IRISH LUCK. DUBLIN BOUND

Every spring, thousands of poker fans head to Dublin for the ultimate poker bucket-list experience: we’re talking about the legendary Irish Poker Open, the longest running no-limit poker tournament boasting over 40 exciting events —held in the heart of historic Dublin.

This year, we sent 50 skilled players to the IPO. Each won their way playing Ignition’s online satellite tournament which ran from Jan 23rd until Mar 5th. Prize packages included cash, hotel, flights and buy-in to the $1,200 Main Event. Were they graced by the luck of the Irish? Check out their journey as they battled their way to take home that €1 million guaranteed prize.

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Day 1

03/04

The 2023 Irish Poker Open kicked off with No Limit Hold’em action and some satellites to big tourneys like the Main Event and the $5,000 high roller satellite

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Day 2

04/04

Perfect day for Team Ignition pro CrazySixes to take in the city, and get his mind right to take on the crowd in the main event.

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Day 3

05/04

We’ll spoil things right off the bat: Shaundle made it through to the next day! Starting at Seat 2, table 16. Check out how he did in the second round on Saturday.

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Day 4

06/04

Ignition threw a meet and greet for the winners of the Ignition IPO satellite tournament at Paddy Cullen’s Pub, a spot right around the block from the Royal Dublin Society where the IPO was held.

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Day 5

07/04

Another day off the tables for Shaundle. He took in a rugby match at Aviva Stadium, home of the Irish Rugby Football Union. Poker action for him resumed on the IPO Main Event official “Day 2”.

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Day 6

08/04

Day 6 (April 8th) of the Irish Poker Open is in the books. Although Shaundle hanged tough. He made it through the first and second breaks, bagging around 34,000 chips.

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Day 7

09/04

Steve Watts was clinging to life with 13 big blinds, and Panagiotis Mavritsakis was calculating how best to throw his weight around as the chip leader with 10.3M chips.

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Day 8

10/04

The final day began with 2 tables and 16 players, all ready to battle. Eugeniu Barbaros of Andorra led the crowd, holding nearly 10M in chips and sitting in position to bully the opposition.

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Shaundle Pruitt @Crazysixes66

YOUR IRISH POKER OPEN INSIDER

Team Ignition ambassador Shaundle Pruitt, aka “CrazySixes,” not only played at the Irish Poker Open, he also captured every exciting moment so you wouldn’t miss out on any of the action.

Shaundle is a Team Ignition poker pro who’s been stacking chips for almost 20 years. He’s got over $2 million in career earnings, including from some of our hottest online poker tournaments. He also teaches at pokercoaching.com. He gave away a ticket to Ignition’s satellite tournament and Marc Laroque, not only won the giveaway but ended up winning his way to Dublin. How’s that for a lucky break?

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Ignition keeps the adrenaline going year-long with tons of poker tournament events like the Black Diamond Poker Open, the Festival of Felt, and the Golden Spade Poker Open. And that’s in addition to our monthly mega tourneys. There’s huge guaranteed prize pools, unique prizes to be won (remember the Gumball 3000 Poker Tournaments?), and so many chances to win big. Get into one of the world’s hottest poker rooms at Ignition.

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Day 1 - 03/04
The 2023 Irish Poker Open kicked off with No Limit Hold’em action and some satellites to big tourneys like the Main Event and the $5,000 high roller satellite. Our IPO insider, poker pro Shaundle Pruitt (aka CrazySixes), who landed in Dublin on April 2, competed on the 5th.

Royal Dublin Society : the perfect backdrop for the IPO


The Irish Poker Open took place at the Royal Dublin Society, a historic building in the heart of Dublin. From the gorgeous landscapes, bustling restaurants and bars, to the canal view from the hotel room, you couldn't help but fall in love with the city.


Nearby was the RDS Arena, home to the European Rugby Champions Cup and to countless equestrian events like the Dublin Horse Show (held there for over a 100 years!). You could also head inside the Simmonscourt, where 10,000 square feet of space could host nearly any event you can dream of.

Shaundle was staying at in the Intercontinental Dublin, right around the corner from the RDS. After spending some time exploring the city in his first day in town, he landed at the Bridge 1859 pub, a cozy place to eat and knock a few back after a long day of travel.

During Day 2, he toured the city and shot some video, bringing you even closer to the action. Then, he got ready for serious poker on the 5th with all the other IPO Ignition satellite winners!
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Day 2 - 04/04

The Irish Poker Open cracked on in Day 2 of poker action. Perfect day for Team Ignition pro CrazySixes to take in the city, and get his mind right to take on the crowd in the main event. Lunchtime found him at the River Bar, with a couple dozen pints on draft for the thirsty.

The local train carried him from Sandymount to Tara Street. As he took in the shops and passersby, he wasn’t far from historic Trinity College, Ireland’s first university.

Poker Pros at the 2023 IPO

Day 2 saw a winner crowded in the €350 6-max Championship: Irish player Noel Hayes, with a lifetime best cash of €14,885. He chopped the prize pool four ways with his fellow final tablers, each receiving a share of the money according to stack size. And he snagged a trophy, too.

