The Irish Open is getting a welcome boost this month with the announcement that poker events whizz Nataly Sopacuaperu is joining the team as operations and marketing consultant.
Nataly is well-known to hundreds of European poker players thanks to her pivotal role as Head of Events at Unibet (later known as Kindred). Nataly ran the popular Unibet Open tour for more than ten years, with record-breaking events taking place all over the continent including Malta, Tallinn, Cannes, Copenhagen, Bucharest and London.
Nataly is also no stranger to events in Ireland and took the Unibet Open to Dublin twice in 2018 and 2020. In 2018 the Unibet Open also started a long-term relationship as headline sponsor for the International Poker Open, the popular Autumn festival which takes place in Dublin and is run by Irish Open Tournament Director Nick O’Hara.
Nataly also launched the Unibet UK Poker and the Unibet Poker Belgian Championship which both ran for five years from 2016 – and it was thanks to Nataly that Irish Open High Roller champion and two-time WSOP Main Event finalist Kenny Hallaert became the Unibet Open Tournament Director in 2016.
Nataly said: “I’m very excited to be joining the Irish Open team at such a successful time. 2025 was a massive year for the festival – record-breaking numbers at the event and also winning two very prestigious industry awards. This feels like the perfect moment to come on board and help scale the business to even greater heights.
“I’ll be focusing on operations and marketing – all the fun parts – and I look forward to sharing my experience to continue building on the Irish Open’s incredible momentum.”
Paul O’Reilly said: “We are absolutely delighted that Nataly is coming on board at the Irish Open. The Unibet Open was an outstanding tour and we know that Nataly really understands what gets players excited at an event – it’s not just the poker, it’s the whole atmosphere, all the off-the-felt activities and the craic as well. Nataly is a real player champion and will be a huge asset going forward. We have huge plans for 2026 and Nataly will play a key role in making next year’s festival even bigger and better than ever before.”
