Born from Dublin’s old-school card culture and fueled by the vision of Terry Rogers (who helped bring the Vegas-style tournament vibe to Europe), it grew into a festival where history, huge fields, and pure craic collide year after year. In 2026, the party returns to the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin from March 26 to April 6—headline events, massive guarantees, and that “everyone’s here” atmosphere that makes the Irish Open feel like poker’s wildest reunion.
Here’s how the iPoker path works—and why it’s such a serious shortcut to the live dream. The Irish Open 2026 festival window is locked (March 26–April 6), with the live Main Event carrying a €2,500,000 guarantee and the iconic €1,150 buy-in that helped drive the event’s modern boom.
Online, the iPoker ecosystem has already proven it can flood Dublin with qualifiers—Irish Open organizers note that the iPoker network helped send more than 1,300 players into the flagship event via satellites in 2025, and 2026 is ramping up again with a dedicated qualification campaign and a leaderboard race layered on top. The satellite campaign is marketed as the biggest iPoker push yet, stacking hundreds of prizes—full packages and seat-only routes—so you can take the low-cost climb and land directly into the live arena.
Join and start your run here!
What makes this setup dangerous (in the best way) is the double-engine pressure: you can qualify the traditional way through satellites, but you can also “print chances” by grinding the leaderboards while you play your normal schedule. That means every session can push you closer to Dublin—either by directly winning a seat/package or by stacking weekly leaderboard rewards that keep you firing.
And with the Irish Open now boasting truly massive participation and guarantees, qualifying isn’t just about saving buy-in money—it’s about walking into one of poker’s loudest, most electric rooms already feeling like you earned your spot. If you’ve ever wanted a real shot at a bucket-list live festival, this is the cleanest path—satellite up on iPoker, chase the leaderboards, and turn online volume into a Dublin seat. Start your qualification run now!
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