DUBLINER EOGHAN O’DEA has booked his place in the “November Nine” – the final table of the World Series of Poker’s Main Event – with a confident display on the final day of play in Las Vegas.
The 26-year-old from Dalkey will hold the second highest stack when play resumes on 5 November after finishing today with just under 34 million in chips.
He will be the first Irish representative at the final table since Belfast-born Andy “The Monk” Black finished fifth in 2005.
With over 40 million chips, Martin Staszko of the Czech Republic will take his seat at the final table as the tournament leader.
One of just nine players still standing out of the 6,865 contestants who paid the $10,000 entry fee on 7 July, O’Dea’s achievement has guaranteed him a payday in excess of $782,000 (€550,000), doubling his live career earnings to this point.
And, if the cards fall the right way for him in November, he could stand to pick up the whopping $8.7m (€6.1m) cheque reserved for the tournament winner.
Speaking to ESPN.com, O’Dea admitted that the honour of winning poker’s biggest event was as much a draw as the zeroes he could soon be adding to his bank balance.
“You dream to win the WSOP main event,” he said. “It’s the best in poker and that would be pretty amazing for me, to win it.
[Achieving that dream] is a pretty big factor apart from the money.
By qualifying for the final table, Eoghan is following in the footsteps of his father, Donncha, who made it to the Main Event showdown in 1983 and again in 1991.
And the younger O’Dea is the first to acknowledge that he has benefitted from having an experienced head in his corner over the last few weeks.
“My dad had a great influence,” he said.
“Helped me out, allowed me to ask a few questions. He taught me how to play. We’ve been texting a lot during the tournament.”
