Valuable Mystery Bounty Kickstarts 2025’s Irish Poker Open
The 2025 Irish Poker Open has got underway with two €1 million guaranteed tournaments.
Irish Poker Open tables are ready and waiting for a busy 12 days ahead.
Key Facts:
- The 45th Irish Poker Open is underway with two €1 million guaranteed tournaments.
- Big-name players are in action just hours into proceedings.
- 220 poker tables and 300,000 chips will be in play.
- Deaf and 60-plus players get their own events.
The 45th Irish Poker Open got underway at noon on Thursday with what has been described as the largest Mystery Bounty ever held in Ireland. The €1,150 entry Luxon Mystery Bounty features three starting flights, meaning this Hold’em competition will not conclude until next Tuesday.
A share of a €1 million guaranteed prize pool will be on the line. Niall Farrell, with World Series of Poker (WSOP), World Poker Tour (WPT), and European Poker Tour (EPT) success on his CV, was amongst those hoping to acquire an early healthy stack for Day 2 of this one.
Hometown hero and World Series of Poker Main Event final table finisher Andy Black was another notable name on the entry list. Likewise, American Andrew Kelsall, who collected two gold bracelets at the 2022 World Series of Poker, was an interesting contender.
From Small Acorns: The 45th Irish Poker Open got underway at noon today in Dublin with what has been described as "the largest Mystery Bounty ever held in Ireland". It has a cool €1 million guaranteed prize-pool pic.twitter.com/tfhYAHZ14V
— Online-Casinos.com (@0nline__casinos) April 10, 2025
A second €1 million guaranteed contest, The Mini Irish Open, also began on Thursday. €215 to enter with a €35 registration fee, this unlimited re-buy contest, backed by the PokerStars online poker room and casino, will not conclude until Monday, April 21st.
Well Prepared for Ireland’s Richest Poker Event
Organisers are well prepared for what they have described as the “largest and richest Poker Event ever held in Ireland.” At the beginning of the week, coordinators took to social media to declare that over 220 poker tables, 10 tonnes of rigging, 300,000 chips, and “a few decks of cards” had arrived at the venue in 12 forty-foot trucks!
Opening days of poker festivals are traditionally quiet affairs. However, three hours after doors had opened on this veritable poker feast, there was action on over 30 tables. Amongst these were participants in the Irish Open Deaf Championship – a competition restricted to players with impaired hearing.
First Two Winners Prevail in a Deal
Another tournament with restricted entry criteria, the Super Seniors Championship, had attracted a field of 158 when entries closed on this Hold ’em competition for players aged 60-plus.
Several hours later, Arthur Philip was awarded the first trophy of the 2025 Irish Poker Open. The British veteran collected €6,080 as part of a three-way deal ahead of Italian Paolo Pacciani and local player Mohamed Namir.
Chris Dowling, one of the Irish Open’s official ambassadors, later took home the trophy in the specialist €350 entry Big O Championship. Big O is a form of Omaha poker where instead of four cards, players receive five cards and is played Hi-Lo split.
Dowling’s success, declared at 3 am (13 hours after the competition had started), came as part of a four-way deal that awarded him €6,850 as the winner and three rivals taking between €5,250 and €5,455 apiece.
Mystery Bounty Is Friday’s Treasure Hunt
The day two highlight of the Irish Open Festival 2025, staged in the Royal Dublin Society (RDS), is a €5,000 Pot Limit Omaha Mystery Bounty tournament. Day 2B action will also be in the Luxon Mystery Bounty, Mini Irish Open and Deaf Championship competitions.
