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Biography

Google the name Dara O’Kearney today and you will be greeted with information on a man who exploded onto the Irish Poker scene with the 2008 European Deepstack Poker Championship and hasn’t stopped since. Usually the smartest dressed at the table in a suit and tie, Dara was known as the cockroach in the early part of his career for his ability to last deep in tournaments, usually to the final table (although this nickname has changed to “doke” in keeping with the name he use’s online, either on the tables, forums or his twitter account).  This wasn’t a player who had been playing the game for years and started getting recognition and fame from a couple of big wins, this was a man who by his own words “got into poker in May 2007”, yet 8 months later had taken down his first major live event and its €47,200 prize. A mere 4 months later and exactly 12 months after starting to play the game Dara turned pro.

Prior to his poker success Dara was an accomplished marathon runner which escalated to ultra running. Reading about his running career you can understand his patience and stamina at the tables.  Some of the highlights of Dara’s running career include winning the 2005 Tresco marathon, the 2006 New York Road Runners 60K ultra marathon,  the 2007 Schinnen 50K, the 2008 Brno Indoor 6 hour race and was the 2007 Irish 24 hour running champion.  Pictured right is Dara (center) with the Irish Team in the World 24 Running Championships. To read more on Dara’s running career check out his bio on irishultrarunners.com here.

On the 9th of January Dara played in the BrucePoker Irish Poker Rankings Final Table in the Clayton Hotel, Galway (pictured left). The players sitting at this table included the top 8 ranking players of 2009 of which Dara was 2nd after going down to the wire with Francis “Wally” McCormack in the last ranking event of the year in the Voodoo Card Club. Within 6 hours it was all over and Dara took the €5000 sponsorship package with BrucePoker.  A couple of days later I met with Dara to speak about his short but fruitful poker career.

“On the poker, I got into it in May 2007, shortly after seeing Nicky Power playing in the Irish Open on RTE. I was looking for something competitive to take over from the running as that wound down, and the original plan was to get good enough at poker over the next five or six years to play at the top level. My brother Sean was already playing on the club scene in Dublin, he gave me a few quick lessons. I was second in a freeroll on Ladbrokes, and used the money to start playing online (initially Limit) where I ground up a bankroll. I made my live debut about a month later in a tourney in the Fitz (I was second, losing headsup to Collette "Smurph") debut. I continued playing online cash and live tourneys for the next few months, doing well enough at both to start buying in to bigger tourneys. The first was IPC 2008 (when I went out late on Day 1), the second was the European Deepstack (which I won). After a few more results both online and live, I turned pro in May 2008.”

This is an exciting time for Dara and with a string of wins and final tables over the last few months he is already a player to watch. BrucePoker are very proud to have our name associated with him. You can find a list of Dara’s accomplishments on the live tables below as well as a list of upcoming tournaments Dara will be playing under his BrucePoker sponsorship. During his time under our sponsorship we will be posting Dara’s blog in our new section Doke’s Diary, you can check it out here.