PartyPoker Tour Cork 2026: Full Schedule, €100K Main Event and What the Numbers Say

Irish poker players have a reputation. They travel well, they play fearlessly, and they turn every festival into a party. So when a tour that’s been busting guarantees all year lands in Cork, the outcome feels almost predictable.

The PartyPoker Tour arrives at the Macau Sporting Club in Cork from November 9 to 15, 2026. It’s the eighth stop of a ten-leg season, and the first PartyPoker Tour event in Ireland this year. The format is familiar: a €150 Mini Main to open the week, a €500 Main Event with a €100,000 guarantee to close it, and a handful of side events in between.

We’ve dug into the results from all seven completed 2026 Main Events to work out what to expect in Cork, how much the guarantee really asks of the field, and how to get the best value out of your week.

PartyPoker Tour Cork at a Glance

Detail	Info
Dates	November 9–15, 2026
Venue	Macau Sporting Club, Cork, Ireland
Tour stop	Leg 8 of 10
Main Event	€500 buy-in, €100,000 guaranteed (Nov 12–15)
Mini Main Event	€150 buy-in, €50,000 guaranteed (Nov 9–12)
High Roller	€1,000 (Nov 15)
Day 1 formats	Standard, turbo (Day 1c) and hyper-turbo (Day 1d)
Online qualifiers	Available on PartyPoker

Why the Macau Sporting Club Is the Right Room

If you’ve played poker in Ireland, you probably know the Macau. It sits on the Cork waterfront, a short walk from the city’s bars and restaurants, and it has been one of the country’s main tournament venues for years.

It’s also not the first time PartyPoker has come here. Back in February 2017, the Macau hosted the very first PartyPoker Grand Prix of that year. That €340 event carried a €100,000 guarantee and pulled in 426 entries, despite Storm Doris cancelling flights across Ireland and the UK. Niall McAree won it for €25,000.

That history matters. It shows that Cork turns up for PartyPoker, even in miserable weather. Before that, the Macau ran the Irish Poker Classic for years, a festival that drew names like Annette Obrestad and Roy Brindley and won awards in Ireland. In short, the room knows how to run a big week.

The Full Week, Event by Event

€150 Mini Main Event (€50,000 GTD) — Nov 9–12

The Mini Main has been one of the tour’s most popular events all season, and it’s easy to see why. €150 is a manageable buy-in for almost anyone, and the guarantee is meaningful.

• Day 1a: Monday, Nov 9, 5:00 p.m.
• Day 1b: Tuesday, Nov 10, 2:00 p.m.
• Day 1c (turbo) and Day 1d (hyper-turbo): through Nov 11
• Day 2: Wednesday, Nov 11
• Final table: Thursday, Nov 12

€30 satellites run alongside the early flights, each guaranteeing three Mini Main seats.

€500 Main Event (€100,000 GTD) — Nov 12–15

This is the event everyone circles. Like the Mini, it has four starting flights, two standard, one turbo and one hyper-turbo, running from November 12 to 14. The winner will be crowned on Sunday, November 15.

Side Events

• €60 Tennessee Hold’em Irish Championship — Saturday, Nov 14
• €250 NLH Mystery Bounty — Nov 14–15
• €1,000 NLH High Roller — Sunday, Nov 15

Tennessee Hold’em is a lesser-known variant and a nice change of pace if you bust a Main Event flight early. At €60, it’s one of the cheapest ways to get a title at the festival.

The festival will also run free-to-play sports betting and casino competitions, with Main Event seats as prizes. If you’re in Cork anyway, it costs nothing to enter.

2026 PartyPoker Tour Main Event Results So Far

Leg	Stop	Entrants	Prize Pool	Champion	Winner’s Prize
1	Sheffield	273	£121,485	Siddharth Sudunagunta	£20,090
2	Sevilla	383	€170,435	Garrido Cruz	€30,500
3	Madrid	535	€238,075	Alexey Neofitov	€43,250
4	Manchester	260	£115,700	Michael Breen	£22,000
5	London	190	£100,000	Daniel Smith	£22,500
6	Glasgow	355	£157,975	Robbie Bull	£28,500
7	Castellón	368	€163,760	Jonathan Rees	€30,000

What the Data Tells Us About Cork

Here’s where it gets interesting. We ran the numbers on all seven Main Events, and a few clear patterns appear.

