Memoirs of a Decade in the Silicon Sprint: First Installment

Rewritten for Clarity and Originality

Let's dive into some unforgettable moments from the early years of The Chip Race podcast.

1. Is this even a thing?

It's the lively month of March 2015. After a few meetings with a podcast production company that specializes in diverse niches like rugby, cricket, and horse racing, they pitch an intriguing idea — a podcast focused on Irish poker. Teaming up with David, we decide to give it a shot, with no financial compensation, committing ourselves to record seven episodes. Our hope is that an engaged audience will attract sponsors, making it all worthwhile.

Unheard terms where once common fisherman's slang or card game lingo, this one stood out: The Chip Race

I had some podcasting experience under my belt, having worked with Iain Cheyne on Irish Poker Radio around five years prior, and my own brief stint with Poker Lounge. David, on the other hand, was a podcast novice. We wanted to create a show that would captivate a broad audience within the Irish poker community. So we developed the idea of a show composed of multiple segments, including two interviews, strategy discussions, topical issues, news, and an intro and outro to give it a radio-like feel. Initially, we considered calling it "The Calling Station," but regrettably, that name was already taken. To find a suitable alternative, we had our commissioning company's secretary compile a list of poker-related keywords, and to our delight, 'The Chip Race' was left unclaimed.

Our breakthrough concept originated from none other than Rob O'Connor, the photographer for the company. Informing his boss that poker was a niche with a strong fanbase, he recommended us as the ideal hosts.

After we decided on the format, we needed someone to handle the news segment. Drawing from our circle of friends, Nick Newport seemed a fitting choice. However, he displayed reluctance regarding the extent of work involved, so we approached Daragh Davey, a shy yet devoted soul at the time. Initially hesitant, Daragh agreed to take on the workload, as long as Nick would simply read the written script.

Monday, the day when every online poker pro dreads waking up, turned out to be our recurring challenge. Nick didn't show up for our first show, so we had to persuade Daragh to take his place, which he did admirably.

Rob, the photographer in question, immortalized this memorable moment with this photo. The fifth individual in the picture is our good friend and future Irish Open champion, Dan Wilson, who contributed one of the most intriguing strategic concepts during that initial season: the tournament half life.

2. I can't stop, won't stop

Springtime in 2015. Our debut episode featured the popular Tom Kitt as our lead guest, and to our delight, it garnered over a thousand listeners, surpassing our wildest predictions. As the season came to a close, we were ecstatic to see our numbers growing episode by episode, which confirmed that our show was well-received.

Andy, our interview guest for the final show of the season, arrived at the studio on his bicycle, chattering non-stop before he'd even parked it. Unable to wait for his incessant rambling to subside, we decided to just hit record. For the next hour, we marveled at Andy's unique insights, and he even continued sharing his wisdom on our walk to a pub in Ranelagh afterwards.

3. Time to call it a wrap?

July 2015. Following the successful conclusion of our first season, we were brimming with optimism, hoping for a sponsor to fund our ongoing work. Upon my return from the World Series of Poker a couple of months later feeling more confident than ever, I received some disheartening news: the company that owned the podcast had declared bankruptcy. Losing the ownership of our show's name along with everything else seemed to signal the inevitable end.

4. But it better not be awful, David

February 2017. We had recently signed on as ambassadors for Unibet. While researching us, one of their advisors stumbled upon The Chip Race podcast and suggested reviving it. David was far more enthusiastic about this prospect than I was (though it may have been due to his desire to avoid Twitching, the alternative option). We faced numerous challenges: the fact that we didn't own the show's name being one of them. Unibet initially offered to investigate buying it from the bankruptcy estate, but eventually came back to say it wasn't viable. We weren't thrilled about calling it "The Unibet Podcast," so we ended up purchasing the name ourselves. The podcast could no longer be Ireland-centric due to Unibet's lack of licensing within the country at the time, and we were now purely responsible for the production aspects, having to provide our own microphones and laptops. With so many obstacles to overcome, I had reservations about reviving the show, but ultimately agreed with the reservation, “But it better not suck, David."

5. Set up for an ambush

March 2017. Unibet had onboarded numerous ambassadors concurrently, giving us a handy pool of interviewees. Our concern was that interviewing relatively unknown individuals could make it difficult to reclaim our original Irish audience. This is why we decided to kick things off with Ian Simpson, otherwise known as Iany, whom we believed would offer the most engaging interview.

We came up with a clever idea to make the interview more entertaining, increasing its chances of generating interest: instead of a straightforward interview, we would start conventionally, but then unpredictably pivot to a confrontational interview midway through, effectively springing an ambush on Iany. Not thinking twice, we approached our sponsors to discuss this daring plan, knowing that theirAxis, he evidently had a great sense of humor and lacked self-importance, ensuring the risk of damaging our sponsors' reputation was minimal. Shockingly, our sponsors loved the idea and even insisted on being present to witness the ensuing chaos, recognizing that Iany's surprised reaction would be hilarious. And indeed, it was. The aftermath of our successful ambush helped us make a splash and regain our Irish audience. Given our shared heritage, you might say that we were fulfilling the Irish dream of taking revenge on an Englishman, albeit symbolically, in Skibbereen.

This concludes the first part of my walk down memory lane. In Part 2, I'll share more tales about our darkest moments, our comeback, and the profoundly honest interview Phil Hellmuth gave us.

Stay tuned!

The commissioning company's secretary compiled a list of potential podcast names from poker-related keywords, and to our delight, 'The Chip Race' was left unclaimed in 2015.
The artist, Rob O'Connor, immortalized a memorable moment from our first year with a photo that includes five individuals, including our friend and future Irish Open champion, Dan Wilson.
Despite the successful conclusion of our first season in 2015, the company that owned The Chip Race podcast declared bankruptcy a couple of months later, taking ownership of our show's name with it.
Drawing from a pool of Unibet ambassadors for potential interviewees in 2017, we decided to start off with Ian Simpson, Iany, to ensure our original Irish audience would be engaged.
To increase the entertainment value and generate more interest, we concocted a plan to ambush Iany midway through the interview with an unconventional, confrontational approach, which our sponsors found amusing and agreed to witness.