Poker pro/coach/author/commentator 🌍 @paddypowerpoker ambassador 🇮🇪 Host @thechiprace 🎤Author 7 #1 strat books 🏃♂️international ultrarunner
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Articles by Dara O'Kearney
Simplify Poker vs JakaCoaching: Ryder Cup of Poker at the Irish Open
Poker is by its nature an individual competition, yet most poker players are very social creatures. This creates a unique atmosphere among players trying to take each others money, yet also seeing each other as co-conspirators. In no other arena that I can think do the lines between competitors and collaborators blur quite so much. Poker players are quick to find common causes, and team events are always popular.
Win a €1,100 Irish Open Main Event Ticket at Simplify Poker
I may have won 19 tickets already for the Irish Open, but in February, I am giving one away. The Irish Open have kindly donated a €1,100 ($1,301) Irish Open Main Event ticket to the Simplify Poker Academy community. In February, we will be running a series of satellite strategy questions in our private community, and the winner will be awarded a Main Event ticket.
Dara O’Kearney: In Sheffield for the PartyPoker 2026 Tour
I’ve reached that point in my life where I’m old enough to have been everywhere I wanted to see (and most places I didn’t particularly want to see but went anyway), but have not yet reached the point where I don’t want to go anywhere new. Sheffield is one of the few places in the UK I hadn’t already been, not because I was avoiding it, but just I never had a compelling enough reason to go there.
Dara O’Kearney: Looking Back and Forward - A Year in Review
Well, it’s that time of year again when I look back at the year that’s been, and forward to the year to come. On the live felt, it’s been a case of consistency but no big eye-catching result. I set a new Irish record for most Hendon Mob cashes in a year, and those 41 cashes included eight tables, one win, and another chop headsup. However, my biggest score of the year was for just over $14k for a 12th place finish at the WSOP.
Partying in London at the Party Poker UK Tour
One of the live highlights of 2025 was the Party Poker UK tour. I attended my first in Glasgow, which was a lot of fun, as was Birmingham. For my final live outing of the year, I headed to Aspers for the London stop. you can win anything from an online ticket up to a free entry to the high roller I got there just in time to max late reg Day 1B, and managed to bag on the first bullet which is always nice. Even nicer is the great “spin the wheel” promo.
Dara O’Kearney: The Hand That Blew Minds in the Green Isle
In my last article, I mentioned a hand I played that ended up being the most talked about and debated hand of the Irish Poker Tour stop in Dublin at the Green Isle Hotel. With just over two big blinds, I limp folded under the gun, to the surprise and consternation of apparently everyone at the table. In doing so, I appeared to break the oft repeated but poorly understood adage about pot commitment (that if you put over one third of your stack in, the rest is implicitly commuted to follow).
Dara O’Kearney: Winter in Dublin - A Tale of Two G’s
One of the most memorable Irish pop rock songs is Bagatelle’s “Summer in Dublin,” written by the late Liam Reilly. Although it was never a hit outside Ireland, it’s a perfect encapsulation of the often repeated view in Ireland that we’d be a truly great country if only we could put a roof over it. This is obviously tongue in cheek, as the lush countryside with its 40 shades of green depends very heavily on the constant supply of water that falls from the sky here.
Dara O’Kearney: Poker, Game Theory, and a Squid in a Box
I have written in the past about how game theory can be applied not just to poker but to any game in which decision-making plays a part. 1 mark out of 10 “guessed” right One such example was a game Neil Channing told me about in Vegas years ago that involved a player taking a cash chip, putting it behind his back, and wagering that the mark couldn’t guess the correct hand. Once the mark had accepted the wager, he would bring both his hands to the front for them to guess left or right.
Dara O’Kearney: 10 top tips for mystery bounty tournaments
Few formats in poker have had as meteoric a rise in poker as the Mystery Bounty. What was a novelty format in 2021 became a staple part of live poker in 2022. It seemed every single live poker tour had multiple Mystery Bounty tournaments on the schedule in 2022 — in some cases it became a de facto second Main Event. Speaking of Main Events, if the Mystery Bounty had its own Main Event, it was, without doubt, the Million Dollar Bounty event at the World Series of Poker.
Dara O'Kearney: Understanding Risk Premium (size matters)
You often hear players say, "I was under ICM pressure." Risk Premium is a measure of ICM pressure. It is one of the most important concept to understand in tournament poker. Risk Premium quantifies how much more equity you need than the pots odds you are being offered to call an all-in because of ICM pressure. If you need 50% equity to call an all-in in a ChipEV scenario, and your Risk Premium is 12% on the bubble, then you would need 62% equity.
