Born on October 27, 1973 in Carrigaline, Co. Cork to greyhound trainer Terry O’Leary and his wife Sheila, Ciaran O’Leary grew up in an environment with poker in the air. From the local betting office where his father would monitor the greyhound betting markets to the smoky backrooms at horse and greyhound tracks across Ireland, friendly and not-so-friendly poker games would take place in darkened corners and young Ciaran was hooked.

O’Leary moved across the Atlantic in 1997 and almost immediately his poker knowledge was called upon, as he wrangled his way into a Boston pub game on one of his first nights in the country and won about $2,500. He then traveled across the United States by train and lived in San Francisco, California for a number of years, playing his poker in the Lucky Chances card room. It was here than O’Leary gained his nickname of ‘Big C’, as the Bay Area locals had ongoing problems pronouncing his name.

A nickname wasn’t the only thing O’Leary found in San Francisco, as he met and married Dana Langworthy, a legal recruiter, during his time there. They moved to Seattle, Washington in 2005 and have two sons, Aidan and Liam.

Big C continued to impress on the local poker scene in both San Francisco and Seattle, winning numerous tournaments in various card rooms, with the defining moment of his poker career to date coming in the 2007 World Series of Poker. O’Leary outlasted 2,998 entrants (at the time the largest tournament field outside of the 2005 and 2006 WSOP Main Events) to win Event 3, a $1,500 No Limit Hold’em freezeout, taking $727,012 in addition to the coveted bracelet.

He was one of two Irish WSOP bracelet winners in 2007 (Alan Smurfit being the other bringing a bracelet home) and has big plans to add bracelet #2 (and hopefully #3) to his wrist this summer; check back here often for updates on how Big C is getting along, as well as strategy articles, poker tips and video tutorials!