A ton of tournaments exceeded their 2025 counterparts this year with both the €2.5 million guaranteed Main Event and €1 million guaranteed Mini Irish Open greatly outdoing last year’s fields.
The Main Event attracted 5,003 entries across the five different starting flights (up from 4,562 last year) while the Mini – with a total of 14 starting flights – had 7,349 entries (compared to 6,411 in 2025).
Ten times increase for Irish Open Deaf Championship
The “festival within a festival” for Deaf players exceeded all expectations at this year’s festival with five different tournaments including the €200 Irish Open Deaf Championship Main Event.
It was the first time that any mainstream poker festival in the world has laid on so many dedicated events for Deaf players and the schedule was warmly welcomed by more than 150 Deaf players who came to Dublin to take part.
The €200 Irish Open Deaf Championship Main Event, first held last year, was up more than ten times on entries; 224 compared to 29 last year. Congrats to Frank Grace who took it down for €7,750.
Congrats also to our other champions in Deaf events: Canadian Anthony LoBue who won the PLO Deaf Championship for €1,550, Anthony Wilcox who defeated a 71-entry field in the NLH Deaf Championship for €1,930; Robert Tronina who outlasted a 121-entry field in the very popular Deaf NLH Mystery Bounty to win €1,650 and Deaf High Roller champ Gregory Olson who scored a lifetime best cash with his €4,845 victory.
APATters out in force
The huge 366-entry field in the Irish Open APAT Championship was 70% up on the last APAT held at the Irish Open in 2023 which attracted 214 entries. Congrats to Ireland’s Colin Fox who won the biggest live cash of his life after taking it down for €12,400 and a coveted APAT gold medal. APAT has an amazing track record of fostering talent and helping to develop players’ careers. Several APAT regulars have gone on to win EPT, WPT and WSOP titles so full steam ahead Colin!
The Hendon Mob Championship smashes it
Last year’s €350 Hendon Mob Championship was the biggest ever held in Europe; this year it went even bigger. There were 1,067 entrants creating a huge €320,847 prize pool, topping the €268,398 shared in the 2025 edition.
An emotional Martin Byrne took it down for €44,950, the trophy, first prize and a trip to play THMC Cape Town. The Scotsman broke a run of 19 consecutive heads-up defeats after cutting a three-way deal with Holland’s Koen Van Venrooij (€30,970) and the UK’s Cameron Sinclair (€35,420).
The Hendon Mob’s Roland Boothby said: “The Hendon Mob Championship at the Irish Open has truly become a beast. From 238 runners in the 2019 edition to an incredible 1,067 this year, it’s been an epic journey and a testament to the growth of the Irish Open, as well as Hendon Mob events worldwide.”
€550 JP Poker Masters Championship – another record-breaker
The JP Poker Masters was yet another tournament at this year’s Irish Open to tear up the record books. It’s always a very popular fixture but this year’s 911-entry field was an astonishing 50% higher than last year.
Germany’s Jonas Heuser, who was also runner-up in the €350 NLH 6-Max for €28,670, won €59,515. The total prize pool was €441,835 with 135 players getting paid.
Seniors out in force
Both the Seniors High Roller and Super Seniors Championship reported big fields – with 216 entries from the 60 years young crowd (compared to 158 last year) and 176 in the Seniors High Roller (v 150 in 2025). The UK’s David Smith took down the Super Seniors for his first ever trophy and a career-best cash of €7,900. In the Seniors High Roller, Charles Mitchell topped a great week by snagging his first trophy in Ireland, plus €31,434 first prize. He also cashed in the Main Event and the €1,150 NLH 8-max tournament.
Jen Frankenstein wins first trophy in record-breaking Ladies Championship
When we first chatted to American player Jen Frankenstein, she was bemoaning the fact that, despite a huge number of final tables, she had never actually managed to win a tournament.
Well, that particular blight ended in Dublin when Jen chopped a record-breaking €250 Ladies Championship with Latvia’s Kristiana Stauere. There were 175 entries in the tournament creating a €36,496 prize pool.
Normally, players who cut a deal play on for a small amount and the trophy. But, as luck would have it, the Ladies Championship had TWO trophies available – the official Irish Open trophy and another trophy endowed by the Women’s Poker Association. A trophy each – boom!
With Jen having the most chips at this point, it was agreed that she would get the title and official trophy, while Kristiana would take the WPA gong. Both won €6,923.
PS Eagle-eyed readers may clock that Jen featured in an early article during this year’s festival when she and hubby Brian Harris were at loggerheads in the Kings and Queens tournament. She finished tenth for €500 while Brian finished fifth for €1,512. As luck would have it, Brian also had the ideal spot for railing Jen as she took down the Ladies Championship. He was playing at the table right next to her in the Seniors event.
Mixed 8-Game Championship tops 2025 field
If one thing is certain, it’s that Irish Open players simply LOVE non Hold’em variants. This year’s festival had more mixed games than ever before and all got bumper fields: 118 players in the Big O, 127 in the debut Sviten Special tourney, 155 in the HORSE, 126 in Deuce to Seven Triple Draw, 70 in the inaugural Mixed 8-Game High Roller, 132 in Open Face Chinese and 183 in the €350 Mixed 8-Game Championship.
BAD Poker podcaster Chris Bean, more typically to be found in media row, considers the mixed game offering one of the biggest reasons for attending the Irish Open – check out his feature published last November called “Why You Should Come to the Irish Open”.
He gave himself even more reasons for coming this year when he scored the biggest cash of his live poker career in the record-breaking €350 Mixed 8-Game Championship for €10,690. Bean actually reported on this event in 2025 and, as he puts it: “I saw the field last year and told myself I want a piece of that!” Only a few days after this victory, Chris went deep again, finishing tenth in the Deuce to Seven Triple Draw for another €900.