The Indomitable June Jenkins Takes Down the IPO High Roller
The first time I met June was at the Irish Open a few years ago. I’d just walked into the Royal Dublin Society when she stopped me and asked with a sarcastic glint in her eye: “Are you the famous poker player Dara O’Kearney?” her most fervent desire at that moment was, not just to eliminate, but to annihilate me The first time we played together, she vocally announced to the table that her most fervent desire at that moment was, not just to eliminate, but to annihilate me.
Tale of Two Noels From Fitzwilliam to Bonnington
It’s early December 2011 and I am heading into the Fitzwilliam Card Club for a team event. My team are calling ourselves the Old Nits, and comprises of future European Poker Tour (EPT) winner Padraig O’Neill (aka Smidge), a fiery young Dub who recently moved back from Connecticut called… checks notes… David Lappin, and Rob Taylor.
Dara O’Kearney: Back to the International Poker Open
The first entry on my Hendon mob is a win in the first-ever European deepstack back in early 2008. I had been playing less than a year and this was my first big live result. At the time and often since, it was misreported that this was my first ever multi-day tournament. In actual fact, I had already played the first ever International Poker Open (IPO) in 2007, in the Royal Dublin Society. I didn’t last long enough to make any impression.
Dara O’Kearney: Peaking Blinds in Birmingham
When I’m at home working on the next book, video, or other training content, I am constantly reminded of the target audience. For one thing, I get daily messages complimenting, criticising, or querying some aspect of my existing content.
Poker Expert Dara O’Kearney: ICM Strategy and Why It Matters
I cut my teeth in online sit and go’s. To survive in them, you needed to understand Independent Chip Model (ICM) strategy, so that’s always been one of my biggest strengths as a player, and specializations as a coach. I even wrote an entire book on it (Endgame Poker Strategy) and released a course on Postflop ICM at SimplifyPoker. Back when I started, there were no solvers.
My favorite hand: Dara O’Kearney’s misread of a lifetime
I’m in the Isle of Man for a UKIPT event. I can't find a cab, so I end up walking through an absolute downpour and arrive thirty minutes after it had started. I take my seat, absolutely soaked. In the first hand, I’m in the big blind. An aggressive Irish online regular — someone I play against every night — opens from early position. I look down at my hand and defend . The flop comes J-6-5 rainbow, with one diamond. I check and my opponent bets.
Can Aces Really Be a Fold in a Non-Satellite Poker Tournament?
Every time my Twitter notifications blow up, I know one of two things has happened. Either someone I know very well has died, or someone somewhere has folded Aces pre-flop and people want to know my opinion. I could say I’m not sure why I am the guy the bat signal goes up for every time someone folds Aces, but of course I do. The cover illustration of my first book Poker Satellite Strategy literally shows aces being folded.
Dara O’Kearney: Taking On the PartyPoker Tour in Glasgow
I arrived in Glasgow two hours later than planned thanks to a delay to my Aer Lingus flight. My mood wasn’t helped by the fact that most of those two hours were spent sitting in the part of Dublin Airport that resembles a bus terminal, primarily because it basically is a bus terminal. Eventually our bus showed up and brought us to the farthest part of Dublin Airport where a small domestic plane was waiting to bring us to Glasgow.
Dara O’Kearney: Tales From the World Series of Poker 2025 Part 8
If you have been keeping track of parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of my World Series of Poker 2025 series, you will know how I performed in the tournament this year. With the event officially over, below are three memorable moments from Sin City. I got some great free coaching in the Gladiator. And the daily Deepstack are great too. The other day I got moved to a new table with 4 bbs ITM just after losing a big flip. Two guys besides me having a friendly chat.
Dara O’Kearney: Tales From the WSOP 2025 Part 7
If you read parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of my Tales From the WSOP series, then you will know how my tournament went so far. With the curtain finally closing on the 2025 edition, it is time to reflect. When I started coming to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) almost two decades ago, the Main Event was not only the Main Event, but also the last one.
A Player Built Different
It’s November 2014, and I find myself in Manchester, the guest of Paddy Power. Paddy are making a promo push for the 2015 Irish Open in the UK, hoping to attract more foreign visitors to the event. As part of that, they’re running a special event in the Manchester235 casino, and have comped me (and Padraig Parkinson) an all-expenses-paid trip. I flew over with Peter Campbell.
