The new JP Poker Card Club and Casino will be hosting two “milestone” satellites for this year’s €1,150 buy-in Irish Open Main Event. The satellites are taking place on Monday, March 11 and Monday, March 18 at the new venue in Tallaght, Dublin.
Both tournaments – which cost €130 to enter with unlimited re-entries – are 1 in 10 satellites. Every player who reaches the 100,000 milestone in chips will automatically get a seat regardless of how many players are left.
The new JP Poker Card Club and Casino is easy to get to – it’s only 14km from Dublin city centre and there’s ample onsite parking. The full address is Unit 3, Arena Center, Tallaght, Dublin 24, D24 V9TA.
Milestone satellites have become increasingly popular over the last few years, especially in Europe. In a milestone satellite, a player wins their seat as soon as they reach a certain number of chips – i.e. the milestone. Once you hit the magic number, your stack is taken out of play, and you get your ticket. Any remaining chips are distributed evenly to all the other players who were dealt into the hand.
In theory, milestone satellites play out faster than traditional satellites as there is no incentive to stall or hang on grimly until the money. The aim is simply to accumulate as many chips as possible and reach the milestone.
The Irish Poker Open is the longest-running No Limit Texas Hold’em poker tournament in Europe and is taking place this year from March 25 to April 1 at the Royal Dublin Society. The €1 million guaranteed Main Event gets underway on March 27 with a total of four starting flights.
For players at the RDS, the schedule features 11 Main Event satellites along with two milestone satellites for the €5k Luxon Pay High Roller and another satellite running for the €3k High Roller.
Last year 245 players won Irish Open Main Event seats in super satellites at the Royal Dublin Society. They included Donegal delivery driver Declan Rice who only played the satellite because he was waiting for a seat in a cash game. He ended up finishing second for a whopping prize of €228,700 after battling his way back from four big blinds.