The 2025 Irish Poker Open €1,150 no-limit hold’em main event attracted a record field of 4,562 entries, blowing away the €2.5 million guarantee by nearly €2 million. This was by far the largest running of this storied tournament, which holds to honor of being the longest-running no-limit hold’em event in Europe after debuting in 1980. The previous field-size record was set just last year, with 3,233 entries. That meant a 41.1 percent year-over-year increase in turnout.
After five starting flights and three more days of action inside the Royal Dublin
Society, it was Ireland’s own Simon Wilson who finally hoisted the trophy. The resident of Ashbourne, which is part of the Dublin metro area, earned a career-best payday of €600,000 ($684,000 USD) for the win.
“It’s really special. We come every year, and thousands of people enter. It’s always just a pipe dream,” Wilson said on the PokerStars live stream after coming out on top.
“Really happy to be able to close it out,” he later noted. “Of course the first-place prize is incredible, but the memory of winning this tournament is second to none. Biggest achievement I’ve had, and I’m going to remember this day forever.”
Wilson now has more than $1.2 million in recorded earnings to his name, including $48,792 for a fifth-place finish in a €10,000 buy-in side event at this same festival just days before taking down the main event. Prior to this, his top payday had been the $251,073 he earned as the ninth-place finisher in the 2023 World Series of Poker Online main event.
In addition to the hardware and the money, Wilson also secured 1,320 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion. With his two final-table finishes at this series, he is sitting in 76th place in the 2025 POY standings.
The top 671 finishers earned a piece of the $5,119,590 prize pool. Several notables ran deep, including bracelet winner and World Poker Tour champion Soheb Porbandarwala (25th), bracelet winner Carl Shaw (21st), 2013 Irish Open champion Ian Simpson (20th), and poker journalist Terrance Reid (11th).
The final day began with 19 players remaining and Italy’s Umberto Ruggeri in the lead. Wilson was situated in 11th place when cards first got in the air. Michael Karim had pulled out in front by the time the official final table was set. Joe O’Donaill was the first to hit the rail after the last nine posed for a quick photo. He ran pocket nines into the pocket kings of bracelet winner Georgios Skarparis to finish ninth ($52,212).
Robert Fluereci lost a preflop race with pocket sevens against Brandon Harris’ A-9 to head home in eighth place ($67,294). Panteleimon Pontos’ final stand pitted his A-3 suited against the A-K suited of Karim. Pontos flopped a three to take the lead, but Karim rivered a king to narrow the field to six. Pontos earned $88,350 for his seventh-place showing.
Kicker problems spelled the end of Harris’ run. He check-raised all-in on a ten-high flop with J-10, only to receive a quick call from the A-10 of Wilson. Blanks on the turn and river meant that Harris settled for $114,000 as the sixth-place finisher, while Wilson surged up the leaderboard.
UK's Brandon Harris scores the first 6-figure payout in the Irish Open Main Event.
He exits in 6th place, bagging €100,000! pic.twitter.com/5CmK9PFesz
— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) April 21, 2025
Karim had fallen to just over eight big blinds by the time his final hand arrived. He shoved from the small blind with Q
6
and was quickly called by Ignotas Kirsis from the big blind with 7
7
. Karim found now help from the board and was eliminated in fifth place ($148,200).
Wilson overtook the lead during four-handed play, then further extended his advantage when his A6 drew out on the 77 of Skarparis, who called Wilson’s button shove from the big blind. The board came down A1023 and Skarparis was knocked out in fourth place ($193,800).
A battle of the blinds led to the next elimination. Wilson ripped from the small blind with K9 and received a call from Kirsis, who had been dealt 55 in the big blind. The AJ9A4 runout gave Wilson aces and nines with a king kicker for the win. Kirsis secured $256,500 for his podium finish.
Heads-up play began with Wilson holding 168,500,000 to the 53,500,000 of Ruggeri. It didn’t take long for Wilson to convert his lead into the title. He had extended his advantage even further before the final hand arrived. Wilson three-bet shoved over the top of Ruggeri’s button min-raise with 65. Ruggeri called all-in for 7.5 big blinds total with A10 and the board came down 763K2 to give Wilson a pair of sixes and the title.
Ruggeri was awarded $360,240 as the runner-up. This was his third-largest cash yet, trailing only his third-place finish in the 2023 European Poker Tour Prague main event ($495,979) and his win in this year’s Merit Poker Western Series main event ($377,500). This was Ruggeri’s fourth final-table finish of the year. With 2,828 POY points and more than $812,000 in to-date POY earnings, he has climbed to seventh place on the leaderboard.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Simon Wilson | $684,000 | 1320 |
| 2 | Umberto Ruggeri | $360,240 | 1100 |
| 3 | Ignotas Kirsis | $256,500 | 880 |
| 4 | Georgios Skarparis | $193,800 | 660 |
| 5 | Michel Karim | $148,200 | 550 |
| 6 | Brandon Harris | $114,000 | 440 |
| 7 | Panteleimon Pontos | $88,350 | 330 |
| 8 | Robert Fluereci | $67,294 | 220 |
| 9 | Joe O’Donaill | $52,212 | 110 |
Photo credits: Rational Intellectual Holdings Ltd. / Danny Maxwell.
