Snatched up quickly
Irish poker pros, podcasters, writers, and overall personalities David Lappin and Dara O’Kearney have had quite the roller coaster for the better part of a year.
On June 1, Unibet’s sponsorship of their Global Poker Award-winning podcast, “The Chip Race,” ended after nearly a decade. The duo was left wondering if their baby, one of the most popular poker podcasts of all time, would be able to continue without the financial backing they were used to. Fortunately, just a few days later, they announced that WPT Global would take over as chief sponsor, and all was well with the world.
Last month, though, Lappin and O’Kearney split from WPT Global after the poker site signed Ren Lin as an ambassador, despite his temporary ban from GGPoker and the World Series of Poker for ghosting a friend online last fall. So “The Chip Race” was stuck again.
And right now, it doesn’t seem like the podcast has a sponsor quite yet, but things are looking up, as O’Kearney has signed with Paddy Power Poker as an ambassador and Lappin has been named the newest PokerStars ambassador.
Having fun with the timing
O’Kearney broke the news on Monday that he had inked a deal with one of the biggest brands in Irish poker. He then spent the bulk of the next two days making fun of his partner in crime on social media, even posting a poll asking listeners who should replace Lappin on the pod.
Of course, it would be crazy to think that just because one of them got a sponsorship that “The Chip Race” would dissolve, but wackier things have happened. Lappin played the game, too, “lamenting” that he was alone on an island without a corporate buddy:
As one might have guessed, David Lappin had his own big news coming, he just had to bite his tongue for another day. On Wednesday, PokerStars announced that he had earned his ambassadorship through the PokerStars Live League, where he finished 10th on the “low” buy-in leaderboard. Just squeaking into the top ten gave him an opportunity to submit an application video for the position and sure enough, he got it.
“I’ve always believed ambassadors should represent players, not just a brand. I want to be available, to listen, to answer questions and to help where I can. Live events matter deeply to the community, and if I can contribute to improving that experience then I’ll consider that part of the job done,” he said in the announcement.
WPT Global’s decision caused a tumult
Both men cite integrity as their top priority when partnering with a poker site, especially after the WPT Global/Ren Lin fiasco.
In October 2025, Ren Lin, a very popular and well-liked Chinese pro, helped friend and GGPoker player “RealOA” in a GGMillion$ final table hand via group text chat. Third-place finisher, “Buzzcut,” was also in the thread, but didn’t see it until after the tournament, at which point he confronted Lin. Lin admitted to ghosting RealOA, but said that actions like that were “quite common and normal.”
GGPoker banned RealOA from both its site and the WSOP, which it owns. It “indefinitely” suspended Lin, who issued a public apology, saying that he didn’t realize RealOA was playing in the hand at the time. He also made up the difference between the money GGPoker took from RealOA to reimburse his competitors and how much those players needed to be reimbursed.
But just seven weeks later, that “indefinite” suspension ended, as Lin played at WSOP Paradise.
David Lappin and Dara O’Kearney were extremely outspoken in their distaste for both Lin’s actions and for the quick forgiveness from GGPoker and the WSOP. So, when WPT Global announced that it was making Ren Lin an ambassador, the Irish duo decided their integrity was too important and they split from their podcast sponsor.
“We said what we said about Lin because that’s what we believe and we knew that it would be the height of hypocrisy to stand by as he became a fellow ambassador,” wrote Lappin for VSO News this weekend. “We simply could not give our tacit approval to that decision by staying.”
But now it seems that all’s well that ends well, and hopefully their new sponsorships will mean bigger and better things for “The Chip Race.”
Image credit: Paul Henri / Pixabay