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March 28, 2024

High hopes abound for players as poker’s world championship starts at Rio

Donnacha O’Dea, part of World Series of Poker Main Event history, ushers in 46th annual event

2015 WSOP Main Event First Day

L.E. Baskow

Veteran player Donnacha O’Dea watches the action at his table during first-day play Sunday, July 5, 2015, in the World Series of Poker’s Main Event at the Rio.

2015 WSOP: Main Event First Day

World Series of Poker's Executive Director Ty Stewart pumps up the players gathers for first day play of the WSOP Main Event with a $10,000 entry fee and an opportunity for millions, poker fame and the winner's bracelet at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino on Sunday, July 5, 2015. Launch slideshow »

Donnacha O’Dea stood center stage in front of the entire Day 1A starting field of the World Series of Poker Main Event to help commence the game’s world championship.

The turnout Sunday afternoon at the Rio was sparse for the $10,000 buy-in tournament’s standards, but still seven times larger than the 104 total entrants when O’Dea debuted in the event. The 66-year-old Irish professional poker player has competed in the Main Event in 32 of the past 33 years.

“This is what I do — play poker,” O’Dea said. “I might not play as much anymore. I only play like six tournaments a year, but I always play the main. It’s special.”

The WSOP will stage two more starting flights of the Main Event on Monday and Tuesday. In total, thousands of hopefuls will begin journeys they hope culminate in a place O’Dea has reached twice in his career: the final table.

And the ultimate goal, of course, is winning the championship gold bracelet. Payout information won’t be released until Tuesday evening when registration closes, but the average winner’s share for the past 10 Main Event champions is $9 million.

“It’s the chance to become instantly immortal, to become literally larger than life with your banner high above the wall.” WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart said at the start of the tournament.

Martin Jacobson, the 2014 champion, was scheduled to have his pennant unveiled Sunday to start the Main Event festivities. But he fell ill, forcing the WSOP to reschedule the reveal as the precursor to Tuesday’s Day 1C.

The cancellation was a reminder of all the adversity a player must overcome to beat out a field that’s consisted of at least 6,000 entrants in each of the past 10 years. In addition to staying healthy away from the table, the competition in the form of hundreds of hands per day is a poker minefield.

Players must fight against losing focus at any point during approximately 70 hours of play between their starting day and the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 15, when the final nine are expected to emerge. Everyone at the final table will receive ninth-place money, in the hundreds of thousands, before returning four months later for the November Nine final table aired live on ESPN.

“It’s such a big event now,” O’Dea said. “It’s way more exciting than in my day. The hype builds for months now.”

Jacobson’s absence allowed the ceremonial “shuffle up and deal” command to go to O’Dea. Although he’s not as famous as some of his former final-table adversaries like Doyle Brunson, an early crowd of fans hovered around O’Dea’s table to watch him play after his announcement.

Other veteran pros such as Mike “The Mouth” Matusow and Billy Baxter also drew onlookers, but the lifeblood of the Main Event in the modern era are all the anonymous faces. O’Dea’s son, Eoghan O’Dea, was part of that group a few years ago.

The successful online player broke out of obscurity in the 2011 Main Event when he advanced to the final table, making Donnacha O’Dea and Eoghan O’Dea the first ever father-son pair to accomplish the feat.

“It was a nearly impossible dream, and fantastic,” Donnacha O’Dea said. “I had left to come home and I didn’t sleep for 48 hours trying to follow the action and follow him. I was wrecked when he made the final table.”

Click to enlarge photo

Eoghan O'Dea of Ireland competes during the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event final table at the Rio Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011.

Eoghan O’Dea finished sixth for more than $1.7 million, more than tripling his father’s career WSOP earnings in one tournament. The success introduced the achievements of Donnacha O’Dea — a sixth-place finish in the 1983 Main Event to go with a ninth in 1991 and a bracelet in a pot-limit Omaha event in 1998 — to a whole new generation.

“He embodies a lot of what is great about poker,” Stewart said. “He represents international players and generational players.”

The Main Event will be as diverse as ever this year. Stewart expected 100 nations to be represented in the tournament. The age range should be somewhere from 21-80.

But only a select minority will be able to claim more experience in the event than Donnacha O’Dea.

“I’m feeling great after all these years, but it’s a bit grueling now to play six or seven days in a row,” he said. “I’m glad I’m not just setting out at this stage. I can still play, but it’s tougher.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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