Irish Open Returns to a Live Setting For 2022

February 03, 2022

Fans of the Irish Open are delighted to learn that Europe's longest-running poker tournament is returning to a live setting in 2022 following two years of online festivals. The 2022 Irish Open takes place at the Citywest Hotel Dublin this Easter from April 11-18.

Forty-two tournaments, including 14 Championship events, adorn the busting schedule. These events run over the course of eight days and come with a wide range of buy-ins from €100 to €5,000.

Of course, the tournament everyone is looking forward to is the €1,150 buy-in Irish Open Main Event. It commences on April 13 with the first of four Day 1s, with the fourth and final flight featuring a turbo blind structure. There is no word of a guarantee on the Main Event yet, which is understandable with all the recent uncertainty around travel and indoor events, but the prize pool should top seven figures if previous year's Main Events are anything to go by.

Other highlights include the €250 The Hendon Mob Championship, a €5,000 High Roller, the €550 JP Poker Masters, and the Liam Flood Memorial which is a €250 buy-in turbo affair.

Full 2022 Irish Open Schedule

Zheng is the Reigning Champion

You have to go back to 2019 to find when the Irish Open Main Event last took place at an actual poker table. partypoker stepped in when COVID-19 put paid to the 2020 edition and again in 2021. Brazil's Pablo Silva triumphed in the former with Pavel Veksler winning the Main Event last time around.

Weijie Zheng is, therefore, considered the reigning Irish Open Main Event champion. Zheng came out on top of a 1,807-strong field in 2019, to win €300,000 of the €1,805,870 prize pool. With five of Zheng's six live scores stemming from Dublin-based events, it would be surprising if he did not show his face in the 2022 Irish Open Main Event.

Other former Irish Open Main Event champions include the likes of Ryan Mandara, Griffin Benger, Dan Wilson, and Ian Simpson who famously proposed to his then-girlfriend after taking down the tournament.

Irish Open Main Event Satellites Galore

There are dozens of €1,150 Irish Open Main Event seats guaranteed to be won at the Citywest Hotel Dublin during the festival. However, some of our readers prefer winning their seats online before making travel arrangements.

Paddy Power Poker is one of the online poker sites offering Irish Open Main Event satellites. A €50 buy-in satellite runs each Sunday that has at least one €1,150 seat guaranteed. This satellite has feeders from only €2 feeding into it.

partypoker is another place you can win an Irish Open Main Event seat. Centrolls costing €0.01 eventually feed into the €109 buy-in final, which also runs on a Sunday, and has 10x €1,150 seats guaranteed to be won.

_{Lead image courtesy of the partypoker Flickr account}

Senior Editor

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