1. Each entry adds €445 (or £445) to the prize pool

Divide any prize pool by its number of entrants and you get almost exactly 445 per entry, every time. So from a 500 buy-in, about 89% goes to the prize pool and roughly 11% covers fees. That’s a fair take for a low-to-mid buy-in live event, and better value than many festivals at this level.

2. Cork needs about 225 entries to hit the guarantee

€100,000 divided by €445 per entry means the Main Event needs around 225 entries to cover the guarantee. Anything below that is overlay, meaning extra money PartyPoker adds to reach €100,000.

3. Only one stop has missed so far — and players loved it

London was the only Main Event to fall short. With 190 entries, the field generated about £84,550, so PartyPoker topped it up by roughly £15,450. That overlay is a big reason London’s winner, Daniel Smith, took home a bigger share of the pool (22.5%) than any other champion this year.

4. Spain is outdrawing the UK

Region	Stops	Average Entrants
Spain (Sevilla, Madrid, Castellón)	3	~429
UK (Sheffield, Manchester, London, Glasgow)	4	~270
All seven stops	7	~338

The Spanish legs averaged almost 160 more players than the UK ones. Madrid’s 535 entries is the season high so far.

Our Cork prediction

Ireland has a deep live poker scene, and the Macau has a track record of strong PartyPoker turnouts. Cork is also the only Irish stop on this year’s calendar, so local players have no alternative date. We’d expect Cork to land comfortably in the 300–400 entry range. That would mean a prize pool of roughly €133,000–€178,000 and a first prize somewhere around €25,000–€32,000, based on how the winner’s share has run at other stops.

Treat that as an informed estimate, not a promise. But on the season’s evidence, the €100,000 guarantee looks very safe, and seven out of eight Main Events beating the guarantee seems the likely outcome.

Practical Tips for Your Cork Week

Play the Mini Main first. It finishes on Thursday, the same day Main Event flights begin, so you can play both without a clash. A deep run in the Mini can fund your Main Event buy-in.

Pick your flight based on your style. The standard flights reward patient, solid play. The turbo and hyper-turbo flights suit aggressive players and anyone short on time. If you’re newer to live poker, the slower flights give you more room to make decisions without blinds forcing your hand.

Use the cheap satellites. €30 satellites into the Mini, plus online qualifiers on PartyPoker, are the most bankroll-friendly way into the festival. PartyPoker has also been running a season-long qualification path with satellites starting from very low buy-ins.

Check the anniversary promotion. 2026 is PartyPoker’s 25th anniversary, and the tour has been running a stamp-collection promotion across its UK and Ireland stops, leading to a guaranteed freeroll at the final London leg. If you’ve already played other UK stops this year, Cork could count toward it, so check the details on site.

Book early. Cork is not a huge city, and festival weeks fill hotels fast. Book a few nights near the waterfront, and you’ll be a short walk from the Macau.

Bring ID. You need to be 18+ to play, and photo ID is required at the door.

What’s Next After Cork

Cork is leg eight of ten. After Ireland, the tour heads back to Spain for Murcia, before closing the season with a second London stop. If you’re chasing the anniversary promotion or just want one more festival before the year ends, those are the last two chances.

Our Take

The PartyPoker Tour has quietly become one of the best-value live circuits in Europe this year. It offers a fair fee structure, guarantees that almost always get beaten, and a schedule built for real people with day jobs. Cork should be one of the highlights: an experienced room, a poker-mad local crowd, and the only Irish date of the season.

If you’re a recreational player looking for a fun, affordable festival week before Christmas, this is an easy one to recommend.

We’ll update this page with live results from PartyPoker Tour Cork as the festival unfolds.

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