Wild Rover Ciarán O'Leary on Living the Dream

While other young boys watched football in the local pub, Ciarán O'Leary was more focused on the poker games going on in the corner. 1989 was the year, and a bar in Cork the place where O'Leary set his goal for the future. A rerun of the World Series of Poker was being shown on the television (the year that Phil Hellmuth won the main event), and O'Leary turned to his friends and said, "You'll see me up there one of these days ... I'll win one of those!" Some might have thought it was only a pipe dream, but 18 years later, that's just what he did. After taking down 2,997 opponents in the $1,500 no-limit hold'em event in 2007, O'Leary earned his first gold bracelet and the top prize of $727,150. Winning a bracelet in the World Series is something all poker players hope to achieve, but O'Leary is hesitant to label it as purely "a dream come true." He said, "If you dream about winning the lotto and you do, that is a dream come true because the odds are truly against you. But when you set your sights on winning a bracelet when you consider yourself to be one of the best players in the world, and then you actually go on and win one, that's a great accomplishment."

Despite having a business, a house, and a family to look after, the money was not the most important thing about the win for O'Leary. "I have been going to the World Series since 1998. I had won a lot of small events -- a few tournaments that basically when you went up to get the money, they didn't even know your name. I was knocking at the door, so to speak, to try to get into this arena. The win enabled me to get to a stage where I always felt I was, at least from a notoriety point of view. To eventually win a bracelet was like a lifetime dream for me, and to do it in that one was as well -- which was a record-breaking tournament at the time."

O'Leary on the Defence

Defending a title and entering the World Series as a former champion has both positive and negative aspects. In relation to whether it gives a player more confidence or simply increases the pressure, O'Leary says it's 50-50. "You want to repeat it because it's such a great feeling, but that's a lot easier said than done. You want to win these big tournaments; however, a lot of them are very costly, and you can go a long time without even cashing sometimes because of the level of play."

Card Player caught up with O'Leary shortly after he attempted to defend his title in this year's World Series. "I have played in two of the events so far, including the event that I won last year, but I didn't win it. It's a very humbling game, this game that we play. You're back down to reality very quickly. You don't really get that many chips starting off, so you really have to break good. I ran into pocket aces twice, and I was able to get away. I had pocket tens against pocket aces with the TV cameras rolling and I folded, so I did well to get away from that. The guy very gracefully showed me his pair of aces. Another time, I had pocket eights. I was able to get away from it on the flop. The hand in which I actually got eliminated was A-J suited against two kings. You're getting only 3,000 in chips, so you have to break good, that's just the nature of it. I didn't feel too bad, as there was Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, and Phil Ivey getting up, too."

What's Luck Got to Do With It?

So, were the cards just unlucky or did he play differently this time around? "In the first three hours of play, out of the four biggest hands that were on the table, I ran into three of them. I ran into aces twice and then kings. Last year, that didn't happen. I was able to get away from the hands, so I played my part well, but they still took a huge chunk of my chips before I got away. You don't get a lot of fold equity. You can get away from maybe only one big hand and a couple of small hands before you're almost committed to the next hand that you play. In the main event, you sit down with 20,000 in chips and the levels are a bit longer, so you're getting a lot more play for your money. I broke better last year, and my timing was off this year.

"Was luck on my side last year? It definitely looks like that when you watch the show, but they basically know who has won and they want to paint a picture as to how you got there. They're not going to show the areas where you made great laydowns, or when someone's bluffing you and you might have only third pair and still call. It was only toward the end when there were three of us left and I had that confrontation with Alex Jacobs on the third hand ... that was one of the few hands they showed where it was just good play. There was an A-K on the board and I was still able to move in with only a pair of sevens because I knew exactly where I was. You can't get that far in any particular tournament without getting lucky now and then."

Wanderlust

O'Leary's increased popularity is a consequence not only of his achievements, but also his bubbly personality and charisma. Millions of viewers worldwide watched him go all in time and time again and then wander away from the final table during last year's event. Although this made for great entertainment, he believes he was a victim of editing.

