Can the 2025 Irish Open Main Event Break Another Attendance Record?
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The 2025 Irish Open is a mere couple of weeks away. Players from all over Ireland, the United Kingdom, and much further afield will descend on the Royal Dublin Society from April 10-21, sharing a common goal: to become the Irish Open Main Event champion.
Some players will have won their €1,150 Irish Open Main Event seat for peanuts at Paddy Power Poker, others will try their luck in live satellites or perhaps buy-in directly. Regardless of how they find themselves in the Main Event, they will be going all out to capture as much of the €2,500,000 guaranteed prize pool as possible.
The 2025 Irish Open is the 45th edition of this long-running festival, the longest-running tournament series outside of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Colette Doherty won the inaugural Irish Open back in 1980 and captured her second title ten years later in 1990. Doherty and the legendary Noel Furlong, who won in 1987 and again in 1989, are the only two players to become the Irish Open champion more than once.
Significant Growth Year-on-Year Since Moving to a €1,100 Buy-in
Between 2010 and 2015, the Irish Open Main Event commanded a buy-in of either €2,250 or €3,500. Two years prior, Neil Channing won a €4,200 buy-in edition of the 2008 Irish Open and scooped €801,400, the largest first-place prize ever awarded in the festival's history.
The Irish Open's field size fell from 709 when James Mitchell won in 2010 to 321 in 2015, when Greece's Ioannis Triantafyllakis won.
Paul O'Reilly and JP McCann took over the organisation of the Irish Poker Open in 2016 and set the buy-in at a more affordable €1,150. The move proved successful with 802 players turning out in force in 2016, all outlasted by Patrick Clarke.
The following two years saw a slight increase of the buy-in to €1,275 but that didn't deter punters. Griffin Benger came out on top of a 1,129-strong crowd in 2017, with Ryan Mandara's victory coming after 1,339 players fell before him.
The Irish Open Main Event's attendance continued growing in 2019, with 1,807 players paying €1,150 to enter. Weijie Zheng triumphed that year, banking €300,000, the largest first-place payout since 2011.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic happened and put the breaks on all live poker. The Irish Open called PartyPoker home in 2020 and 2021, again seeing bumper crowds. Brazil's Pablo Silva had to navigate through 2,954 opponents in 2020, with 1,880 grinders turning out in 2021; Pavel Veksler came out on top on that occasion.
With the pandemic out of the way and live poker resumed, the 2022 Irish Open saw over 2,000 entrants for the first time. Some 2,040 players bought in, and Steve O'Dwyer clinched the title. O'Dwyer is proud of his Irish roots and put on a scintillating final table display, eliminating all eight of his opponents before collecting a €318,700 top prize.
David Docherty won the 2023 Irish Open after weaving his way through a field of 2,491. Docherty won his seat via a $109 satellite at PokerStars, turning that into a career-best €365,000.
Last year's Irish Open was a record-breaking affair. Some 3,233 players bought in and created a €3,152,175 prize pool, making the 2024 Irish Open Main Event the richest tournament ever held in Ireland. Finnish star Tero Laurila was the last man standing; he banked €292,735 after a three-way deal involving Ninh Van Hiep and Mark Johnston.
Past 15 Years Irish Open Main Event Results
| Year | Buy-in | Entrants | Prize Pool | Champion | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | €1,150 | 3,233 | €3,152,175 | Tero Laurila | Finland | €292,685 |
| 2023 | €1,150 | 2,491 | €2,428,725 | David Docherty | Scotland | €365,000 |
| 2022 | €1,150 | 2,040 | €1,989,000 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | €318,700 |
| 2021* | €1,100 | 1,880 | €1,880,000 | Pavel Veksler | Ukraine | €265,999 |
| 2020* | €1,100 | 2,954 | €2,945,000 | Pablo Silva | Brazil | €462,099 |
| 2019 | €1,150 | 1,807 | €1,805,870 | Weijie Zheng | Ireland | €300,000 |
| 2018 | €1,275 | 1,340 | €1,347,164 | Ryan Mandara | United Kingdom | €210,000 |
| 2017 | €1,275 | 1,129 | €1,128,295 | Griffin Benger | Canada | €200,000 |
| 2016 | €1,150 | 802 | €801,500 | Daniel Wilson | Ireland | €150,000 |
| 2015 | €3,500 | 321 | €1,027,000 | Ioanis Triantafyllakis | Greece | €209,500 |
| 2014 | €2,250 | 441 | €822,000 | Patrick Clarke | Ireland | €200,000 |
| 2013 | €2,250 | 505 | €1,010,000 | Ian Simpson | United Kingdom | €265,000 |
| 2012 | €3,500 | 502 | €1,,606,400 | Kevin Vadnersmissen | Belgium | €420,000 |
| 2011 | €3,500 | 615 | €1,968,000 | Niall Smyth | Ireland | €550,000 |
| 2010 | €3,500 | 708 | €2,265,200 | James Mitchell | United Kingdom | €600,000 |
*Main Event held online at PartyPoker due to COVID-19 pandemic
The 2025 Irish Open Main Event has its work cut out if it wants to surpass last year's record-breaking prize pool, but it is not outside the realms of possibility. Paddy Power Poker continues running online satellites awarding seats and packages. Those packages include the €1,150 Irish Open Main Event entry and €1,100 for travel and accommodation expenses.
Freerolls aside, Irish Open satellites start at only €0.25 and increase to €150. The €150 buy-in satellites are the ones that award the €2,250 package. They are multi-day tournaments where players surviving 16 levels progress to Day 2 on March 30. Four packages are guaranteed to be won in that particular satellite.
Irish Open satellites are also available at PokerStars
Those reading this who only want to get their hands on a €1,150 Irish Open Main Event seat should look no further than the Irish Open Sat – 25 Seats GTD at 8:00 p.m. BST on April 9. It costs €100 to enter unless you satellite in, but at least 25 entrants will turn their €100 into a 2025 Irish Open Main Event seat.
