The Dublin Poker Festival in partnership with WPT Global, is well underway, it kicked off on the 19th of February with 11 days of poker set to be played at the Bonnington Hotel in Dublin.

Offering over €400,000 in guarantees. The event has been running since 2015. Set up by local Dublin based poker promotion company D4 Events specifically to combine two longstanding tournaments, the Amateur Championship of Poker (ACOP) and the European Deepstack Poker Championship. It has now become a staple on the Irish poker circuit.

Time for a quick recap of how things stacked up over the weekend in the fair city.

In the Friday Nightly, 102 entries brought the prize pool to €9,894 coming in first was Jip Larooi, €1,810. This was after a 5-way ICM deal shared with his Dutch travelling companion Robertus Van Den Bergc, €1,575, who came in 2nd. Jip and Robertus are part of a group of ten travelling from their native land of the Netherlands. A flying start for these two dutchmen.

Saturday’s Nightly saw 92 players joining in, with the lion’s share of the €8,924 prize pool being split between Cathal O’Shea, Christian Marian Nica, Jeroen Mulder, Eoin O’Shea after a 4-way deal all receiving €1,521.

Recent runner up at the Irish Poker Tour’s Galway Poker Festival Main Event, Davide Rachelle, took down the Saturday Flyer that saw 62 entries create a prize pool of €7,520. Jip Larooi, cashed again in 6th along with fellow Dutchmen, Martijn Den Enting who finished 5th and Joeri Zuiderwijk who came 3rd banked €1,050.

Saturday saw the culmination of the Irish Omaha Grand Prix Final which saw 44 entries whittled down to 14. The prize pool was €21,340, with Daryl Mcaleenan finishing third, €3,200, Luke Walsh was second €4,910. From the North was Mark Johnston who came first with €7,370.

The following day the ACOP Main Event Final was settled. €212,294 was the prize pool from 706 entries. It was announced that 95 places were to be paid. When that tense moment arrived it was Darren Harbinson who put out Gerry Mcardle on the bubble. But Gerry wasn’t finished just yet. 

One of the livepokerupdates very own, an avid fan of the game and recreational player David Lyons made the final table banking €8,450. David is an integral part of the LPU team who handles everything IT related. He also helps out at major events to provide integral on the floor updates from bad beats, big swings and the sampling of spice bags.

Play continued and when it got down to the final three and a deal was done, €25,000 each, plus an extra €2250 for second and €6000 for first. Play continued and it ended with third place going to Paudie Cusack, €25,000. Second was Robert Mcguirk, €27,250 and for the second night in row the winner was Mark Johnston, €31,000. 

Mark who sits in 7th on Northern Ireland’s all-time money list before the DPF came third in the Irish Poker Open in 2024 (€232,685). Now that he is securing number one spots he is definitely one to watch, and so far the festival belongs to him, he lifted the belt with fellow comrades from the North, Darren Harbinson and Joel Baxter on the rail.

On the same day the One Day Classic was played and lived up to its name attracting 228 entries bringing the prize pool to a whopping €37,600 for a €200 buy-in. Three Irish men fought through the pack and went all the way with Evan Lester coming third and banking €3,870. Michael Breen was second securing €5,620, with the “bubble boy” from the ACOP, Gerry Mcardle coming in first with €8,340.

With the European Deepstack Poker Championship still to take place, which has a sure to be surpassed €200,000 guarantee. The live Day 1’s kick off on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th of February two days later is the Final on Sunday 1st March.

WPT Global are running a bubble protection promotion for this event which means –

•       Any direct online buy-ins for the event makes you eligible for Bubble protection.
•       If you bubble the event, finishing the last position before “in the money”, WPT Global will credit your buy-in back as cash.

Head to WPT Global to secure your seat before Thursday…