Won by Docherty, the Irish Poker Open Rakes Big Money
The Irish Poker Open staged over the Easter Weekend proved an outstanding success for organizers and a handful of winning players. Europe’s longest-running No Limit Hold’em tournament attracted a record 2,491 entries, a significant increase on the 2022 entry of 2,040.
A total prize pool of €2,428,475 made the event the biggest poker tournament ever held in Ireland. However, the winner’s €365,000 share went to Scotland and the bank account of David Docherty. Qualifying for the event via a PokerStars $109 satellite, this was an excellent parlay for the Glaswegian winner.
Dublin’s RDS was the new and packed venue for the 2023 Irish Poker Open. ©IrishOpen
Docherty has enjoyed a golden six-month spell. In addition to this payday, the 35-year-old has collected £103,700 for a seventh-placed effort in the London EPT and €51,000 for taking a French Poker series event in October.
Rake Debate Back Under the Spotlight
Irish Poker Open organizers also had an event to remember. With the PokerStars sponsored tournament demanding a €150 entry fee, €373,650 came their way in rake. An additional 2.5 percent of the prize pool – €62,275 – was also removed to be paid as “staff gratuity”.
‘Rake’ has become a hot topic in poker recently. Online poker room GGPoker caused outrage when announcing substantial rake increases to its high-stakes cash game tables at the beginning of the month. The rake percentage was left unchanged at five percent, but the ‘cap’ had been doubled.
Pros argued that the new rake structure made high-stakes games unbeatable. The result was an organized boycott of the tables that demanded blinds of $25/$50 or greater. It is estimated 100 regular big-hitting cash game players supported the walkout.
GGPoker Stays Quiet as Players Claim Resolution
The situation is not unique, and PokerStars angered its customers when making a similar move in 2016. Ironically, at the time, Daniel Negreanu was the public face of PokerStars, and he now holds a similar position with GGPoker.
This time it appears an online poker site has bowed to pressure. The Dublin-based GGPoker has a general policy of “not commenting publicly on procedural and business matters”. However, it has been reported by boycotting players that, following dialogue, the increases have been halted. Only some small adjustments to GGPoker’s rake calculations and deductions will now be implemented.
No Change but New Options With WSOP
There has been no objection to the World Series of Poker tournament structures that were unveiled this week. In a clear case of “if it is not broken, don’t fix it”, only the $10,000 limit Championship Bracelet Events have had a subtle change to 2022’s arrangement.
The World Series of Poker also opened its online tournament registration during the past few days. For the first time, prospective WSOP players have an additional option to save money by booking an entire trip package, including resort accommodations and airfare.
“We’re excited to offer players an effortless and cost-effective way to book their entire trip to Paris Las Vegas and Horseshoe Las Vegas as they set their sights on becoming poker royalty this summer,” said World Series of Poker Senior Vice President and Executive Director, Ty Stewart.
The 2023 WSOP, which runs between May 30 and July 18, will feature the largest slate of gold bracelet events in its history. With 608 tables, the series will also have the largest capacity to date. It is therefore expected to better many previous attendance and prizemoney records.