"I think the main reason why I walk away is that I'm pretty superstitious; it has happened to me in the past when I got knocked out of an event that I kinda thought, 'This hand is not going to hold,' but if I can clear my mind of all these thoughts, it doesn't do me any harm. There was also a couple of times when they showed a shot of me walking away and I didn't walk away for that particular hand at all, but they liked that kind of character. A lot of great players are very dry; you stick a mic to their mouths and you've got to shoehorn the words out of them. I'm a poker player first, obviously, but I was always a bit of a character -- happy go lucky and all that. You have to enjoy yourself while you're here and treat people with a little bit of respect, and that really rubbed off."

'Playing' the Game

O'Leary could be likened to a chameleon at the poker table, changing his tactics in reaction to his environment and those around him. He said, "When I get to the table, I like to use the phrase that I find myself a mirror reflection of my opponents, and their style will often dictate how I'm going to play at that particular table."

The major difference that O'Leary has noticed between now and when he first started playing in the World Series is the styles of play that have evolved. "There are just so many people who are so aggressive. It's almost constant aggression, where every single time, they are just relentless. I don't necessarily know that it's a style that wasn't there years ago. I mean, when I used to go to the World Series in 1998 -- it would have been considered that I had a lot of bottle. There would be no cobwebs forming around the base of my chips. You could arguably go ahead and call it a different game, because there's been so many new styles that have popped up -- styles that are almost unorthodox, really. It's like, 'Why in the name of goodness would you do that? How could you possibly think that you had the best hand when you made that move?' The problem is that the person did think that he had the best hand, and he ended up moving a player with a superior hand off that hand. Then, the person stacking his chips with the smaller pair is thinking he played that hand perfectly, and he kind of did, but indirectly."

Hopin' for an Open

O'Leary comes across as a very down-to-earth and easy-going guy, and his responses are filled with optimism and humor. That said, you also get the feeling that underestimating him would be a very costly move. It would be wrong to mistake his passion and confidence for arrogance; he simply has a deep belief in the game and in himself.

"If I could win an Irish Open, I would be delighted, and to win another bracelet would be a huge achievement. I obviously believe that's definitely going to happen, but as for the Irish Open, I would be hoping that. I'm gonna get a lot more cracks at winning another bracelet as opposed to the Irish Open, which comes around annually. Do I think I have the ability and am good enough to win the Irish Open? I absolutely do, but having said that, in any particular year that I play, there is going to be a minimum of a hundred other guys who are going to be as good from all over the world. It just comes down to who's running better on the day."

After the World Series, O'Leary is looking forward to the Ladbrokes Poker Millions, in which he will play against 35 other professionals and 36 online qualifiers in an attempt to win $1 million. His new deal will see him play in more events than ever before, giving him the chance to take his success to higher levels. He is living proof that Europeans can do some damage on the worldwide circuit, and for those who have not yet made the cut, well -- in his words -- the game will still be there next week.

Find out more about Ciarán O'Leary and read his strategy articles and World Series updates at www.paddypowerpoker.com/bigc/.

In Bed With PaddyPowerPoker

Ciarán O'Leary, aka "Big C," became a well-known name in the poker world after winning his gold bracelet, and many sites wanted to be associated with such a likeable character. It was this combination of skill and personality that grabbed the attention of PaddyPowerPoker. "Winning a bracelet catapults you into a different animal altogether. It obviously brought me to their attention, and they weren't sponsoring anybody at the time. I had the opportunity to go with a couple of American sites as well, and I didn't want that. Nothing against the sites, but for me it was something I was very proud to do -- to win it for Ireland -- and there's only four or five of us who have won these things. Their whole thing is fun, fair, and friendly, so I seemed to be someone who embodied that. It was a great honour for me to align with Ireland's biggest site and to be the only ambassador of the site."

The yearlong contract will see PaddyPower putting O'Leary into several events, including the main event and a few others at the World Series. A benefit of this, according to him, is the comfort of knowing that he's going to be put in some tournaments without paying for them himself. "It gives me the option of playing in some additional events that I wouldn't necessarily have played," he said. The deal also will include daily blogs during tournaments and online play when he's away from home.