
The Irish Open has been nominated for two different awards in the sixth Global Poker Awards which is taking place in Vegas in just over a month’s time.
Today’s nominees announcement puts the Irish Open in contention for both Best Event and Best Stand-Alone Festival. In the Best Event category, the Irish Open Main Event is up against three other tournaments – the WSOP Main Event, the ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational at the Wynn and the EPT Barcelona Main Event.
The 2024 Irish Open Main Event was far and away the most spectacular poker tournament Ireland has ever known and broke its own records with 3,233 entries. The giant prize pool of €3,152,175 was well over triple the guarantee. Finnish poker pro Tero Laurila won the tournament for a first prize of €292,685 (after deal).
In the award for Best Stand-Alone Festival category, the Irish Open is facing competition from the Malta Poker Festival, the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open and the Wynn Millions Poker Series.
The 2024 Irish Open festival featured 35 different events with the €500,000 guaranteed Mini Irish Open attracting 5,320 entries to become Ireland’s largest ever tournament. There were record-breaking fields in almost every event and, across the whole festival, players were awarded more than €7.5 million in prize money.
Nick O’Hara, who has been involved with the Irish Open for well over a decade, is also up for an award as Best Tournament Director.
Other nominees include Joe Stapleton, co-host of the Irish Open live stream, PokerNews’ Irish Open photographer Danny Maxwell and Irish Open blogger Christian Zetsche who is up for Best Live Tournament Reporter. Nominated players include Marle Spragg and her husband Ben – better known as Spraggy – plus Irish Open stalwarts Barny Boatman, David Lappin and Dara O’Kearney.
Each votable category has its own voting panel comprised of industry experts who whittle down potential award-winners in two preliminary ballots. The Awards ceremony is being held at the PokerGo Studio at Aria Resort and Casino on Saturday, February 22.
Irish Open organiser Paul O’Reilly said: “We’re thrilled to be nominated for two Global Poker Awards this year and we are in esteemed company. As anyone who has played the Irish Open knows, this event really has no rival! The atmosphere is unique and we are expecting absolutely massive numbers at this year’s event as we continue our successful partnership with our sponsors PokerStars and PaddyPower.
“We are also very much hoping that Nick O’Hara wins an award in recognition of his exemplary work as TD. He leads an amazing team at the Irish Open and is definitely one of the reasons our event is such a success. Good luck too to all the Irish Open regulars who are in contention for an Award this year.”
The 2025 Irish Open, which is taking place at the RDS from April 10 to April 21, is set to be the biggest and richest poker festival ever held in Ireland with a massive €2,500,000 Main Event prize pool guarantee. The Irish Open will be celebrating its 45th anniversary with a ton of new events over 12 days including a brand new €1,000,000 guaranteed LuxonPay Mystery Bounty event as well as greatly increased guarantees for the hugely successful Mini Irish Open now at €1,000,000.