than 350 players have already won their €1,150 seats on PokerStars which has a ton of feeder satellites running for as little as €1.09. There are still numerous chances to qualify with a total of 23 entries guaranteed every week from now until April 2. Not since the heady days of the pre-Black Friday World Series of Poker has PokerStars run so many satellites for an external event. This year’s online qualifiers are giving hundreds of new players the chance to win their way into Europe’s oldest tournament.
Satellites on PokerStars are continuing throughout March and on Sunday, March 19, there will be a Mega satellite with 20 x Seats + Expenses guaranteed.
Paddy Power has also been racking up the qualifier numbers with around 150 players already assured of their seat in Dublin. This week is the penultimate week for satellites on Paddy Power and the iPoker network and there are a raft of seats and packages up for grabs. Paddy Power is also running a Mega satellite on March 20 with 10 seats guaranteed.
Irish player and award-winning podcaster Dara O’Kearney (pictured left & above) one of the best satellite players in the world and author of the best-selling Poker Satellite Strategy book, has already won several tickets for this year’s Main Event on Paddy Power.
He said: “The Irish Open is the one never-miss in the calendar for me. I played my first one in 2008 and have played every one since – including the online ones during lockdown!”
David Lappin, who co-hosts The Chip Race podcast with O’Kearney, has also won several prize packages after playing satellites on PokerStars. He added: “As an Irishman living abroad (Malta), the Irish Open is my favourite excuse to come home. There’s something special about it. It has an atmosphere like no other festival on the poker calendar. I’ll try to win a few more satellites this month but three bullets will hopefully be enough to get me into Day 2!”
A host of other notable players have also won their buy-ins for the Irish Open Main Event including 2013 Irish Open champion Ian Simpson, GUKPT Luton winner David Docherty, UKIPT London winner Robbie Bull, Will Kassouf, Oli Hutchins, Guy Taylor, Andrew Hulme, Jason Barton, Tony Poulengeris and Team PokerStars Pros Parker “Tonkaaaa” Talbot, Fintan “EasyWithAces” Hand and Ben “Spraggy” Spragg.
For more information on how to qualify online, please visit our satellites page.
