Dermot Blain

Dermot Blain

Nationality
Ireland
Ireland
GPI Rank 17,345
Total Live Earnings $2,510,147
The Hendon Mob Data provided by The Hendon Mob

Biography

Dermot Blain is a professional poker player from Dublin, Ireland. Blain made a name for himself in August, 2009 by winning the Asian Pacific Poker Tour Main Event in Macau for more than half a million dollars.

Intro

Blain was born in Sligo, Ireland, but grew up in Killybegs in County Donegal. He started playing poker at local casinos in Derry, Northern Ireland where he moved after he finished college. It was in Derry where Blain won his first tournament for around £2,000. He then realized that he could make more money playing poker than working as a sales manager. Blain quit his work and moved to Dublin seeking juicier poker games.

Background

Before he got into poker Blain studied sports and recreation in college for three years an then did a one-year course in business. During his time in school and college Blain was always doing sports, he played football, gaelic, and basketball. However, after he finished college, Blain decided to get into the business world and moved to Derry to work in sales.

Soon enough Blain discovered his poker talents by taking down the monthly tournament at a local casino and opted to move to Dublin in order to hit the capital's casinos together with his friends. The move soon gave its benefits as Blain made over €20,000 playing live cash games in just three weeks. It was the begging of 2009, and in just a couple of months Blain went on to win the biggest poker tournament of his career, the APPT Macau Main Event.

World Series of Poker

Blain first appeared in Vegas for the World Series in 2010 and cashed for just over $5,000 at the $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha event which he finished in 40th place. Then in 2011 Blain collected another cash in Vegas, however, he scored a much better result at the WSOP Europe Main Event. Blain final tabled the tournament and eventually placed fifth collecting €275,000 in prize money. He then scored another money finish at the 2012 WSOP for a total of four World Series cashes overall.

Dermot Blain's Top 4 WSOP Results

YearEventPlacePrize
2011WSOPE €10,000 Main Event5th€275,000 ($367,362)
2012$5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha / Six Handed28th$13,509
2010$2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha40th$5,243
2011$1,500 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed125th$3,810

World Poker Tour

So far Blain has three World Poker Tour cashes on his record. His first one came in 2009 at the WPT Marrakech €500 No-Limit Hold'em event which he finished in 24th place and took home almost €1,000 in prize money. Then in 2011 Blain scored his best WPT result when he placed 11th in the Southern Poker Championship $9,700 Championship Event and collected almost $25,000. One year later Blain cashed in his own neighborhood at the WPT Dublin Main Event. Blain finished that tournament in 22nd place for more than €6,000.

Dermot Blain's Top 3 WPT Results

YearEventPlacePrize
2011Southern Poker Championship $9,700 Championship Event11th$24,826
2012WPT Dublin €2,500 Main Event22nd€6,300 ($8,192)
2009WPT Marrakech €500 No-Limit Hold'em24th€942 ($1,388)

European Poker Tour

Despite the fact that the EPTs take place in his own continent, Blain still has to conquer Europe's major poker tour. His best EPT score so far was at the Season 8 EPT Deauville where he placed fifth in the €500 Pot-Limit Omaha event and took home €1,700 in cash. Blain's best Main Event result came in 2010 at the EPT Sanremo when he finished 15th for €35,000.

Dermot Blain's Top 5 EPT Results

YearEventPlacePrize
2012Deauville €500 Pot-Limit Omaha5th€1,700
2010Sanremo €5,000 Main Event15th€35,000
2012Berlin €1,000 No-Limit Hold'em23rd€2,700
2010Prague €5,000 Main Event31st€12,500
2011London £5,000 Main Event48th£13,000

Other Achievements

So far Blain has won one major poker tournament, which was the APPT Macau HK$40,000 Main Event. In 2009 Blain outplayed the field of 428 runners including the American Mike Kim which Blain beat head-up for the title. He took home $541,100 for the win along with the APPT title. Blain later said in an interview that this win gave him the freedom to travel and play bigger events.

