Niall Smyth — From Ballabriggs to Baller Part IIrish Open Winner Talks To Card Player About His Remarkable Journey From €20 Bet On Grand National to €650,000 Irish Open Win |
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Niall Smyth Irish Open story overflows with the stuff dreams are made of. A young guy puts a few quid on a horse and wins, uses the money to enter an Irish Open satellite and wins, plays in the main event, and… well you probably know what happens next.
Smyth walked away with €550,000 for the top prize after beating some of the most well-respected players on the international circuit, and not only that, he went home with the €100,000 Sole Survivor package for being the last PaddyPowerPoker.com qualifier standing. Young, ambitious, excited, and humble, the poker world is now Smyth’s oyster. When Card Player Europe sat down with the newly-crowned champ, he had some very interesting things to say, so who better to tell his story than the man himself…
Rebecca McAdam: Did you go back to work after your win?
Niall Smyth: I havent been back to work yet, but as I’ve said before, while the money I won is a phenomenal amount, it won’t enable me to retire, so while this coming year is still up in the air work-wise, I’d say I’ll be back next year at the very least. The only way I couldn’t see myself back there is if I had a very good year on the live circuit.
RM: Will this change your life at all?
NS: Oh yeah, I think my life will change in many ways, even at the simplest level; the path in which my life was headed, even though I don’t know what that was, has taken a massive turn and, from what I can see, only for the better. Practically this means I don’t ever need to get a mortgage for a house which is the biggest outgoing people have every month. I’m also a little bit more of a recognised face with all the media coverage this win has received, and while all the well-wishes I’ve got have been excellent I look forward to it dying down. I’ve a great circle though of family and friends, and a really cool girlfriend, and I know whatever happens they’ll keep me grounded but also give me support if things get hard. This will give me confidence in the next year to just go out and grab the opportunity I’ve been given.
RM: Any plans now?
NS: I’ve no immediate plans, other than to make a plan for the next year which is a lot of work in itself [laughs]. I want to get some financial advise as to what’s the best way to look after the money I’ve just won, as I want this to be a kick-start to my life. I’ll be sitting down with the Paddy Power team to decide what tournaments best suit me over the coming year and we’ll make a schedule then, which is really exciting. The team at Paddy Power Poker have been really good to me since this happened with advice and always there to take my calls and questions. I’ll also be buying a car in the very near future and while at times it has been great fun letting my mind run wild with what I might buy, I’ll eventually land at a somewhat more sensible option [smiles].
RM: Are you excited about representing Paddy Power Poker for the year?
NS: I absolutely can’t wait, I mean this is the dream of anyone who plays poker, travelling all over the world playing poker on the live circuit. One of the past winners came up to me after I won it, congratulated me, and with one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen told me it’ll be the best year I’ll ever have, so yeah to say I’m excited would be an understatement. Even aside from poker the chance to see different parts of the world which I may never have done is going to be an amazing experience. The fact I’ll be representing Paddy Power Poker is cool in a different way, even though they are an international site, they were formed in Ireland, so it kind of feels like I’ll be representing Ireland for the year.
RM: Have you been thinking about what events you would like to play?
NS: Ha! Yeah, all of them if possible, but obviously this will be impossible. Well first and foremost I’ll be booking a spot in the Paddy Power Irish Open next year, playing or not I’ve always had savage weekends at it, of course playing is more fun! Next on the list is the World Series main event, the oldest tournament in the world with the biggest prize pool, it’s a big buy-in so this might be my only chance to ever play it and I plan on taking it. While I’m over for the World Series, I definitely want to play some Omaha hi-low events as I’d consider this my best game and probably is my biggest chance of winning a bracelet, even if the chances are still very low.
Also there will be a few EPT events to be played next season, though I’m just not sure which ones yet, and back home there will be a couple to play thoughout the year. I have a €50 tournament to play in the Ennis casino next Friday and while I haven’t talked to the Paddy Power Poker team about playing in it I’m sure they won’t mind [laughs].
RM: When did you start playing and why?
NS: I suppose like so many others, I started playing a home game with my mates every Friday night when I was 18. Just little games for €10 or €20 where the main aim was to beat your mates not by playing good poker, but by gambling or just trying to put bad beats on them. Then there was the poker boom so I started playing a bit online but again it was small money and as a pastime so I didnt really care if I won or lost.
Four or five years ago our local casino opened in town and myself and a few of my friends started playing there. It was the first time I realised that if you wanted to win at poker you had to take it seriously and concentrate on the game and the other players. So I started to asked questions about the way to play certain hands and watched the players that won mostly and learned a lot. The fact that everyone up there was so friendly and the relaxed atmosphere helped me, the novice, have the confidence to go back and play. So on top of improving my game I’ve made many good friends due to poker, which is really more important to me.
RM: Do you play much, whether it be online or live?
NS: I go through phases of live and online play but on average I’d be playing somewhere in the region of 10 hours a week, which is enough with a full-time job.
RM: You did so well in the Open in 2009 finishing 11th and now you’re the 2011 champ… it doesn’t look like poker is a huge part of your life, so what is it about the Irish Open?!
NS: Well being Irish and being a poker player, it was always my dream to one day win the Irish Open, as I’ve said, playing or not, the craic you have up there every year can’t be topped. Myself and my friends get up there every year, it’s like our poker holiday. So that’s why I try my hardest to play in it if I get a chance. Like many others though I spend most of my poker time playing on the Internet, even though it is just a pastime for me, so that’s why I wouldn’t have travelled to any other events outside of Ireland.
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