The hugely popular International Poker Open is back again this Autumn with a six-day festival at Dublin’s Bonnington Hotel from October 25-30.
Unibet Poker is sponsoring the festival for the sixth time and is hosting scores of online satellites in the run-up to the prestigious event – as well as an online Day 1a on October 22. The International Poker Open, celebrated for its legendary “craic” and great Irish hospitality, is one of Europe’s longest running and most popular poker events and has been held annually since 2007.
Among those set to compete in this year’s festival is Unibet Ambassador David Lappin. He said: “The IPO is an institution in Ireland. Boasting a big prize pool for a small buy-in, it is the tournament where dreams have been made and professional careers have begun. I’d encourage everyone to have a go at qualifying … and if you win multiple tickets, it means you can fire more than one bullet in the Main Event or use it towards another tournament at the festival. Unibet place a huge amount of value on the Irish market and that is why they have sponsored this event for so many years.”
Joining Lappin in Ireland will be fellow Unibet Ambassador Dara O’Kearney, who co-hosts the award-winning Chip Race podcast with him. O’Kearney said: “The IPO is generally known as the people’s festival in Ireland. From its inception, it’s been the biggest grassroots poker festival in Ireland. It was the first multi-day event I played back in 2008 and I look forward to it every year. Last year we ran our first Chip Race event there, a Mystery Bounty, which is a format I have spent a lot of time investigating for my latest book, Mystery Bounty Poker Strategy.”
Organisers are expecting a big turn-out for this year’s Main Event and a prize pool set to top €250,000. Players will be heading to the Irish capital from all over the country as well as the UK, Europe and further afield.
Unibet Poker satellites
The IPO seat-only qualifiers will use the Unibet Live tree as a qualifying route so satellites are same as for the Unibet Open but splinter off at the €50 level to a €350 IPO seat. Buy-ins start from as little as 40c with the “40c to €2” and “€2 to €10” steps running every 90 minutes from 13.10 to 23.40. The €10 to €50 step also runs every 90 minutes, starting at 16:10. All steps also have rake-free flips taking place five minutes before the qualifier start time. The seat-only finals are running every Sunday at 9pm UK time.
Players can also buy in direct to the IPO on the Unibet Poker client.
The 2023 IPO Main Event
There are five start flights for the 2023 Main Event – with one re-entry per flight – including the online Day 1 taking place on Unibet Poker on Sunday October 22, at 8pm UK time.
The live Day 1s start with Day 1a at 2pm on Thursday, October 26. The first three initial start flights have 40-minute blind levels while Day 1d is a “reduced clock” turbo with 20-minute clock. The final Day 1e flight is a Hyper Turbo with ten-minute blind levels, kicking off at 9.30am on Sunday, October 29 – prior to the start of Day 2 at 1pm. All Day 1 players start with a 30,000 stack. For full schedule details, click here.
In total, there are more than 20 different tournaments on the schedule and high rollers will be thrilled that the €50,000 guarantee Luxon Pay Super High Roller is back on the schedule once again.
The flagship €550 High Roller is being held once again in memory of Leslie McLean. Leslie McLean, who was a popular and respected poker veteran that played in Dublin’s poker events for many years, passed away in 2021 aged 87.
Other highlights on the schedule include four Dublin Poker Club tourneys – the €65 buy-in Wednesday Mid-Week Hold’em, the €80 buy-in Loads’a Chips deepstack, the €60 Cheap n’Deep event and the €70 Double Chance on the final day. A single re-entry is allowed in the Loads’a Chips and unlimited re-entries in the Cheap n’Deep. Two NLH Progressive Knockout also feature, along with a €120 Saturday Night Freezeout and PLO Double Chance.
At the last IPO in 2022, Dublin-based French player Ilan Cukrowicz took down the Main Event for €30,900. Cukrowicz, a former Facebook account executive, fought his way through a giant field of 809 entries and a tough final table that included Unibet Ambassador David Lappin. Curkrowicz took a year off work during lockdown to focus on playing poker and competed in more than 1,800 online tournaments. His victory in Dublin remains his best live poker result to date. Nearly 100 players won their entry into last year’s Main Event on Unibet Poker.
Live stream
This year’s IPO live stream will be hosted by Unibet Ambassadors Dara O’Kearney and David Lappin as well as other well-known players. The Main Event will be covered throughout Day 1b, Day 3 and the final day. On the Saturday, the stream will cover the final of the €50k guarantee Luxon Pay Super High Roller.
The IPO is led by Nick O’Hara and an accomplished team that is well-known for providing the highest levels of professionalism and game integrity. Nick is one of the world’s top tournament directors and has been running the IPO since 2013. Robert Mate is the IPO Live Games Manager while Glenn Doyle and Ryan Lannon are Senior Tournament Floor.
Nataly Sopacuaperu, Unibet Open’s Head of Events, said: “We’re so happy to be sponsoring the International Poker Open yet again. This year’s festival promises to be a very exciting event. Last year we had nearly 100 Unibet Poker qualifiers and we’re expecting even more players to win their seats online this year with more than two months of qualifiers between now and the start of the festival. The IPO has a fantastic atmosphere and is one of the highlights of the European poker calendar. Unibet loves coming to Ireland and, with dozens of satellites running on Unibet, there are going to be numerous chances for players to win their seat for as little as 40c.”
For more details, please visit https://internationalpokeropen.ie/.
Next Unibet Open … Bucharest
The next Unibet Open event is in Bucharest at the luxury JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel from November 29 to December 3. The flagship Main Event starts on November 30 and Unibet Open is anticipating record numbers for the €1,100 buy-in tournament.
As well as the Main Event, other highlights of the festival include the €110 buy-in Ladies Event, the prestigious €2,200 High Roller, a €220 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, the €550 Unibet Chip Race Mystery Bounty event and several turbo tournaments. The five-day festival kicks off with the €330 Unibet Opener, which starts at 1pm on the first day.
The Unibet Open is the hottest live poker tournament circuit in Europe, with amateurs and professionals all battling for huge prize pools in some of the continent’s most glamorous locations.
About the IPO
The International Poker Open is one of Europe’s longest-running and most popular poker tournaments and has been held annually since 2007 (including online in 2020). Players from all over Europe and beyond attend the event, lured by huge fields and substantial prize pools as well as Ireland’s legendary “craic” and hospitality.