Did you know?

  • Unlike many other young poker players, Blain prefers live games over the ones played online.
  • Blain travels the live tournament circuit along with his friends including such notable Irish poker pros as John O’Shea and Dave Callaghan.

PokerNews Covered Events

Event Place Prize
2024 World Series of Poker
Event #97: $3,000 6-Handed Pot-Limit Omaha
55th $6,927
2024 World Series of Poker
Event #86: $1,000 Mystery Bounty Pot-Limit Omaha
251st $1,810
2023 World Series of Poker
Event #31: $600 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack
395th $961
2022 World Series of Poker
Event #77: $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha
91st $3,238
2022 World Series of Poker
Event #53: $5,000 Mixed No-Limit Hold'em/Pot Limit Omaha
63rd $11,694
2021 GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Events
Event #1: $50 The Return NLH [Final Day], $1M GTD
1508th $179
2020 PokerStars EPT Online
EPT Online 17: $2,100 PLO [6-Max]
16th $7,636
2020 GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Events
Event #63: $500 Mini Main Event, $5M GTD
447th $2,734
2020 GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Events
Event #49: $500 Turbo Deepstack No Limit Hold'em
338th $1,213
2020 GGPoker WSOP Online Bracelet Events
Event #42: $400 PLOSSUS [Day 2], $1M GTD
247th $1,300
2019 World Series of Poker
Event #78: $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty
104th $1,551
2018 World Series of Poker
Event #65: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em MAIN EVENT - World Championship
578th $23,940
2018 World Series of Poker
Event #69: $3,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 6-Handed
12th $28,227
2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona
€1,100 Finale
66th €4,000
2017 PokerStars Championship Prague
Main Event
39th €16,300
2017 PokerStars Championship Barcelona
€1,100 PokerStars National Championship
518th €1,940
2017 World Series of Poker
Event #54: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Championship
36th $19,500
2017 World Series of Poker
Event #18: $565 Pot-Limit Omaha
104th $2,210
2017 partypokerLIVE Millions Dusk Till Dawn
Main Event
87th £15,000
2016 PokerStars EPT Season 13 Prague
€5,300 Main Event
145th €9,180
Hollywood Poker Open Season 4 Championship Event
$2,500 Championship Event
22nd $9,748
2016 PokerStars and Monte-Carlo® Casino EPT Grand Final
€5,300 Main Event
96th €10,650
2014 World Series of Poker
Event #65: $10,000 Main Event
316th $33,734
2014 World Series of Poker
Event #64: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship
31st $22,828
2014 World Series of Poker
Event #51: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Monster Stack
547th $4,033
2014 World Series of Poker
Event #23: $1,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold'em
91st $2,293
2013 PokerStars.com EPT Prague
€5,300 Main Event
99th €9,900
2013 PokerStars.com EPT Barcelona
€5,300 Main Event
52nd €18,200
UK & Ireland Poker Tour Galway
High Roller
3rd €11,870
2013 World Series of Poker
Event #57: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em
55th $12,122
2013 World Series of Poker
Event #3: $1,000 No-Limit Hold'em
23rd $14,067
2012 PokerStars.com EPT Sanremo
Main Event
79th €10,000
2012 World Series of Poker
Event 34: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha - Six-Handed
28th $13,509
2012 PokerStars.com EPT Madrid
Main Event
56th €9,000
2011 World Series of Poker Europe
Event #7: €10,400 Main Event Championship
5th €275,000
2011 PokerStars.com EPT London
Main Event
48th £13,000
2011 World Series of Poker
Event #10: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed
125th $3,810
2010 EPT Prague
Main Event
31st €12,500
2010 World Series of Poker
Event #33: $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold'em/Omaha
40th $5,244
2010 PokerStars.it EPT San Remo
Main Event
15th €35,000
2009 PokerStars.net APPT Macau
APPT Macau Main Event
1st $541,089

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