A Decade Of Explosive Growth: McCann And O’Reilly Stop by The Chip Race To Talk About The Irish Open

The Chip Race Cover Art season 27 episode 6

When JP McCann and Paul O’Reilly took over the Irish Open, they were not inheriting a booming juggernaut. They were taking over a brand heavy with nostalgia, still capable of stirring emotion, but one that had, to put it bluntly, “lost its way a little bit.” It was 2016 and the oldest and most storied poker tournament in Europe was struggling for prestige under the portentous cloud of economic downturn.

McCann explained it candidly on the last episode of The Chip Race as he and O’Reilly stopped by to talk about the event’s history and future. The buy-ins were erratic, the country was still licking its wounds from financial crisis, and the Irish Open had drifted from its natural player base. “The local market just couldn’t support a 3k buy-in,” he said. The fix wasn’t cosmetic. Rather, it was philosophical.

Cutting the main event to a €1,150 buy-in raised eyebrows but McCann and O’Reilly were clear-eyed and resolute in what needed to be done. “We said to ourselves, let’s try and make this the best 1K event in the world”, said McCann. It was more than a lofty pie-in-the-sky goal. It was more than marketing spin. It was a mission statement, and it was backed up by a plan.

The Gamble Paid Off

O’Kearney spoke of his first Irish Open in 2008, telling the story of a profligate golfer he met who decided to flick in the €4500 buy-in on a whim. That was peak Celtic Tiger and it was in sharp contrast to Ireland in 2015 when just 321 players ponied up the €3500 buy-in.

McCann pointed to his 5-year plan of getting to 2000 players, a number that, at the time, seemed laughably ambitious. “The record was 708,” he reminded people. By 2019, the prizepool was €1.8 Million, the biggest since 2011. In 2022, there were over 2000 entries for the first time. Over the next three years, that number grew to 2500, 3200 and 4562. The gamble paid off bigger and faster than anyone anticipated but McCann made it clear that his sights are set on 10,000 runners by the end of the decade.

O’Reilly reflected on his childhood, trailing his father as he played five-card draw tournaments across Ireland. There were tales of chips on the table at home, a deck of cards always at hand and games starting late because most of the players were still in the pub. Poker, for him, was social before it was professional and that ethos survives in the Crack Den, the Irish Open’s now famous socialising spot.

Festival First

The €1150 pivot didn’t cheapen the Irish Open. It re-anchored it. Accessibility brought volume, volume brought atmosphere and atmosphere restored the prestige. The Irish Open has grown explosively not by being just a tournament but by leaning into the festival aspect, embracing chaos but giving it a purpose.

What comes across is how McCann and O’Reilly have a great partnership, balancing each other. “JP can spend money quicker than we can earn it,” Paul joked. He is the one who breaks down the ideas into costed chunks. If they don’t both agree, it doesn’t happen. “I cannot believe we’re spending this much to get everybody drunk,” Paul laughs, before conceding the atmosphere it generates is priceless.

Many of the wildly creative ideas, born over pints, have been become part of the live entertainment schedule. I asked them about limits and whether they ever stifle each other. It turns out that not everything makes it to execution, but the license to dream is baked into the cake. As such, nothing is accidental. The madness is curated, budgeted and defended, even when it looks unjustifiable on a spreadsheet.

Keeping the Lightning in the Bottle

When I asked about the toughest challenges that they have faced, it was clear that the move to the RDS three years ago brought some headaches: wind-tunnel doors, expensive lighting, unreliable WiFi and a complex heating system all had to be navigated. Scaling up was not as difficult as one might guess but there were still problems to be solved, like sourcing 50 tables with 10 hours notice and tracking pallets of chips across borders.

More players means more everything and it is fair to say that online qualifiers have skyrocketed. PokerStars and Paddypower have pumped out the satellites, as have other poker rooms. The event is on course to have 1500 online qualifiers, a record for any live event in poker history. As the Irish Open likely smashes through the 5,000 entrant barrier this year and then 10,000 by 2030, the challenge will be keeping the lightning in the bottle.

To that end, McCann and O’Reilly have assembled a great team of people around them, industry veterans that they are keen to credit for the important parts that they have all played. “Without them all, we’d be dead”, says McCann. When you look at what their team have achieved, they have done something rarer than growth. They have made the Irish Open feel like it belongs to everyone who walks through the doors. Poker players are a community and O’Reilly summed it up best when he said:

“Most people leave after losing money. But if they say, ‘That’s the best event I’ve ever been to, I’ll be back,’ that’s huge.”

Prestige isn’t in the buy-in; it’s in the memory.

David is a professional poker player, writer and commentator. He has written over 750 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 brand ambassador for WPT Global.