Well, it’s that time of year again when I look back at the year that’s been, and forward to the year to come.
Live poker
On the live felt, it’s been a case of consistency but no big eye-catching result. I set a new Irish record for most Hendon Mob cashes in a year, and those 41 cashes included eight tables, one win, and another chop headsup. However, my biggest score of the year was for just over $14k for a 12th place finish at the WSOP.
Every year I say I’ll do less live next year and somehow end up doing more, and I suspect 2026 may be the same again. At this stage my plans include the Party Poker tour, some stops on the Irish Poker Tour, the Dublin Poker Festival, and the Irish Open. On the maybe list, there’s the Aussie Millions, the WSOP and some EPTs.
Online
Online I notched up another profitable but unspectacular year. Highlights included winning a tournament on ACR Poker for $11k, coming from behind heads-up to beat Chris Moorman in January, a deep run in the anniversary Sunday Million, and a second place finish on the 888 Sunday Major late in the year (I did full hand history reviews of all these for Simplify Poker).
I was disappointed not to be able to do more volume
Satellites were particularly profitable for me, and I did pretty well in mystery bounties. I was disappointed not to be able to do more volume, and that’s something I want to improve for next year, but to make it a reality rather than just an aspiration, I will have to cut back in other areas.
Writing
No new books this year, but our latest book “Beyond GTO” did very unexpectedly (to us anyway) win the GPI Award, in a very tough field where we genuinely thought we were drawing dead. All of the other nominees (Nate Silver’s “On The Edge: The Art of Risking Everything,” Tom McEvoy’s autobiography “Poker Pioneer” and Joe Stapleton and Neil Gibson’s brilliant graphic novel “Trapped”) seemed like more likely winners, but we were obviously thrilled to get the nod on the night. Neither Barry nor myself think this is our best book by a long shot, but David Lappin and others advanced the theory that the award had something of a Lifetime Achievement quality to it, after our previous books were highly acclaimed but didn’t win the award. I’m reliably informed that we actually won in a landslide, further bolstering that notion.
Barry and I are keen to get back on the book grind again after taking this year to concentrate on our new training site, Simplify Poker. We will definitely get one new book out in 2026, and maybe even two. Also coming in 2026 are more translations of our books into other languages, starting with the Italian version of “Beyond GTO.”
a lot of exclusive content for the Simplify Poker Academy
Even if there was no book, I churned out more than 100,000 words in my columns here and strategy articles here and elsewhere (as well as a regular free strategy newsletter), and a lot of exclusive content for the Simplify Poker Academy. The newsletter and the academy are my priorities in 2026, and I may have to reduce my other output to make time for other priorities.
The Chip Race
This year saw the end of an era for the podcast, and hopefully the start of another. We left Unibet on the best of terms, grateful to them for having brought back the podcast nine years ago and all their support since. We are also very grateful to WPTGlobal for allowing us to not only keep the show going, but also to increase our output. The show has had a steady organic growth since it launched over a decade ago, and that continued this year with several episodes hitting new high marks for total listeners.
The biggest single spike we got in listeners was when we won our first GPI award back in 2019 (greatly helped by Negreanu’s hissy fit in the immediate aftermath). This year we won our third award (becoming the first to win it twice in a row), which will also be our last as the GPI Awards aren’t returning in 2026. We are incredibly grateful to Eric and the team for all their Trojan work shining a light on oft overlooked parts of the industry.
In addition to the main show, we produced a monthly strategy clip, and Lock In (our YouTube sister show). The most popular episodes were the ones we did on the road at live stops when Lappin gets the opportunity to flex his cinematic skills.
Coaching
2025 was by far my busiest year on the coaching front.
On the one to one coaching front, I had 15-20 students at any one time over the full year. This is a rotating crew: with most students I’m deliberately trying to get them to self sufficiency as quickly as possible rather than fostering a long term relationship. Most of my students are recreationals looking to level up their own study with solvers and other tools. A smaller number are top level players who want someone to run custom sims for the pools they play in and talk them through the main exploits and takeaways.
it’s a lot easier to trust in those when your students are crushing
One of the biggest rewards of coaching is getting to share in your students successes. Sometimes when you’re running bad you start to question the methods and process, but it’s a lot easier to trust in those when your students are crushing. This was a very good year for my students overall, with some unlocking new levels in their game and getting results.
One resolution from last year I did manage to keep was to study more myself. In this I was aided by my study partners Turlough McHugh and Paulina “iPad2” Loeliger. Both are excellent coaches in their own right: for anyone looking specifically for cash game coaching I strongly recommend Paulina (she’s also a bit of a tournament beast, and was very unlucky not to win her first bracelet this year).
Other content
David and I both made a few appearances on other people’s podcasts this year, something we are always happy to do.
The Firaldo documentary I was interviewed for in 2024 also won a GPI award, which was great to see.
On the commentary front, I did less of this than in previous years, but did get a stint in the box in at the Irish Open and a long one with Tower at the IPO, where I commentated on the finale of the main event.
David and I have been experimenting with more short form content in recent months trying to see what works and what doesn’t. So far hand breakdowns and other strategy content, and a series we are calling Being Dara O’Kearney (in homage to one of our favourite movies Being John Malkovich) where David narrates my day. If anyone has ideas for other types of short content they’d like to see us make, we are all ears.
Simplify Poker
In 2025, my key passion project was launching Simplify Poker Academy alongside Barry. While poker at the tables is inherently zero-sum, off the felt, collective growth benefits everyone involved. Mastering what to study and the best methods is essential, but connecting with a group of motivated peers completes the picture.
A supportive community allows you to exchange ideas
The power of a personal mastermind network of players lies in the fact that everyone has unknown gaps in their knowledge. A supportive community allows you to exchange ideas, revealing your weaknesses in the game and introducing perspectives you might never have encountered alone.
Collaborative learning also turns study into an enjoyable experience rather than a chore. The communal energy makes poker improvement invigorating, particularly when you celebrate wins with those who’ve tracked your journey.
This aligns with my longstanding coaching ethos: empower someone to catch their own fish instead of handing them one. It fills me with pride that we’ve drawn in so many aligned members who contribute their own tactical analyses, and it’s thrilling to watch them evolve to sharing ideas as sophisticated as those found in top-tier resources.
I also took great satisfaction in seeing numerous students dominate both live and online games this year.
Additionally, I’m immensely proud of the two courses we released at SimplifyPoker: “Postflop ICM” and “Multiway Pots.” I believe both represent the forefront of current poker strategy and can significantly boost the results for casual players.
Looking forward to 2026, we have a couple of standalone courses we want to produce, while continuing to create cutting edge strategy material for the Academy.
