History

The Irish Open, Europe’s longest established poker tournament, was first held in 1981 by the late, great Terry Rogers. Terry had visited Vegas and befriended legends such as Benny Binion, Johnny Moss and Doyle Brunson, taking a keen interest in No Limit Texas Holdem, a variation of the game previously unknown outside the US.

Upon returning to Ireland Terry established the Irish Open which became instrumental in spreading No Limit Holdem’s popularity throughout Ireland and across Europe.

Explore the fascinating history of Irish poker and Europe’s longest running poker tournament, sample the atmosphere of previous year’s event in the below articles and check out who came out on top in our history archives.

Card Player: How the Irish Changed the Face of Poker

25 YEARS OF IRISH POKER

2011 

Online Qualifier Niall Smyth Wins paddypowerpoker.com Irish Open: Niall Smyth Spins €10 Each Way Bet On Grand National Winner Into €650,000 At Europe’s Oldest Poker Tournament

Niall Smyth won the 2011 paddypowerpoker.com Irish Open. He topped the field of 615 players at the €3,200 + €300 buy in event at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin to take down the €550,000 first prize in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
 
Smyth was a double winner as he also scooped €100,000 in tournament buy ins and cash for being the paddypowerpoker.com Sole Survivor, outlasting 160 online qualifiers including two at the final table.
 
The young Irishman qualified for the event after winning a Grand National bet at PaddyPower.com, transferring the winnings to his poker account and winning a satellite.

He beat Irish Open stalwart and former World Poker Tour champion Surinder Sunar from England heads up. He held a commanding chip lead at the start of the heads up dual but Sunar fought back to take the lead before losing it again and much of his momentum. In the end Smyth had to river a 5 to make a pair and overturn Sunar’s ace-high.
 
“Unbelievable. I just can’t believe it,” said an exhausted but elated Smyth after the 3 hour 30 minute heads up slog. “It started when I put €10 each way on the winner of the English Grand National, I won €200 euro and now I have €650,000. Surinder is such a great player, my support has been fantastic, and here I am!”
 
The final table payouts were:
1: Niall Smyth (Ireland) - €550,000
2: Surinder Sunar (England) - €290,000
3: Martin Petri (Denmark) - €180,000
4: Seamus Cahill (Ireland) - €145,000
5: Aleksi Savela (Finand) - €115,000
6: Karl Rudwall (Sweden) - €85,000
7: Rob Taylor (Ireland) - €63,000
8: John Eames (UK) - €45,000
9: Niall McCann (Ireland) - €30,000
 

The total prize pool created was €1,968,000 and 64 players got paid with the bubble, Oliver Lynch, receiving a buy in to next year’s Irish Open from sponsor paddypowerpoker.com

Past Winners