Inside PokerStars: Serious poker and serious craic name of the game at Irish Open
Inside PokerStars: As part of a new interview series, PokerStars speaks to Irish Open co-organiser Paul O'Reilly ahead of this year's event
The Irish Open stands out among the European poker tournaments, drawing players from all over the world to the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) on the southside of Dublin city every Easter. So, what is it that makes this stand-alone festival of poker so unique? A single word according to one of its organisers: “craic”.
Over a video call, just a couple of weeks out from the Irish Open’s April 10 start date, organiser Paul O’Reilly expands further.
“I have pals that come out [each year]. And every year they go, ‘Right, we’re coming out Friday. We’re just going to get a hotel and we’re going to stay Friday and Saturday’.
“They don’t even play poker,” O’Reilly adds, with a laugh and shake of his head. “They’re playing shuffleboard. They’re watching the rugby across the road in the pub. The whole buzz, they’re just coming up for the buzz of the room.”
The ‘room’ in question is of course the key location for the Irish Open in the RDS.
“I just love walking through this room”, O’Reilly adds. “The noise in this room, of chips and microphones and TVs and screens and people are watching football on tellies and having pints and just having a laugh.”
Irish Open Co-organiser Paul O’Reilly (Right), alongside Cedric Billot (Centre)
Alongside the festival atmosphere, there’s some serious poker taking place, with some serious prize money on offer.
“You’ve got a €2.5m guarantee this year on the main event”, offers O’Reilly. “You’ve got a million mystery bounty. You’ve got the mini–Irish Open – €250 buy-in and a million guaranteed.
“And then you’ve got another 66 events that are going on with new high rollers and mixed games. These are new things we’ve been wanting to bring in, and now is the time, so you’ve got this high roller series where you’ve got more 5Ks and 10Ks, more mixed games.”
Key Sponsors
As a main sponsor, alongside Paddy Power, PokerStars have been an invaluable partner in helping to scale the Irish Open in recent years, according to O’Reilly. He’s keen to highlight a couple of figures within PokerStars that have been important cheerleaders. One name springs to mind immediately – Dave Curtis (Head of Marketing Engagement Communications at PokerStars).
As O’Reilly says, “Ireland is a small place”, and the poker world there even smaller, so the two knew each other well. Curtis had reached out a number of years back to enquire about PokerStars sponsoring the event, but it was a non-runner because of a sponsorship deal already in place. Still, they kept in touch.
“When we signed the contract in 2022 with PokerStars”, recalls O’Reilly, “Dave was very involved in the background of what was going on. It was phone calls from the likes of Dave, who was kind of chit-chatting, because we were in this realm of ‘who will we choose?’ Because we had a number of suitors. A lot of people want to sponsor the Irish Open.”
Dave Curtis (Head of Marketing Engagement Communications at PokerStars)
O’Reilly continues: “And it really comes down to JP (McCann, co-organiser) and I kind of deciding, ‘who do we think we can work with best over the next few years?’ and ‘who do we think can adapt to the things that we had in our minds?’ and ‘who do we think can adapt to the way we see the Irish Open evolving?’”
He adds: “So there was a number of those things. Dave would have been one of the key drivers behind the Irish Open and us deciding on PokerStars.”
Unity of Direction
The two are alike, rarely not working or thinking of ways to make even the smallest detail of the Irish Open even better, according to O’Reilly.
“He’s never off the phone”, he says, eyes widening. “If you’ve ever seen him, he’s got two or three phones. You know what I mean? He’s never off the phone – morning, noon and night – he’s continuously on the phone. And he’s a bit like me. It could be 10 at night and you’ll be sitting there and watching something on the telly, and Dave’s pinging you: ‘I have an idea’.
“[The] unity of direction is the same. We all want a successful event”, nods O’Reilly.
Behind the Scenes
For O’Reilly, another vital cog in the PokerStars sponsorship wheel is Cedric Billot – Associate Director, of Live Events Operations.
“I liked Cedric pretty much immediately”, the Dubliner says without hesitation. “So, we were off to a good start there. And at the end of the day Cedric was the man who was going to arrange the contract. Cedric was the man who was agreeing what the terms of this relationship would be.
“Was he going to accept what we wanted? Was he going to accept the way we wanted things to happen? And did he believe that we could do it? Cedric says it’s a beautiful event, in his French accent”, O’Reilly adds mischievously.
Cedric Billot (right) – Associate Director, Live Events Operations
The 24/7 nature of the business is something that O’Reilly sees in the work ethic of so many within the PokerStars team involved – and Cedric is no exception.
“Cedric will always pick up the phone when I ring him if I want to run something by him or he might ring me to run something by me or the same with JP. And he’s always at the end of a phone. So, he’s a good guy in fairness, considering how successful and how thriving the EPT is at the moment. Looking at the numbers in Prague back in December, and looking at Campione (Italy) last week. Like, they’re mad figures! But for him to find some downtime nowadays, I would say is difficult.
“Then he comes to Dublin for the Irish Open. And we’ll still probably be chatting every day. We’ll have a few drinks the odd time over there as well. And he’s looking around and he just looks at it and he gets it.”
Award Success
This non-stop hard work was recognised recently when the Irish Open picked up the award for Best Stand-Alone Festival at the prestigious Global Poker Awards in Las Vegas. With characteristic humility, O’Reilly demurs somewhat.
“JP and I, we just come up with mad ideas, get the venue, set it all up get the right people in [and] come up with some more mad ideas!”
“JP and I don’t deem this award as our award”, he quickly interjects. “We don’t think this is a ‘JP and Paul’ award. This is an Irish Open award. The award, in our opinion, belongs to the players, the staff, the company, the sponsors, everybody contributes to the event.”
He goes on to play down his role further: “JP and I, we just come up with mad ideas, get the venue, set it all up get the right people in [and] come up with some more mad ideas!”
Eventually he accepts his part in picking up the award, and that it can only help expand the Irish Open internationally.
“We do think the biggest field that we might see increase, because of that award, could be North America”, he says.
Expansion is very much on the minds of the Irish Open organisers. Especially considering the 50th anniversary of the Irish Open is coming up in just five years’ time – making it the oldest poker tournament in Europe.
Paul O’Reilly (Co-Orgnaiser of the Irish Open)
“We have big plans for massive numbers to be at that Irish Open”, reveals O’Reilly. “We’ve always said that we’re in line with where we wanted to be in this period of time. Covid obviously knocked us off kilter for a while when it came for two years. [But] we’re on target for where we want to go.
“So, things like the award, things like our sponsorship agreement partnership with PokerStars and Paddy Power and the success of the event so far are all contributing to what JP and I really want to do, but it’s not all about numbers.”
“That’s the secret thing. We must keep it as a poker festival.”
KEEPING THE FEEL
Indeed, the unique culture and ethos of the Irish Open is its USP. To lose that would only end one way, according to O’Reilly.
“It’s very important that we keep the feel of the Irish Open as the Irish Open. It can’t become just a poker tournament. It has to be a poker festival. That’s really important for us. And that’s where people like Dave Curtis come into play and Cedric gets this type of thing, and all Dave’s team gets this.
“That’s the secret thing. We must keep it as a poker festival. The day it becomes too serious will be to the detriment of the Irish Open.”
As the call is about to wrap up, O’Reilly briefly turns interviewer, and asks an ultimately very easy question to answer: “I presume we’ll see you this year?”
Wouldn’t miss it for the world.
HERE’S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE IRISH OPEN 2025.
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