Kevin O'Leary (born May 10, 1969, in

Blackfriars, London Blackfriars is in central London, specifically the south-west corner of the City of London. Blackfriars Priory The name first occurs in records of 1317 in many orthographies. Friar evolved from as has, meaning 'brother'. Black refers to the ...

, UK) is a professional

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

player of English descent. A former antiques dealer, he is known on the poker tournament circuit by the nickname "

Lovejoy ''Lovejoy'' is a British television comedy-drama mystery fiction, mystery series, based on the Lovejoy (novel series), novels by John Grant (Lovejoy), John Grant under the pen name Jonathan Gash. The show, which ran to 71 episodes over six ser ...

", in reference to the 1980s BBC TV series of the same name, which starred

Ian McShane Ian David McShane (born 29 September 1942) is an English actor. His television performances include the title role in the BBC series ''Lovejoy'' (1986–1994), Al Swearengen in '' Deadwood'' (2004–2006) and its 2019 film continuation, and M ...

Tournaments

O'Leary's poker achievements to date include winning the inaugural GUKPT heads-up championships at London's Grosvenor Victoria Casino, the

Caesars Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks. Caesar ...

Las Vegas "Mega-Stack" championship event in 2008, and making the final table of the televised VC Poker Cup in 2005 at

Teddington studios Teddington Studios was a large British television studio in Teddington, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky One and others. The complex also prov ...

England. He is perhaps best known however, for his prolific tournament record at The Venetian in Las Vegas, where to date he has won a record 5 No-Limit Hold-Em tournaments in the poker room's "Deepstack Extravaganza" series (once in 2007, once in 2008 and three times in 2009), and has also twice won the Venetian's Player of the Series award, again a record in itself. He regularly makes the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas, where he is a familiar face in Vegas tournaments, including the

World Poker Tour The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an internationally televised gaming and entertainment brand. Since 2002, the World Poker Tour has operated a series of international poker tournaments and associated television series broadcasting playdown and the ...

, and the

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada, and since 2004, sponsored by Eldorado Resorts, Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best ...

, in which he has also cashed. O'Leary's biggest single tournament cash to date is $272,000, in the

"Mega-Stack" championship in Las Vegas. He has played most poker variants over the years, but prefers live poker tournaments as opposed to online competitions and cash games, as he feels his edge in live events is much greater, something which appears to be borne out by his record in deepstack freezeout tournaments. A three-year sponsorship deal with UK bookmakers Blue Square ended in 2008 when O'Leary opted to concentrate primarily on live poker rather than play equally live and online. , his live

poker tournament A poker tournament is a tournament where players compete by playing poker. It can feature as few as two players playing on a single table (called a " heads-up" tournament), and as many as tens of thousands of players playing on thousands of tabl ...

cashes exceed $1,000,000.

Notes

External links

Official WebsiteBluff EuropeRacing PostGUKPT Bolton final tableCard Player profileHendon Mob profileWSOP profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oleary, Kevin Poker players from London Living people 1969 births