Longford's Padraig is one in a million

From a hotel room in Galway Padraig O'Neill takes a call. The Drumlish man is coming to terms with a record-breaking win in the European Poker Tour Main Event in Prague that saw him beat a field of 1,285 entries to bank €1.03 million.

He's in the city of tribes to participate in the Paddy Power Galway Poker Festival: “I'm in a hotel room in Galway and my 12 month old child is asleep beside me. So if I'm talking softly you will understand why,” he tells the Leader.

Last December the gifted poker player known as 'Smidge' augmented his impressive resume which heretofore included winning the Unibet Online Open Main Event twice in a row. The Prague win was dramatic. It saw him come from behind to beat the biggest chip lead in EPT history to secure the €1 million pot.

Padraig burst onto the pro poker scene more than a decade ago, so the EPT title was just the latest achievement of a man who has, locally at least, been flying under the radar: “I have been playing full time since 2010,” he tells.
His entry into the game was gradual: “I played once or twice in college, but it was a home game in Drumlish in Peter and Bernie Collum's that really got me started. Peter said he was looking for a finders fee for starting me off,” he joked.

“Peter's sons played. There were about 10 of us playing once a week for €5. At the start I didn't even enjoy it. After a few months I began to realise the same lads were winning, so there was a strategy involved,” he says of the origin of his talent.
Since Padraig's wife Ciara gave birth to their first child (Fionn) around six months ago, the new father has curtailed his overseas trips. He's enjoying the early days of fatherhood.

The stakes at the Galway Poker Festival are not quite as high as those of his recent win: “It's a bit more relaxed. I am minding my baby until my wife comes back from the spa. Then I am going to go play.”
The Prague win brings expectations of participating in other high profile competitions. Le Palais des Congrès now beckons: “I've been told I have to go to play in Paris in the European Poker tour next month. I hadn't planned to do that. My plan was to only travel three times this year, but it looks like I will have to do a few more. I don't want to be away too much.”
Smidge's win saw him become the first Irish poker player to take a European Poker Tour (EPT) title since 2013. Poker may be niche in Ireland, but there have been some notable world champions. Ireland has a few World Series of Poker bracelets, including those by the original icons of Irish poker Donnacha O’Dea and Noel Furlong.

The game is a very demanding discipline. Immense concentration is one component, but there are others: “In one hand luck plays a large part, but over a lot of hands it plays less importance. There is definitely luck, it's not like chess where the best player will always win. I guess that's why there is so much interest in it, but there is still a strategy to it.”
Competing in tournaments has given Padraig a great insight into the game. He says the face to face nature of competition brings many challenges: “You are not playing against the house. In the long run you can't win against the house.”
The EPT win garnered a lot of interest because of the manner of Padraig's win. That “beat the biggest chip lead in EPT history” is something Smidge is playing down: “There are lots of underdog stories where the short stack comes back. Just because you have the big stack doesn't mean you automatically win.

“I had a low chance on the final day, but I also had low chances on the opening day. That was the same for everyone else. I did get fortunate on the last day.”
Good fortune is only a component of the game. Not making mistakes is much more important. To get to that stage requires long periods of concentration: “You are drained after a match. It was tiring, it took me a good few days to recover. Adrenalin kept me going.
“I remember on the second last day my room-mate saying “you have to go for a long walk to clear your head, because you are not going to sleep otherwise”. The games end at eight or nine o'clock. You have time to go for a meal and unwind. That was necessary because I didn't eat much during the day,” he recalls.

The high level of focus requires a good night's sleep. A combination of the adrenalin come-down and replaying games in the head have to be squared away before going up the wooden hill: “I've got used to it over time. I probably got more sleep in Prague than the parents of a newborn are used to.
“I remember my first final table back in 2012. I only got three or four hours of sleep. I went in so tired. You learn from that, picking up experience. The last thing you want to do is think about it, or go “If I don't get a good night's sleep I am not going to go well tomorrow,” because that will make it worse.”

The life of a professional poker player has changed significantly in the last 20 years. Digital games are always accessible: “I play a lot online. That's my bread and butter. Last year when our baby was born I didn't travel for seven or eight months. Before Prague most of my money came from online.”
Padraig is at the coal face of an old game that is growing in its appeal: “There was a poker boom in the early naughties. I came in at the very end of that. The numbers swelled at the time. It's going through a mini boom at present, but back then it was huge. There will be up to 600 people playing this event in Galway.”

The popularity of cards is in a healthy place: “It's booming in Ireland at the moment. The numbers are huge compared to the 80s and 90s, but it's still fringe, mainstream coverage is sparse. I've done a number of interviews since the win, but they are with poker sites or poker news outlets. It's a niche thing. We have our own community.”

For competitive poker players the other side of the Atlantic is the land of milk and honey. The US loves poker. Padraig admires the esteem his profession enjoys in the States: “It's massive. Everyone loves playing over there. It's far more accepted as a job. People are known as poker players. The World Series is held there.”

Smidge had mixed fortunes at the Paddy Power Galway Poker Festival over the weekend. He bowed out of the Galway Poker Festival Main Event early, but made his way to the High Roller One Dayer Final Table. Cork man Liam Chevalier eventually won the High Roller One Dayer to take home €20,890.
This has no impact on Padraig's Global Poker Index Ranking, which puts him at 1,383rd in the world.