Poker is in Padraig’s DNA. The Hendon Mob website lists his first cash as being in February 1994, but in reality Padraig has been playing live poker much longer than that. He can’t recall the first time he played the Irish Poker Open, making an educated guess of 30 years ago, but in the past few decades the Irishman has become a stalwart of the game having played with legends such as Stu Ungar and Doyle Brunson. He hasn’t missed a day of the WSOP in 19 years and is lifelong friends with The Voice of Poker Jesse May. In fact, the duo have paired up to commentate on a number of televised partypoker events over the years.

Padraig has racked up more than $1.6 million in cashes in his poker career with the most notable being a third place finish in the 1999 WSOP Main Event for over $489,000. He also outlasted 14-time bracelet winner Phil Helmuth in series 5 of Channel 4’s Late Night Poker, picking up a cool £50,000 on his way to victory. Padraig has also played an integral role in raising more than €300,000 for the innovative fundraising organisation Poker for the Homeless.

Scroll down for our Q&A with Padraig or to check out his poker stats click here.

What has been your toughest game/tournament?

Playing for and captaining Ireland is a great honour and great craic but tough in that others are depending on you and frustrating in that a lot of the time you are hanging about watching others play. We won the European Title after I dropped myself!

Do you prefer live or online games?

Live. I love the craic!

What would you say the highlight of your poker career has been?

Walking out to play the final table of the WSOP Main Event was unbelievable, especially when the announcer said "from Dublin, Ireland". Wow!

What is your top poker tip?

If you’re not enjoying it, don't do it.

If you could play a game of poker with anyone, who would it be?

The Devilfish. He was one-of-a-kind. I miss having him around. He made me laugh even when he wasn’t trying to!

Do you have a favourite poker quote?

“It’s not the number of times you get knocked down that matters. It’s the number of times you get back up"