The Irish Poker Tour will make a stop at Killarney later this month and features €450,000 in total guarantees spread out across six days of action, from September 28 to October 2, at the INEC Arena at Gleneagles Hotel Killarney.

Irish Poker Festival Main Highlights

The schedule culminates in the Irish Poker Cup which has an entry fee of €500 and offers at least €200,000 in guarantees. The tournament, which serves as the Main Event of the festival, has five Day 1 flights running from September 29 – October 1, with the winner to be crowned on October 2. There are satellites running for this huge tournament costing just €80 to enter.

Another event to watch for is the Irish Omaha Championship (October 1) which comes with a €2,500 buy-in and a €75,000 guarantee. This is the biggest-ever Pot-Limit Omaha event to take place in Ireland. Players may qualify for the tournament via satellites for only €350.

The Irish Poker Festival also features a Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em tournament which has a buy-in of €2,000 and features €50,000 in guarantees. The tournament takes place on October 2, with a €275 satellite scheduled on the same day.

Side Events

The schedule also includes multiple side events with buy-ins ranging from €150 to €750, such as the €150 Freezeout NLHE, €300 Omaha 7 Max, €300 Killarney Poker Cup, €150 Turbo Freezeout NLHE, and €200 Monster Stack NLHE.

The iNinja Poker Tour may have returned after five long years, but not everyone is happy, including Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler who recently criticized the tour for its excessive rake and adding a bonus feature that leaves the door open for collusion.

“Highest” Rake

In a tweet, Kessler called out what he considers the “highest rake in history”, referring to one of the events that ran as part of the iNinja Poker Tour at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno. The poker community relies on Kessler’s views on whether or not a tournament structure provides good value for players.

Apart from the high rake, Kessler also criticized a $2,000 bonus offer in a best-stack forward event which he said would only tempt players to collude.

Organizers Respond

The team at iNinja Poker Tour read Kessler’s tweet and acknowledged there was a problem with the rake, but tour organizers did not like how Kessler pointed it out. The tour is now under the management of Next Level Poker, owned by Chris Fox Wallace and Jordan Handrich.

In his response, Wallace accused Kessler of getting perks and comps from tours that he criticizes. Wallace warned Kessler they’d spill the beans if he continues attacking iNinja. Kessler has denied the allegations and demanded an apology from the tour.

888poker is returning as sponsor of the 2022 Battle of Malta and players will be delighted to know that the site is giving away seats to the festival’s flagship tournament, the €1 million-guaranteed Main Event, for a very affordable price!

Qualifier Details

The 2022 Battle of Malta Main Event kicks off on October 5 and runs through October 12, with the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julian’s playing host to the action. The tournament has a €555 buy-in and features four starting flights.

The Main Event ticket is included in a 2022 Battle of Malta package which players can win for as low as one cent. The package qualifier runs every Sunday on 888poker. You may buy in directly for $109, but there’s a more affordable way for you to win the package – via satellites with entry fees starting at just $0.01.

Package Inclusions

Apart from the €555 Main Event buy-in, the Battle of Malta package also provides the winner with 4 nights’ accommodation at the Intercontinental Hotel from October 7-11, travel allowance worth $350, and an 888poker LIVE kit – all of that valued at $1,700. All package winners will get to play on Day 1D of the tournament.

Ontario’s largest online poker series so far in terms of the number of events on the schedule is currently running on the BetMGM network which covers three online poker rooms – BetMGM Poker Ontario, bwin Ontario, and partypoker Ontario. The Ontario Poker Championships just kicked off on September 11 and will run until September 26, featuring C$500,000 in total guarantees.

Ontario Poker Championships – Key Details

The schedule is comprised of 74 numbered events that are available in three buy-in levels, meaning Ontarians have almost 200 individual tournaments to choose from. They can enter for as low as C$1.10, while the highest buy-in is set at C$530. Multiple tournaments come with five-figure guarantees, offering huge value to players.

Main Event

The main highlight of the series is easily the Main Event and there are three of them on the schedule. The low edition has a buy-in of C$5.50 and guarantees C$5,000, while the mid version comes with a C$22 entry fee and C$10,000 in guaranteed prize money.

The C$109 edition offers the biggest guaranteed prize pool of C$50,000. Each of the tournaments has multiple flights and the BetMGM Network is running satellites with buy-ins starting at only 1 cent.

The Ontario Poker Championships clashes with PokerStars’ Bounty Builder Series which runs until September 19 and guarantees C$1 million.

The ChampionChip Series, 888poker’s popular festival designed for low-stakes players, officially kicked off on August 28, with the first events awarding almost $85,000 in guarantees. 

More than $500K On Offer

Those who missed out on the opening day need not worry as there are around two dozen more events left in the schedule, including the main highlights of the series. The latest edition of the summer games-themed festival, which will run until September 5, features more than $500,000 in guaranteed prizes spread out across 31 events.

As always, the ChampionChip series offers great value for players, with some events awarding $2,000 for every $1 spent, including the $5 buy-in “Made to Amaze” tournament scheduled for September 4 which comes with $10,000 in guarantees. It isn’t part of the 25 numbered events on the schedule but still sports the ChampionChip brand.

Main Highlights

Headlining the series are three Main Events where players can win a share of at least $15,000 in guarantees. That exact figure is on offer in the $5 buy-in Micro Main Event which takes place on September 4. A Mini version, which costs $16.50 to enter and features a $20,000 guarantee also runs on the same day.

Players on the hunt for the biggest value should not miss the $60 buy-in Main Event which will award $200,000 in guarantees. Day 1 flights will run from September 1-5, with the final table taking place on September 6.