Irish Poker open
Irish Poker Open
Texas Holdem is by far and away the biggest, richest and most popular variant of Poker, its maybe somewhat of a surprise then that Europe’s longest running (and until recently the biggest) is not held in the glamour of Monaco but the Emerald Isle. Forget the Bunnies and Eggs, Poker-Shark.co.uk can’t get enough of the Irish Poker Open held each Easter in Dublin.
The Brainchild of a well known bookie Terry Rogers, the first event was held in 1980 and was won by Collette Doherty who went on to play in the World Series of poker. While for many years, the event took place with few from outside of Ireland it could still draw the big names to the tables including the legendary Doyle Brunson, a friend of event organiser Roger.
The open really took off when Online Poker became popular and sponsorship from major online poker rooms started to flow. In 2005 Paddy Power, Irelands biggest Bookmaker took this event on and the tournament now Directed by Liam Flood has almost doubled in size. In 2008 the winner of 800,000 Euros (pretty good going for the Englishman at current exchange rates!!) was Neil Channing.
We believe that this tournament will continue to go from strength to strength with a strong sponsor behind them. Below you can see a list of all the previous winners.
2008 Neil Channing €800,000
2007 Marty Smyth €650,000
2006 Vincent Melinn
2005 John Falconer
2004 Ivan Donaghy
2003 Joe Beevers
2002 Nick Bernie
2001 Jenny Hegarty
2000 Alan Betson
1999 Liam Barker
1996 Liam Flood
1994 Mickey Finn
1993 Christie Smith
1992 Noel Furlong
1991 Colette Doherty
1989 Noel Furlong
1988 Jimmy Langan
1987 Noel Furlong
1986 Bryan McCarthy
1985 Irene Tier
1984 Tony Byrne
1983 Jimmy Langan
1982 Frank Conway
1981 Sean Kelly
1980 Colette Doherty