2026 Irish Open Main Event Heading Into Record-Breaking Territory as Final Two Starting Flights Get Underway
The time has arrived for the last two starting flights of the 2026 Irish Open €1,150 Main Event. The tournament sponsored PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker boasts a guaranteed prize pool of €2,500,000, but with 2,241 entries on the previous three starting days, that number will get shattered as Day 1d and Day 1e play out at the Royal Dublin Society today.
In fact, this year's Main Event is on pace to set a new attendance record by a couple of dozen entries, meaning all eyes today will be on the number 4,562, the record-breaking number of entries from last year's edition. Day 1d will kick off at noon local time, while the turbo flight of Day 1e provides a final shot to make Day 2 at 8 p.m.
All registrants today will be chasing Lawrence Penfold. The old-school online grinder captured the overall chip lead on Day 1b by amassing a stack of 796,000, good for 133 big blinds when play restarts on Day 2. Penfold is followed by Italian player Massimiliano Cordeschi, who gathered 773,000 chips on Day 1a. Meanwhile, third-place finisher in the 2025 Mini Irish Open, Alexander Rizvi, has made a good start at bettering that score in the big Main Event, bagging 748,000 chips on Day 1c for a third place on the overall leaderboard.
Day 1a, 1b and 1c Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lawrence Penfold | United Kingdom | 796,000 | 133 |
| 2 | Massimiliano Cordeschi | Italy | 773,000 | 129 |
| 3 | Alexander Rizvi | United Kingdom | 748,000 | 125 |
| 4 | Alex Todd | United Kingdom | 746,000 | 124 |
| 5 | Abel Pruchon | France | 666,000 | 111 |
| 6 | Fraser Bellamy | United Kingdom | 665,000 | 111 |
| 7 | Ronan Sweeney | Ireland | 627,000 | 105 |
| 8 | Yan Birg | Belgium | 618,000 | 103 |
| 9 | Hamza Nasir | United Kingdom | 617,000 | 103 |
| 10 | Karl Nolan | Ireland | 557,000 | 93 |
Day 1d will follow the same structure as the previous three starting flights; 15 40-minute levels will be played today, ending around midnight. Each fresh entry will receive 50,000 chips, and the first level will be 100/100 with a 100 big blind ante. A single reentry is allowed per starting day, and late registration will end after the 50-minute dinner break, which is scheduled after Level 10, around 7:20 p.m. local time.
Day 1e, meanwhile, has a faster structure with 20-minute levels. The same ten levels of late registration apply, meaning the latest anyone can enter the 2026 Irish Open Main Event is when the clock strikes midnight. Day 1e will then play five more levels, and is scheduled for a late-night finish around 1:40 a.m. PokerNews will provide an in-depth live report for Day 1d, while Day 1e's chip counts will be posted before the start of Day 2. The PokerStars live stream will also start today, kicking off at 8:30 p.m. local time on their YouTube channel.
Day 1d Structure
| Level | Length (min) | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 2 | 40 | 100 | 200 | 200 |
| 3 | 40 | 100 | 300 | 300 |
| 4 | 40 | 200 | 400 | 400 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 5 | 40 | 200 | 500 | 500 |
| 6 | 40 | 300 | 600 | 600 |
| 7 | 40 | 400 | 800 | 800 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 8 | 40 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| 9 | 40 | 600 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| 10 | 40 | 800 | 1,600 | 1,600 |
| Dinner Break | 50 | |||
| 11 | 40 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 |
| 12 | 40 | 1,000 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| 13 | 40 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| Break | 20 | |||
| 14 | 40 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| 15 | 40 | 2,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 |
How large will the 2026 Irish Open Main Event get? Stay tuned to PokerNews to find out, as we will bring you all the latest from the final starting flights live from the tournament floor in Dublin.