Irish Open Ambassador Chris Dowling will be heading to Oz in September after snagging his Irish Open Sydney Day 2 seat in Dublin.
Dowling was one of four players through to Day 2 of the Irish Open’s first international event in Sydney and will arrive at the Poker Palace with 275,000 in chips. All four players are already in the money for Day 2 of the Sydney event.
Dowling had a superb run at this year’s 2026 Irish Open. In addition to the Day 2 Sydney seat, he also won the very first tournament he played – the Cuatro PLO High Roller for €28,175.
He said: “It’s great, especially being an Ambassador. And I honestly didn’t think I’d be getting an Oz flag on the Hendon Mob sitting in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4! I’ve been meaning to go to Australia for ages. My brother Anthony lives there and I’ve always said I’ll go visit him but, as he’s got no kids, he comes over here regularly so I still haven’t been.”
About his victory in the Cuatro PLO High Roller, Dowling added: “I play mostly cash games and it feels a bit different winning a tournament. A lot of people message you and you’re in the spotlight for a bit. Last year I won the Big O and got a lot of messages about that too. It’s cool.”
The current Irish Open Sydney chip leader is the UK’s Oliver Hutchins who goes into Day 2 in September with 602,000. Hutchins, a UKIPT Brighton finalist who won his Sydney Day 1 seat in a €140 satellite on Sunday, said: “When I saw they added the Sydney flight to the schedule, I knew immediately I would be playing it. It appealed to one of the main reasons I play poker – to travel to new countries and cities and, in this case, for me, a whole new continent. I’m so looking forward to making the trip Down Under in September.”
French player Matthias Shahine Ramdjee, who also won his Day 1 seat in a Dublin satellite, got through to Day 2 with 287,000 while Czech player Michal Stipsky will be starting Day 2 with 186,000.
All four players will also receive an added €1,000 towards flights.
As well as the clutch of Europeans who are through to Day 2, Rankin Zhou from Adelaide has won his Sydney Day 1 seat actually in Sydney! Zhou triumphed in an Irish Open-themed tournament held during the Australian Poker Open at the Poker Palace last week. He took down the AU$350 Irish Poker tournament for AU$3,150 and won an added AU$2,000 Irish Open Sydney Main Event seat into the bargain.
For more information on all the new international Irish Opens planned, please see our full story here.
