Three Facts About Irish Poker Open That Are Rarely Known

Irish Poker Open’s First Champion Was a Woman

In 1979, inspired by his participation in the WSOP, Irish poker player and bookmaker Terry “Red Menace” Rogers decided to create his own version of the series for Ireland to help spread competitive poker worldwide.
He also intended to promote No-Limit Hold’em in Ireland, where at that time the most popular game was five-card draw.

As a result of this decision, the inaugural Irish Poker Open was held by the Eccentric Club in Dublin on April 5th and 6th, 1980 — and as the champion of this event, Irish female poker player Colette Doherty was crowned.

The victory at the Irish Poker Open gave Colette a chance to participate in the WSOP, making her the first-ever European in the series and the first female participant as well.
By the way, eleven years later, in 1991, she won the Irish Poker Open again and became the second double champion of the series after Noel Furlong (1987 and 1989) — but the first and only, as of 2025, woman with two IPO titles.

IPO Was Among the Series That Went Online During the Pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, almost every live poker series and event was canceled or postponed until operators figured out how to manage them in the new reality.
Only a few organisers quickly found a way to keep their series running by making them available for people suffering in isolation by going online. The Irish Poker Open was welcomed on partypoker with open arms in the first wave as the Irish Open Online.

The inaugural series was held in April 2020. Brazilian poker star Pablo Silva won the record-breaking Main Event and took €462,099 from its €2,945,000 prize pool.

The second series was held in March–April 2021. Ukrainian professional player Pavel Veksler became the winner of the Main Event and took €265,999 from its €1,880,000 prize pool.

In 2022, the IPO returned to a live format but kept the online version on partypoker, which migrated to PokerStars in February 2023, where it was held again in February 2025.

Live Irish Poker Open Has Only Two-Thirds of Champions from Ireland

This fact is a statistical joke. Traditionally, regional poker series feature winners from the host country or region. That’s why WSOP always has more American winners than foreign ones, the Australian series has always been flooded by Australian winners, different Asian series have 90% of winners from various Asian countries, etc.
But the Irish Poker Open is a sort of black sheep on this list because, after 44 years of the brand’s existence from 1980 to 2024 and 40 completed live series, it has had 26 champions from Ireland and 14 foreigners.
Curiously, before the poker boom of 2003, all winners of the IPO except two were Irish. But the Moneymaker Effect spread so widely and intensely that it affected different series, including the IPO, and motivated players to travel more for a good poker experience.

So, for 24 years between 2000 and 2024, Irish players became winners of this series in 11 of 22 events — and it’s a 50% rate only because we counted Irish 2022 champion from the USA, Steve O’Dwyer, due to his heritage.

But which countries were blessed by their citizens’ victories in the Irish Poker Open live series, and how often did they win between 1980 and 2024?

• England — 6 times
• USA — 2 times, excluding Steve O’Dwyer
• Canada, Belgium, Greece, Sweden, Scotland, Finland — once each.

Want to know more about Irish Poker Open history? Check the PokerListings special IPO page.