The Irish Open has won a prestigious honour at the 2026 Irish Enterprise Awards, celebrating innovation and excellence in Ireland’s thriving business community.
The Irish Open is the longest-running No Limit Texas Hold’em poker tournament outside of Las Vegas and continuously breaks its own records for the largest – and richest – poker event in Ireland. The Irish Open celebrated a record-breaking event in 2025 with a staggering 4,562 entries in the Main Event generating a €4,447,950 prize pool. Across the whole festival, players were awarded more than €14.5 million in prize money.
Now the Irish Open has seen off stiff competition to be named Competitive Entertainment Event of the Year in the 2026 Irish Enterprise Awards.
The prestigious Awards, which are hosted annually by EU Business News, honour organisations driving progress across the Emerald Isle in sectors which include technology, manufacturing, tourism and finance. The Irish Open was selected for the accolade following an independent merit-led research and evaluation process which assesses achievements such as business growth, product or service launches, customer service, and community impact to identify the very best of Irish enterprise. Organisers said that the Irish Open celebrated “the innovation, resilience, and ambition that define the best of Irish enterprise.”
JP McCann and Paul O’Reilly, who took over the running of the Irish Open in 2016, are delighted to win recognition at this prestigious Awards. O’Reilly said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to win this award. As anyone who has played the Irish Open knows, this event really has no rival!
“The atmosphere is unique and there is no doubting our impact on tourism in Dublin and our success as a business. We have thousands of players come to the Irish Open from all over the world who are adding millions of Euro to the Irish Economy through travel, hotels, tourist activities and enjoying all that Ireland has to offer. We are expecting even bigger numbers for the 2026 festival with a hugely-expanded schedule and even more of the “craic” which makes the Irish Open so special. The Irish Open is not just the longest-running poker event outside of Vegas but it also enjoys worldwide recognition as one of the most fun tournaments on the planet. For many players, it’s their favourite tournament of the year.”
The 2026 Irish Open is taking place from March 26 to April 6 and already looks set to be one of the biggest poker festivals in Europe. In February last year, the Irish Open won Best Stand-Alone Festival at the Global Poker Awards and in September won Best Live Poker Event at the SiGMA Euro-Med Awards in Malta.
