Welcome to the 2010 PaddyPowerPoker.com Irish Poker Open!

The Irish Open is the oldest poker tournament in Europe with an expected 700 players filing into the Burlington Hotel here in Dublin, hoping to follow in the footsteps of last year's winner Christer Johansson.

Last night's super satellite saw over 400 players take part in the €200 rebuy producing over sixty seats as a result.

Players confirmed include former winners Neil Channing and Marty Smyth, EPT winners Sandra Naujoks, Julian Thew and Victoria Coren as well as numerous online qualifiers.

Unlike most big tournaments these days, here there is only one starting day with the tournament scheduled to finish on Easter Monday. Players will be starting with 10,000 chips and a hour clock, but from level 7 onwards this will increase to 75 minutes.

Today is Good Friday, but for whom?

The tournament will begin at 3.30pm local time.