As appeared
in the Seattle Post Intelligencer
Go 2 Guy: $727,012! Seattle
player in the chips
 By
JIM MOORE
P-I COLUMNIST
He lives on Queen Anne Hill with his
wife and two sons. Some people know Ciaran O'Leary
as a general building contractor who remodels homes,
but his current job on Magnolia might be his last.
Next month when ESPN rebroadcasts a
World Series of Poker Texas hold 'em tournament he
won last week at the Rio in Las Vegas, O'Leary could
be on his way to mega-stardom in the poker world.
The tournament included 2,998 players,
all of whom paid $1,500 to enter. As the last man
sitting, O'Leary won $727,012.
There are many cool things about O'Leary,
not the least of which is his Irish accent. He calls
people "brother" and "laddie"
and says he's doing "grand."
More specifically, 727 grand. He raked
that in last Tuesday.
Talk about cool -- he gave $250,000
of his winnings in different amounts to his buddies.
Some got $65,000, others got $30,000, and so on, $10,000
and $5,000 to others. He just went to the cashier's
cage and rationed it out.
They celebrated over steak dinners and
champagne upstairs at the VooDoo Lounge, but O'Leary
was so fatigued he could barely eat.
That's the way these tournaments are,
mentally and physically exhausting. The first day,
they started before noon and ended at 3 a.m. The next
day, they played until 6:30 the next morning. On the
second day, O'Leary drank 10 Red Bulls just to stay
alert.
He had won more than 30 tournaments
before but none carrying the kind of prestige this
one did. All of the top-ranked players participated.
There were nine players at the final
table, and O'Leary, 33, started the table in fifth
place. By the time three players had been eliminated,
he was down to the shortest stack of chips on the
table.
O'Leary battled back by going all-in
four times and ending up in a two-man showdown with
Paul Evans of Mount Shasta, Calif., who could be a
giant or a midget in poker circles, I have no idea.
Now for a little poker play-by-play
-- O'Leary was dealt a king of clubs and 10 of diamonds,
and Evans was dealt a 6 of spades and 3 of spades.
A lot of strategic betting ensued, resulting in both
men going all-in after a flop of K-6-5.
O'Leary had a pair of kings, but Evans
had a pair of 6s. Another king showed up on the turn,
but it was a spade, giving Evans a shot at a flush.
But a 9 of diamonds was the river card, and O'Leary
won his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet,
the sport's biggest status symbol.
It's not just the magnitude of this
tournament that will elevate O'Leary; it's his antics
and style of play. ESPN cameras followed him everywhere.
Each time he went all-in, O'Leary left the table,
not wanting to see the cards.
His engaging personality will surely
play on the airwaves, as will his story. Born and
raised in the single-street village of Carrigaline
in County Cork, Ireland, O'Leary's family was poor.
He remembers going to bed hungry.
I think I was playing war with a deck
of cards at 8; that's when O'Leary started to play
poker. He beat 14- and 15-year-olds and started to
make some spending money. This would not have gone
over well with Dr. Phil, but it worked out for the
O'Learys, and it was OK with his mom.
"I gave her half of what I won,"
he said.
O'Leary said he came to the United States
with a friend in 1997, and went to Sullivan's Tap,
a Boston bar. He got into a poker game and won $3,000,
leaving $500 at the bar for beer and pizza for the
losers.
O'Leary and his friend took Amtrak to
San Francisco, the reason being: "Why not?"
He met his future wife there; she happened to be from
Yakima, and they settled in Seattle a year and a half
ago.
The man rattles off odds and percentages,
so it's quite apparent he knows the game -- the odds
are 221-1 against anyone being dealt a pair. Unless
you're playing against the Go 2 Guy -- then it seems
to happen a hell of a lot more frequently.
He also has a spooky sixth sense. Like
all good players, O'Leary can read his opponents and
is uncannily accurate.
He looks at Grant Haller and correctly
notes that the P-I photographer "comes across
as a big, rugged man, but is really a nice fella."
In one tournament, O'Leary was dealt
a pair of 9s and knew his opponent had him beat but
went all-in anyway. He just had a feeling and trusted
his instincts. Sure enough, the dealer gave him another
9 on the turn.
He knows some people will think he's
full of it with this woo-woo stuff, but they haven't
been to an Irish psychic known as the White Witch,
who can see the future. When O'Leary knocked on her
door, she opened it up and saw a huge light.
"You are something very, very special,"
the White Witch told him. "You are going to travel,
you are going to see more money than you ever imagined
and you're going to be a terror with the women."
Next week and next month, O'Leary will
return to Las Vegas to play in more WSOP satellite
events before taking part in the main event, which
figures to feature upward of 9,000 players this year.
In the poker rankings, he's No. 77 and
rising. O'Leary once told one of his opponents: "I'm
not here for the bright lights and free drinks; I'm
on a mission."
And the mission continues with sponsors
bankrolling him now.
"I would not be playing the game
if I wasn't trying to be the best," he said.
"Could I be the best player in the world? Put
it this way: For those three days, I was the best
player in the world."
P-I columnist Jim Moore can be reached
at 206.448.8013 or jimmoore@seattlepi.com.
His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
|
