WSOP Europe vs Irish Open: Players forced to pick sides in major spring clash

In December 2025, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) – now owned and operated by GGPoker – announced its WSOP Europe series would be moving from Rozvadov to Prague and would take place in the spring. 

In doing so, the WSOP opened a second front in the unofficial poker wars as the dates clash with Europe's longest-running tournament series: the Irish Poker Open. 

WSOP Europe is set to kick off on March 31 and runs through April 12, while the Irish Open takes place from March 26 to April 6, and it means players will now have to choose between chasing bracelets in the Czech Republic and experiencing what many in the community think is poker's best party. 

They'll have to choose between the €10M guaranteed WSOP Europe Main Event or the €2.5M guaranteed Irish Open Main Event – perhaps not as clear cut a decision as it seems on the surface. In 2025, the Irish Open welcomed a record-setting field in its Main Event and smashed the €2.5M guarantee with a total prize pool of €4,447,950. With momentum on its side, the 2026 iteration of the event could climb even higher. 

Irishman Simon Wilson won the 2025 Irish Poker Open Main Event, taking home the trophy and the €600,000 first-place prize.

Omar Sader

A difficult choice

Both festivals have much to offer. 

With the change in venue and location, the WSOP Europe series takes on a new shine in a new city. And its Main Event represents the largest guaranteed prize pool in European live poker history. Prague has long been a popular destination amongst the poker community, with the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in the city standing as one of the tour's most popular festivals, and offers a much more culturally defined experience (as opposed to Rozvadov) alongside the on-felt competition. 

While the Irish Open can't match the eye-catching sums up for grabs in Prague, it can most certainly compete on an experiential level. In 2024, another record-breaking year for the tour, PokerOrg spoke to a group of Canadian players who described the series as "a big home-game party." The Irish Open also offers a far more robust tournament schedule. With plans to run 86 events across the series – in comparison to the 15 bracelet events on the WSOP Europe slate – there's much more action on the cards in Dublin. 

Ultimately, the changes in location and timing for WSOP Europe, while positive overall, present poker players with yet another scheduling conundrum. 

We heard plenty from the community when it came time to choose between Las Vegas or The Bahamas. Now, the question has shifted: Dublin or Prague? 

2026 WSOP Europe Schedule

2026 Irish Poker Open Schedule - Highlights