How PokerStars qualifier Stephen Kehoe went from low stakes to EPT Monte Carlo and six-figure scores
PokerStars qualifier Stephen Kehoe told us in 2020 that he wanted to play with the best. Now he does it for a living. How did he pull it off?
A lot has changed since we last spoke to Ireland’s Stephen Kehoe.
In early 2020, he was a trainee accountant and aspiring poker player known as “penguy2” on PokerStars, who had just won a package for Lex Veldhuis’ Lex Live.
“My goal for the future is to play poker at a high level and compete with the best,” he told us at the time.
And that’s exactly what he’s now doing, as a poker professional.
He has, by his own admission, had a crazy few years since.
“Yeah, it’s unreal,” he tells us at EPT Monte Carlo, which he qualified for online for €530. “I love travelling and playing.”
So, how did he pull it off? And how could you do it too?
NO TURNING BACK
Just three months after that interview, Stephen Kehoe finished third in the $109 buy-in Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Low Main Event, earning himself an enormous $220,899.
“I never went back to accountancy so, yeah, I guess I’m a pro now,” he says.
Stephen Kehoe playing the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event
Five-figure scores became a regular occurrence for Kehoe over the next couple of years, as he continued to improve and move up in stakes. Then, in December 2022, he achieved a new career-best.
Kehoe turned a $550 satellite win into a 14th-place finish at the World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship at the Wynn in Las Vegas, adding an additional $269,900 to his bankroll.
“It gives me a bigger cushion to play more events and be more aggressive,” he tells us. “Not too much has changed, but it still feels very good.”
This week he’s in Monaco for the European Poker Tour (EPT) Monte Carlo, yet another event he managed to qualify for online. Alas, he was eliminated on Day 2 of the Main Event, but currently has a big stack in the €3,000 Mystery Bounty.
“I just love the idea of spinning $10 into infinite money,” he says, smiling. “My first-ever score was a $10 satellite into a $109!”
This wasn’t Kehoe’s first EPT Main Event. In 2022 he also tried his luck in both Barcelona and London, to no avail. But it’s his first time in the glitz and glamour and often ridiculous prices of Monte Carlo.
“It’s a crazy place,” says Kehoe. “Completely surreal. I never thought I’d be in a place like this. It’s unbelievable, the event is really good and I’m really enjoying it.”
HOW HE DID IT
The question remains, how exactly did Kehoe actually go from $0.10/$0.20 cash games to playing a $150 average buy-in online and Main Events around the world?
“I just try to learn from better players and be confident in my own game and strategies,” Kehoe says.
But he’s being modest. Kehoe has made a lot of sacrifices to get to where he is now.
Kehoe says he was single-minded in his pursuit of poker success
“I’m not really qualified to give any advice,” he says. “But I’d say you have to start saying no to a lot of things outside of poker. You really have to focus.
“If you’re playing poker then that’s what you’re doing, nothing else can matter really. If you’re playing a tournament, for instance, you shouldn’t have any distractions. Just be single-minded and selfish.”
Serious stuff, but if it worked for Kehoe, it might work for you too.
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