Many tough competitors and poker pros were in attendance, including last year’s Hendon Mob Championship winner, Wadey Ashraf. In addition, UKIPT London 2013 champion Robbie Bull was there, as well as GUKPT Manchester champion Marian Dumitrache. Steve O’Dwyer was also playing to see if he could repeat the 2022 Main Event win.

Players from 60 countries were there and over 2,000 were bought in for the Main Event on April 5th. Will Shaundle meet the pointy end of Lady Luck’s spear? Find out in Day 3.
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Day 3 - 05/04
The Main Event Day 1A kicked off with over 200 players, including:
  • Irish pro Andy Black (a.k.a “The Monk,” who had over $2M in tourney cashes)
  • Award-winning Chip Race podcaster Dara O’Kearney
  • Triple Crown winner Barny Boatman (a member of the Hendon Poker Mob foursome and a title holder in events at the WSOP, WPT, and EPT)
  • 2013 IPO champion Ian Simpson

We’ll spoil things right off the bat: Shaundle made it through! Check out how how he did in the second round on Saturday.


As for the rest of the crowd, Norway’s Bjorn Gravlien was in the lead with 244,400 chips - Running hot. Day 1B started at noon on April 6th. For any players busting out, there was a re-entry option, so it wasn't over until you were out of rebuys.

Other IPO News + Highlights

Irish player Stephen Lardner won the Hendon Mob Championship after a loooong day of play, taking down a top prize of €16,720.

Other players also got dealt in as the America’s Cup event kicked off. It was originally designed as a tourney for Americans and Canadians. The tourney was so popular, however, that folks from all over the world wound up claiming to be from the Western Hemisphere in order to gain entry. Eventually, the tourney organizers simply opened the tourney up to everyone, while keeping the original name.
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Day 4 - 06/04
Shaundle visited St- Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and the Church Café. Dublin Castle was close to the dark pool ("Dubh Linn" in Gaelic) which gave Dublin its name.

Meet & Greet at Paddy Cullen’s Pub

Ignition threw a Meet & Greet for some proper craic (“pleasant socializing” ) - for the winners of the Ignition IPO satellite tournament.  

They were brought together at Paddy Cullen’s Pub, a spot right around the block from the Royal Dublin Society where the IPO was held. Ignition players were able to eat, drink, with a trad band and dancers performing! The Ignition swag bags also put a smile on many faces and definitely got some players in the right mindset.


The card tables were calling and there wasn't many easy poker hands to come when round 2 of the main event kicked off.

2023 IPO news and updates


Day 1b of the Main Event saw the emergence of David Docherty. He was sitting on a stack of over 400,000 chips and was in incredible position for Day 2. The Top 10 also included a WSOP event winner Carl Shaw, who had over 200,000 chips in front of him.

 
There were still two other “starting flights” to play in the Main Event. Days 1c and 1d saw hundreds of other players kicking off their own tournament runs. Day 2 consolidated the survivors and officially started on April 8th.

In other event news:
  • The €250 Championship Ladies Event kicked off. Last year, the top winner was awarded over €10,000!
  • Benny Glaser, a holder of 4 WSOP bracelets, won the €5,000 Luxon Pay Championship High Roller, netting €106,980 off a simple shove that held up.
  • Italian player Alessandro Pichierri won the Americas Cup Championship, collecting a prize of €18,035.50 with a final hand of KT.

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Day 5 - 07/04
Another day off the tables for Shaundle. He took in a rugby match at Aviva Stadium, home of the Irish Rugby Football Union. Poker action for him resumed on the IPO Main Event official “Day 2” . There were 4 Day 1 “flights,” so you might be wondering why we seemed to be stuck on Day 1. Day 1 A-D were completed. Just know that action heated up a bunch on the Main event when the tourney survivors took to the felt to battle it out in search of that six-figure payday.

Here’s what went down at the tables:

Day 1 A-D Recap

Day 1C of the Main Event is in the books and the player entrant tally was topping 980! Last year’s champ Steve O’Dwyer busted out on Day 1B and was back at it with a rebuy to kick off the day.



Across the tables, there were miracle survivals, big bluffs, queens holding up, aces getting cracked, double ups, triple ups, and lots more. But of course, Day 2 is where the rubber will truly meet the road!
  • Canadian Elizabeth Bennett-Martin took down the top prize in the €250 Irish Open Championship Ladies Event. She won €3,690.
  • Romanian Marian Dumitrache won the €250 Irish Amateur Poker Championship. He beat a field of 214 to score a €9,708 cash prize!

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Day 6 - 08/04
Day 6 (April 8th) of the Irish Poker Open is in the books. Although Shaundle hanged tough. He made it through the first and second breaks, bagging around 34,000 chips.