Tales From the World Series of Poker 2025 Part 6
If you have kept up with parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of my World Series of Poker (WSOP) 2025 series, then you will know how I have performed at the tournament so far. Next, I’m going to break down my most interesting hands from Day 1 of the Main Event.
Tales From the World Series of Poker 2025 Part 5
If you read Part 1, 2, 3, and 4 of my World Series of Poker 2025 series, you will know how I have fared so far in the ongoing edition of the world-famous poker competition. Next up, the Super Seniors. At 60 years and 7 days old, I entered my first ever Super Seniors tournament as one of the youngest in the field, and many of my table mates throughout the day expressed surprise I was old enough to play.
Tales From the World Series of Poker 2025 Part 4
If you read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of my World Series of Poker (WSOP) updates, you will know that I made it to Las Vegas, struggled in the Seniors but then managed to bag at the first attempt in the Millionaire Maker. I had an interesting table draw with Norman Chad to my immediate left After this, I played daily tournaments at the WSOP the following day, notching up two near bubbles and one min cash. The following day, I decided to take my first day off, kind of.
Tales From the World Series of Poker 2025 Part 3
If you read Part 1 and Part 2 of my Tales From the WSOP series, you will know that I made it to Las Vegas for the tournament without much trouble, but then proved unsuccesful in the Salute to Warriors and Seniors events. on this occasion I had no real choice but to tighten up After playing very long days since I arrived, I slept in (deliberately) the morning of the first flight of the Milly Maker which meant I got there two and a half levels in.
Tales From the World Series of Poker 2025 Part 2
If you read Part 1 of my Tale From the WSOP 2025, you will know that I made it to Las Vegas relatively unscathed by the journey. When I arrived, I had a good night’s sleep before my first event, the Salute to Warriors. On Day 2 of the event, we came back very close to the money, meaning I had little choice but to fold into it. My cause was greatly helped by a charming Belgian who was even shorter than me.
Tales From the World Series of Poker 2025 Part 1
The adventure to the 2025 World Series of Poker began in Dublin airport. I left home over five hours before my flight was due to take off after hearing horror stories of one Irish player being turned back at US immigration control in the airport, and another being detained for questioning for so long that he missed his flight despite getting there three hours early.
Dara O’Kearney: Sexism and Ageism in Poker
Of all the things I do as part of my poker career, playing online has always been my favourite. However, coaching these days is a very close second, as my students are all a lot of fun, and I get almost as much of a buzz from their successes as I do from my own. One of the most fun students I currently coach is a female gamer who makes her living from streaming and pay-for-access content.
The Rise and Rise of the Irish Poker Open Winner Simon Wilson
Thursday, September 29, 2022. I’m in Malta for the first Unibet Open after the pandemic. I press the button for the elevator and get in when it comes. It stops before my floor and someone else gets in. I’m looking at my phone (as I so often am) but I glance up to see a young guy smiling awkwardly and moving from foot to foot. When I make eye contact he says: “You…..you’re Dara O’Kearney, right?” After I confirm my identity he continues. “I’m Linus Lomu on Unibet” I smile. “I know that name.
“The Chip Race’s” Unibet Sponsorship Comes to an End
My first Unibet Open was in Citywest in Dublin in 2011. Looking back years later, my abiding memory was that it was the first time I played in a tournament where I felt like a foreigner in my own country. Exactly how much the collapse of the Celtic Tiger and subsequent austerity affected the Irish poker economy was made clear that there was a tournament in Ireland that got less than a dozen locals to buy in. Nevertheless, it was a very fun weekend.
Steve O’Dwyer Lashes Out at Daniel Smiljkovic in Late Reg Rant
American poker pro Steve O’Dwyer is not happy with players who abuse the late registration system for tournaments. He took to X on Thursday to make his feelings clear, stating that “tournament organisers and directors need to start being extremely strict” about not allowing players to register once a late reg period has closed. Within the rant, he called out Daniel Smiljkovic specifically. He is a German player with around $92,000 in live earnings.
How to Build a Deep Run in a Poker Tournament
How to Build a Deep Run in a Poker Tournament Phil Hellmuth was in the news recently when he announced he doesn’t intend to play the WSOP Main Event this year, citing it as too arduous for players his age.
