Unibet Poker is proud to be sponsoring the International Poker Open for the fourth time and will be holding scores of satellites in advance of the October event.
The festival is one of Europe’s longest-running and most popular poker events and has been held annually since 2007 – including an online event in 2020. This year’s live event takes place at Dublin’s Bonnington Hotel from October 20-25.
The IPO averages a thousand entries for its Main Event and organisers anticipate this year’s prize pool to top €250,000. Players are expected from all over Ireland as well as the UK, Europe and further afield. Scores of Unibet players will be taking part thanks to winning their seats online.
Unibet Poker satellites
Satellites start on Unibet Poker this Thursday (September 9) with at least two €1 Step 1 “Flip” satellites a day. There will also be at least two Step 2 €5 NL re-entries each day guaranteeing six seats into the weekly €33 qualifier. All the feeder satellites feature rebuys and add-ons.
The first of the €33 qualifiers is this Sunday (September 12) at 9pm. The weekly qualifiers, which offer nine seats guaranteed for the International Poker Open Main Event, will take place every Sunday at 9pm CET until mid-October. At the last live IPO in 2019, there were close to 100 Main Event players who won their seats on Unibet.
Among those looking forward to taking part in this year’s €260 + €40 Main Event are Irish Unibet Ambassadors, podcast award winners and IPO regulars Dara O’Kearney and David Lappin. Lappin said: “The IPO is an extra special event on the Irish poker calendar and I know that it is with great pride that Unibet Poker have sponsored it for the past few years. There such a pent-up desire for live poker right now – and players deserve a fun weekend after such a long break. I think this event will be huge!”
O’Kearney said: “I’m absolutely thrilled that live poker is coming back, and that the first event is in my home town. Ireland is always an amazing place to play, and the IPO is a great event with lots of history.”
The IPO Main Event
There are six start flights for the 2021 Main Event – with one re-entry per flight including an online Day 1 on Unibet Poker starting at 9pm (CEST) on Sunday, October 17. The live Day 1s start with Day 1a at 2pm on Thursday, October 21, and Day 1b the same time on Friday, October 22, and Day 1c at 2pm on Saturday, October 23. All three initial start flights have 40-minute blind levels. Day 1d is a “reduced clock” flight turbo with 20-minute clock starting at 8pm on the Saturday while Day 1e is a Hyper Turbo with ten-minute blind levels, kicking off at 9.30am on Sunday, October 24 – prior to the start of Day 2 at 1pm. All Day 1 players start with a 30,000 stack. For full schedule details, click here.
In total, there are 17 different tournaments on the schedule including the flagship €550 High Roller along with a €120 PLO Double Chance, several €100 Nightly Freezeouts, a couple of €120 Progressive Knockout, a €120 #QUEENRULES Ladies Event, €120 No Limit Hold’em Mini Main and several super satellites for the Main Event and High Roller.
Extra Covid info
On September 21, the Irish Government will be announcing the easing of some Covid restrictions. We anticipate that this will mean indoor live poker events will be able to take place (with certain restrictions on numbers) enabling us to start the IPO on October 20. All restrictions end on October 22. We will advise players if restrictions are not eased and we are obliged to delay the start of the event to Friday, October 22.
The health & safety of all our players and staff is our #1 priority and we will be ensuring that the highest standard of live poker experience will be taking place in a safe and enjoyable manner. With this in mind, please visit our Covid-19 page and familiarize yourself with the precautions and rules we are putting in place.
IPO History
At the last live event in 2019, British player Luke Boynton secured the biggest cash of his live poker career – €24,450 – after a six-way deal. There were 755 entries with 95 players taking a share of the €191,000 prize pool. The 2020 IPO was held online on Unibet with popular Irish player Ciaran “Underraiser” Cooney taking the title and €12,524 first prize.
The IPO is led by Nick O’Hara and an accomplished team who are well-known for providing the highest levels of professionalism and game integrity. Nick is one of the world’s top tournament directors and has been running the IPO since 2013. Antonio Pataj is the IPO Live Games Manager while Glenn Doyle is Senior Tournament Floor.
Nataly Sopacuaperu, Unibet Open’s Head of Events and Sponsorship, said: “We’re so happy to be sponsoring the International Poker Open yet again. This year’s festival will probably be one of the first major festivals to resume as a live event so we are anticipating big numbers and a very special atmosphere. Certainly, the IPO has always been one of the highlights of the European poker calendar and Dublin is an amazing place to play.
“Unibet loves coming to Ireland and, with dozens of satellites running on Unibet, there are going to be numerous chances for players to win their seat for as little as €1.”
For full details, please visit https://internationalpokeropen.ie/.