Here’s what went down at the tables today otherwise:

Event 11- Day 2 Main Event Recap

A total of 2,491 runners registered to have a shot at glory. UK's Carl Shaw emerged as the chip leader, bagging an impressive 1.7M chips, equating to 142 big blinds! Seamus Cahill came in second, with over 1.5M in chips - and Eftychios Georgiou came in third, with about 1.4M in chips.
Other fun moments included:

  • Thierry Van den Berg faced with a tough call when holding two pair. Do you want to put your tournament life on the line with that? Well, we’ve probably all called all-ins with less… Anyway, van den Berg made the call, won the hand, and took down six figures from the pot, putting him in great shape.
  • Steve O’Dwyer ditched his “lucky” chair that he won the tourney in last year. He’s doing great without it. Maybe it was only a one-shot lucky chair?
  • Kenneth Valentine shoved in late position with K5 of all hands and managed to double up to over 160,000 chips! The victim held A9. A9 wins over 60%, but this was one of the 40% where it just doesn’t get it done.

Things are really heating up. 66 Players will be trying to reach the final table in position to win the prize pool of € 2, 428 725. For those keeping track, there’s two more days to go. The last day is Monday, April 10th.
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Day 7 - 09/04
Day 3 started with 161 players ready for battle, and by the waning hours, we had our final two tables drawn up. Steve Watts was clinging to life with 13 big blinds, and Panagiotis Mavritsakis was calculating how best to throw his weight around as the chip leader with 10.3M chips. At that point, for most players, the desire to reach the final table and a minimum payout of €33,500 had everyone playing a lot more conservatively .

Day 3 Main Event final blind level


The last blind level of the day was Level 32, with a big blind of 160,000. Benny Glaser stayed active, losing a big pot on a bluff attempt, but then adding millions to his stack moments later with pocket rockets versus AJ!
That particular hand was a bit cursed in the final rounds of play, because one-time chip leader David Docherty also lost with it. He made two pair, but so did opponent Thomas Murphy’s, who was holding AQ.
2,491 players have been cut down to just this, the last card warriors chasing the largest shares of the prize pool of €2,428,475.

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Day 8 - 10/04
The final day began with 2 tables and 16 players, all ready to battle. Eugeniu Barbaros of Andorra led the crowd, holding nearly 10 M in chips and sitting in position to bully the opposition. By the time the final table was assembled, it was Declan Rice on top, holding towering stacks of chips for a healthy total of over 17 million. David Docherty continued his great run, and finally took home first place with €365,000 after toppling the very tough Declan Rice.

2023 Irish Poker Open Winners and Results

The final day began with 2 tables and 16 players, all ready to battle. Eugeniu Barbaros of Andorra led the crowd, holding nearly 10 M in chips and sitting in position to bully the opposition. By the time the final table was assembled, it was Declan Rice on top, holding towering stacks of chips for a healthy total of over 17 million. David Docherty continued his great run, sitting in second place with 12.7 million.

  • Jamie Wynne hung in there, making it to the final table with 875K. We’ve all been there before - Just trying to survive and improve our cash as much as possible before we have to shove with any two decent cards. He wound up taking that shot of destiny with the dog – K9 – which busted him out in 9th place, giving him a €33,500 payout.
  • Henry Ojala went out in 8th, shoving with AQ and losing the flip to pocket 8s. His place was worth €43,500.
  • Carl Shaw was the next to go, winning €56,500 for 7th place. His AT was dominated by an opponent’s AJ.
  • At the dinner break, Tom Waters was in the lead, thanks to nearly 22M chips. Panagiotis Mavritsakis picked up pocket kings and had Eugeniu Barbaros for dessert. Barbaros’ pocket 8s couldn’t get it done. His 6th place finish got him a cool €73,500, though.
  • Andy Black finished in 5th Place, winning €95,500. He ascended to Valhalla holding six deuce! Sadly, Declan Rice looked him up while holding something a bit stronger.
  • Tom Waters finished his tournament run in 4th place. He got €124,500. His preflop all in AT lost to AK, and everything was still all right in the world.
  • Panagiotis Mavritsakis open shoved on the button with about 20M chips. He was holding Q9s. David Docherty, enjoying the benefits of being lucky AND skilled, made the call with pocket tens. He sent Mavritsakis to the rail with a 3rd place finish, good for €161,500.

This left two final combatants: 1) David Docherty, with over 52M chips, and 2) Declan Rice, holding over 21M little bullets to fire at the enemy. The second place prize was €228,700, and the first place prize €365,000. The last men standing were battling over a sum of about €140,000!

Side event news

Gerry Walsh won the JP Poker Masters Championship, taking home €23,418 after beating Jarlath Kilgallon heads-up.

Cosmin Chis won the €3k Championship High Roller tourney, earning a €106,640 payday for clearing out 168 opponents. Reports say this one was NOT an easy win for anyone. What a grinder for a player who has proven his chops time and time again!

The €350 Championship PLO 6-Max tournament ended in a four-way chop. For a quick win, Antonius Samuel took on all comers in the €350 Liam Flood Memorial 6-Max Turbo Championship. His first place finish garnered him €15,312. Mr. Flood was the tourney organizer for many years before his death in 2014. See you next year.

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