Ukrainian poker player Vasyl Dmytryshyn has won a $2,000 CAD package to compete at next year’s Irish Open Deaf Championship.
Vasyl, 35, hails from Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine but moved to Vancouver in 2023 where he now works as a warehouse forklift operator. He won the Irish Open package in a satellite held during the 7th Canada Deaf Poker Tour which ran October 3-4 at the Toronto Poker Syndicate.
The $120 buy-in satellite – which was organised by Irish Open Ambassador Darren Chow – drew a total of 23 entries and was the first of several that Chow is organising in the run-up to next year’s Irish Open. Vasyl travelled to Toronto with a bunch of mates and competed in several of the Deaf Poker Tour tournaments.
Vasyl’s $2k CAD package – his biggest win to date – includes return flights to Dublin, five nights’ accommodation, and two tournament entries – one for the €200 Irish Open Deaf Championship and one for the €350 Deaf Championship High Roller.
Next year’s Irish Open will feature a “festival within a festival” for Deaf players. As well as the Deaf Championship and €300 High Roller, the 2026 schedule also includes a €120 buy-in PLO Championship, €120 buy-in NLHE Championship and a €150 Mystery Bounty.
Vasyl, who studied painting and decorating in Lviv before moving to Canada, said: “I’m thrilled about winning the package. It will be my first trip to Ireland and, as well as competing in the Deaf Championship and Deaf High Roller, I’m also hoping to win a seat into the Irish Open Main Event.”
Vasyl’s previous results include a final table appearance in the International Deaf Poker Festival Main Event held in Rozvadov in 2021 and representing Ukraine for the first International Deaf Poker Tournament in Graz, Austria back in 2018. In 2020 – during the pandemic – he finished 178th out of 9,835 entries in an online WSOP event.
Vasyl added: “This recent trip to Toronto was actually the biggest success I’ve had in poker so far. As well as winning the Irish Open satellite, I reached two other final tables including fourth place in the Canada Deaf Poker Tour Main Event.”
Chow, who hosted the Canada Deaf Poker Tour, added: “The next live Deaf Poker satellite will take place on December 6 at The Poker Place in Toronto, with a third qualifier scheduled for January. We’re also hoping to host an online satellite for European Deaf players soon.”
You can follow Vasyl on Instagram.
