The stats are IN and – as we thought – this year’s Irish Open has blown all previous editions of Europe’s longest-running tournament through the roof!
With tons more tables – 178 in total – numbers rocketed at this year’s Irish Open. Across the 35 different tournaments on the schedule, there were more than 17,000 entries (up from some 10,000 in 2023) and close to €7.5 million was awarded in prize money (compared to €4.5 million in 2023).
The Main Event broke its own record to become the richest poker tournament ever held in Ireland with 3,233 entries and a €3,152,175 prize pool, while the €500,000 guaranteed Mini Irish Open attracted 5,320 entries to become Ireland’s largest ever tournament. A total of 3,325 unique players from more than 55 different countries competed at this year’s event.
Entries were up across the board though with The Hendon Mob Championship also briefly holding the record for largest side event in Irish Open history (599 entries) until ousted from the top spot just a few days later by the Mini Irish Open. The JP Poker Masters, which attracted 347 entries last year, was up to 566 entries this year; the America’s Cup was up an additional 200 entries this year with 495 entries in total. This year’s Liam Flood Memorial tournament was another event which almost doubled in size, attracting 389 entries.
Six of the festival’s top 10 payouts went to finalists in the €1,150 buy-in Main Event including Irish runner-up Hiep Ninh who, thanks to the three-way ICM deal, got €335,636 – a bigger chunk than champion Tero Laurila who took €292,685. Northern Ireland’s Mark Johnston, who came third, won €232,685.
Qualifiers reap rich rewards
More than 800 players qualified for the Main Event online in satellites run on PokerStars, Paddy Power and a plethora of other sites using the iPoker platform. There were also a ton of live satellites held before and during the event – at the Royal Dublin Society, at Dusk Till Dawn in the UK, at Playground in Canada and other clubs and casinos around the world.
Nearly 40 PokerStars qualifiers made the money in the Main Event including Spanish player David Tous who was ninth for €38,420 and Greece’s Konstantinos Vatseris who was tenth for €29,560. PokerStars qualifiers thrived in other events too: Eriks Krumins won the JP Poker Masters for €51,675 while fellow qualifier Brian Hanrahan made the final of the same event, finishing in sixth place for €10,500. Overall, PokerStars qualifiers cashed for well over €380,000 across all the different tournaments held during the festival.
Some other incredible qualifier stories emerged during the event from Paddy Power – including Dublin’s Dermot Harney who qualified for €5 and finished 50th for €7,220 while Kyle O’Connor finished 294th for €2,340 after freerolling into a €1 Paddy Power promotion during the Cheltenham Festival.
