The WSOPE Set Up a Showdown Versus The Irish Poker Open

Man from 'The Wire' in front of a wsope irish open backdrop

Territorial Pissing

"The game’s out there, and it’s play or get played."

Always delivered with aplomb by the late great Michael K Williams, Omar Little had an aphoristic way with words and a distinctive way of beholding the nature of things. He recognised the dog-eat-dog world in which he lived and understood that in order to survive, he had to stay one step ahead of his enemies. Poker is obviously a game but the poker industry is its own game. Online sites compete for our deposits and our clicks. Live operators try to put our bums on their seats.

For the last couple of weeks, the floundering WSOP Europe brand has come under fire in the media as commentators have questioned the legitimacy of titles earned in tiny field events in the one horse and two brothel town of Rozvadov. For me, and at the risk of mixing equestrian metaphors, the horse bolted a long time ago with regard to the ‘prestige of the bracelet’ argument. For years, the WSOP have undermined, diluted and ultimately rinsed their brand in pursuit of profit.

A few days ago, it was announced that the WSOP was moving its European stop to Prague, a logical switch-up to one of the continent’s finest capital cities. Less sensible is their decision to move it to the April 2026, setting up a direct clash with the Pokerstars sponsored Irish Poker Open, Europe’s oldest and most storied poker tournament.

It is another declaration of war from a company that plonked its WSOP Paradise stop right on top of the EPT Prague and WPT World Championships in 2023. It is another territorial pissing from a company that can and will leverage its online superiority by funnelling that liquidity into the live realm via compulsory tickets as part of prize pools.

The Irish Poker Open Grows for Eight Consecutive Years

"Spread The Word, Darlin'. Omar Back."

After a period of decline in the 2010s, the Irish Poker Open has gone from strength to strength under veteran poker operators JP McCann and Paul O’Reilly who took it over in 2016. They moved it from the Burlington Hotel to the Citywest Hotel and created a bumper-festival by pairing it with the massively successful Norwegian Poker Championships. They also rebranded the Main Event as an €1150 buy-in unlimited re-entry tournament.

In 2017, the Irish Poker Open got over a thousand entrants for the first time as Canada’s Griffin Benger overcame a field of 1120 to win €200,000. In 2018, the UK’s Ryan Mandara got €250,000 for being the last person standing from 1340 entrants. In 2019, Ireland’s Weijie Zheng took €300,000 and the title versus a field of 1807. Two years of pandemic lockdowns then forced the tournament onto the online felt but, since its return, it has showed no sign of slowing.

In 2022, there were 2040 entrants and it was won by highstakes legend Steve O’Dwyer for €318,700. In 2023, the festival moved to the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) where PaddyPower and its Flutter-cousin Pokerstars helped propel the numbers to 2491. That record field was eventually whittled down to Scotland’s David Docherty who took home €365,000.

In 2024, 3232 players were no match for Finland’s Tero Laurila who won €292,685 and the trophy. Last year, the numbers grew for the eighth consecutive time and when the dust settled on yet another record-breaker, Irish poker prodigy Simon Wilson was crowned champion, having outlasted a monster field of 4562.

A Flailing Haymaker

A man gotta have a code.

On the flipside, the WSOPE guaranteed €20,000,000 across the festival and did over €1.4 million in overlay, failing to hit its target in nine of the fifteen bracelet events. The €10,300 buy-in WSOPE Main Event which got 817 runners in 2023 and 768 in 2024 only managed 659 this time out. If that seems like comparing apples to oranges well then let’s look at the WSOPE Mini Main numbers which has a €1350 buy-in, similar to that of the Irish Poker Open. That got 1727 entries in 2023, 1286 in 2024 and 1293 in 2025.

This pattern of decline paints a picture. It tells the story of a brand that been botched, bungled and ultimately butchered on this side of the pond. This latest move has more than a whiff of desperation, like the flailing haymaker of a bruised and beaten boxer on the ropes. Sometimes those punches land and it is likely that GGPoker will add all of their muscle to the endeavour. The question, however, is should it and also why is the WSOP intentionally clashing with one of the poker calendar’s beloved elder statesmen in the first place?

To quickly address the first question, I do not think that online operators should turn their regular nightly games into weird pseudo-satellites for live events. It might be technically fine to do so, but it wreaks of entrapment via obfuscation. GGPoker have a history of indulging in this practice so I would encourage players to scan the lobbies more vigilantly and check the fine print in the months leading up to WSOPE Prague.

On the issue of conflicting with the Irish Poker Open, it feels like yet another petty move by a company obsessed with personal vendettas, an operator that is happy to inflict self-harm if it also leaves a mark on the opposition, a man without a code. Earlier this year, the Irish Poker Open deservedly took down the Global Poker Award for Best Poker Festival. Having the temerity to take on a juggernaut like that takes moxie. However, there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity.

"You come at the King, you best not miss."

David is a professional poker player, writer and commentator. He has written over 800 blogs and articles on poker; including news, opinion and strategy. He is the producer and host of the 3-time GPI Global Poker Award winning podcast ‘The Chip Race.’ In 2025, he was nominated for the GPI Global Poker Award for journalism. David was a brand ambassador for Unibet Poker from 2017 until 2025. He is currently a Team Pro ambassador for PokerStars.