Ciarán O'Leary (born 27 October 1973) is an Irish

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player who resides in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

Early life

O'Leary grew up in modest conditions in

Carrigaline Carrigaline () is a town and civil parish in County Cork, Ireland, situated on the River Owenabue. Located about south of Cork city, and with a population of 15,770 people, it is one of the largest commuter towns of the city. The R611 regiona ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The son of a greyhound trainer, Terry O'Leary, and his wife, Sheila, he is one of three children. Much of his childhood was spent accompanying his father anywhere from different "Point to Point" Horse track events, the Cork Greyhound Track, and to the various betting shops across County Cork, where he would often be found in the corner observing the games.

Poker career

O'Leary arrived in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as a young

rounder Rounder(s) or The Rounder(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''The Rounders'' (1914 film), a comedy short * ''The Rounder'' (1930 film), a comedy short * ''The Rounders'' (1965 film), a western comedy * ''Rounders'' (film), a 1998 poker f ...

in 1997 with $1,000 in his pocket. His first night stateside was spent in a poker game at a

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

pub where he won $3,000. He then traveled cross country, via

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

, ending up in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where he quickly made his mark in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

poker scene, developing a winning reputation at ''Lucky Chances'', taking down numerous titles. It was there that the moniker "Big C" was tagged in lieu of the constant mispronunciation of his name. O'Leary's biggest win came at the

2007 World Series of Poker The 2007 World Series of Poker (WSOP) began on June 1st, 2007. The $10,000 ( US) no-limit Texas hold 'em Main Event began on July 6th and was completed on the morning of July 18th. All events were held at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in L ...

when he won Event #3. The $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event attracted 2,998 participants, which at the time was the biggest live tournament in Poker history outside of the 2005 and 2006 Main Events, with the victory earning O'Leary his first bracelet and $727,012. The event was nationally televised on ESPN. In 2008 O'Leary was selected to play on the Irish team in The Poker Nations Cup. He played in the final heat, composed of Roland DeWolfe,

Marcel Lüske Marcel Lüske (Amsterdam, Netherlands 23 March 1953) is a Dutch professional poker player. He finished 10th in the 2004 WSOP Main Event. Lüske is a mentor to and encourages the development of younger poker players. Early life Lüske's father ...

Robert Williamson III Robert Williamson III (born November 7, 1970) is an American poker player from Dallas, Texas. Williamson grew up with three sisters and his best friend, Chris Caywood in Granbury, Texas and received B.B.A. degrees in finance and real estate fro ...

, Benjamin Kang, and William Thorson. He finished second in the heat and Ireland would eventually end up finishing second to Great Britain. In 2008 O'Leary joined Paddy Power as the company's brand ambassador and sponsored professional. As such, he represents the poker room at large buy-in live events, in promotional work and by writing a

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on the company website.

World Series of Poker bracelets

References

External links

Hendon Mob profileWPT profileWSOP profile

MSNBC Article

Poker News Interview

Poker News Video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oleary, Ciaran 1973 births Irish emigrants to the United States Irish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Irish poker players Living people Sportspeople from County Cork Sportspeople from Seattle World Series of Poker bracelet winners People from Carrigaline