Memories From Ten Years of the Chip Race: Part Two
In my last piece, I reminisced over five moments from the early days of the Chip Race podcast. Continuing from that, here’s five more memories from the poker podcast, hosted by myself and fellow VegasSlotsOnline News man David Lappin. I’m not going to lie: after a bright start to the second season, things went downhill fast. We struggled to get guests that meant much to our audience, and the listener numbers reflected that, dropping from episode to episode.
The Best Memories From Ten Years of The Chip Race: Part One
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Chip Race podcast, I’ve delved into my memory to recall ten significant moments in the early evolution of the show. It’s March 2015, and after a few meetings with an Irish company that makes podcasts aimed at different niches (they have ones already for rugby, cricket, and horse racing), they pitch the idea that we do one on Irish poker. David and I agree to do it.
What to do when you are the worst player at the table
We are all the fish in some games but Dara O'Kearney has a few tips on how to reduce your disadvantage. One of the proudest achievements in my career has been all the people who have gotten to play in large "bucket list" tournaments thanks to my satellite book. This often means, however, that those players are going to be minus EV in the tournament itself. Nothing wrong with that, they might get lucky, use it as a springboard to learn or at least have an amazing experience.
The importance of population tendencies
Dara O'Kearney lays out a strategy for making reads on large groups of players (and when to avoid doing so). Population tendencies refer to the common leaks that are reliably present in a large group of players. It may be that NL100 players and under do not check/raise enough, or that PokerStars players are too aggressive, or American live players are too sticky. Perhaps the most important consideration regarding population tendencies is that they do change over time.
Post flop PKOs in 2 minutes
Dara O'Kearney has the cheat sheet for how to play after the flop when you can win a bounty. Despite being early birds with PKO, ICM and post flop ICM content, Barry and I have only never really done much on the topic of post flop PKO strategy. Here is the two-minute elevator pitch for how to play post flop pots when you can win a bounty. The big surprise is that your post flop continue range does not widen considerably. You continue with the same holdings that continue in a non-PKO hand.
How to spot leaks in poker
Fix your leaks and your game will come on in leaps and bounds - here is Dara O'Kearney's advice on knowing what is holding you back. It's a great idea in this game to always know what your leaks are. If you know the problem, you can work towards getting it fixed. Structuring your learning around leak fixing is a very organic way to learn, it's rewarding because your leaks cause you pain and poker is a game of making the fewest mistakes, so it usually improves your winrate the most.
Bad Boy Lappin Breaks the Rules in Barcelona
Apart from Vegas, Barcelona is the foreign destination I’ve played the most abroad. I have a lot of memories both good and bad from Spain. It was in San Sebastián I got the worst ruling of my career. The hand started with the big blind not realizing he was big blind, looking at his cards, and folding. Everyone else followed suit so it folded to me in the small blind. I therefore assumed his hand was dead and went through the formality of shoving to pick up the blinds.
How to think about tournament downswings
Dara O'Kearney shares how to come to terms with a game where everyone loses more than they win. The hardest part of poker is undeniably downswings. You can do everything right and still lose in this game. Tournaments are even tougher than cash games in this respect. In tournaments, most players have twice as many losing days as they do winning days. The opposite is true in cash games. We are, essentially, (almost) always on a downswing.
100-Event 2025 World Series of Poker Schedule Released
If the opening day of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is like the Christmas morning of the poker calendar, the release of the summer WSOP schedule is, what, like seeing the wrapped presents under the tree the night before? I don’t know, I’m reaching. with 100 live gold bracelet events, it is the longest schedule of all time So sure, let’s pretend today is Christmas Eve, as the 2025 World Series of Poker schedule has been announced.
Remembering Ellie Nixon: Selfless, Loving, Role Model
The UK poker scene was left reeling this week from the unexpected death of one of its leading ladies, Ellie Nixon. Her heartbroken husband, the popular UK pro player and coach Jamie, broke the news on Facebook with the following message: “Don’t really know how to put this into words but our wonderful Ellie Nixon died unexpectedly last Saturday. “She was adored, looked up to and cherished by so many and we are all devastated. She lit up every room she walked into and everyone loved her.
Dara O’Kearney: Memories From the European Deepstack
Well, it’s that time of year again. And what time is that exactly, I’m sure you’re wondering. It’s not Christmas, that much we know. Or even New Year. In poker terms, the World Series of POke is a long way off. It’s not Irish Open time. So what on earth is the old man talking about? Does he get more excited about Valentine’s Day at this point in his life than any other man who has been happily married for over three decades?
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