After 46 Successful Years the Irish Poker Open is Going International; 3 New Stops Announced
The longest-running poker tournament outside of Las Vegas is the Irish Poker Open (IPO), which debuted in Dublin back in 1980. Now, for the very first time, after 46 years, the IPO is expanding to an international stage.
The current IPO kicked off back on March 26 and will run through the weekend, wrapping up on April 6. On Friday night, organizers took the opportunity to make a splash with the announcement of three international Irish Poker Open destinations set to debut across 2026–2027.
The announcement revealed IPO stops in Australia, Marrakech, and the United States.
- Sydney gets the first international Irish Open with a 10-day festival at the Poker Palace from September 6–15 featuring numerous tournaments, including a $2,000 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed Main Event.
- Marrakech will host the second overseas stop, November 10-15, with a six-day event at the glamorous Casino de Marrakech featuring a €1,150 buy-in, €500,000 guaranteed Main Event.
- USA – the third stop is being planned for one of North America’s most prestigious poker venues, though the exact location is still a mystery. The Irish Open’s United States debut is set for 2027, with full details to be announced soon.
Here’s a look at the official announcement that was shown to players in the tournament room. The video is the opening act of a longer documentary which will be released shortly after this year’s IPO festival.
Irish Poker Open co-owner Paul O’Reilly said: “The Irish Open has been held in Dublin since 1980 – it’s the oldest No Limit Hold’em event in Europe. But the game itself came from America – introduced by Terry Rogers after he met Benny Binion in Vegas - so being ‘international’ is in our DNA. We are also passionate about innovation so exporting the brand - taking the Irish Open global - is a very logical next step … We’re very excited that we can now introduce that experience to new audiences across the globe.”
JP McCann added: “Paul and I took over this event over 10 years ago, and from day one the vision was clear - grow the Irish Open and take it global.
“The Irish Open Internationals is something I’ve been developing for several years, and with our 50th anniversary on the horizon in 2030, the plan is to expand worldwide - delivering incredible standalone events in top-tier venues, alongside multiple international Day 1s feeding into our flagship Dublin festival. This is just the beginning of something special. Ultimately, our ambition is simple: to make the Irish Open the biggest tournament in the world by its 50th anniversary.”
For more information, please email [email protected] or visit the irishpokeropen.com.
