As the saying goes, all great parties must come to an end. On Wednesday, May 21, David Lappin and Dara O'Kearney released the final episode of The Chip Race Podcast under the Unibet Poker banner – effectively ending the party. In the opening moments of the episode, Lappin highlighted the special relationship between he and his fellow hosts and Unibet Poker – a relationship that allowed the podcast to reach a broader audience and provide them with unfettered opinions on a wide variety of topics within the poker world.
"Probably the biggest contribution that we made – and the thing of which Dara and I are proudest – was how we built The Chip Race brand from an Irish-facing to world-facing podcast under Unibet's generous sponsorship," Lappin said.
"That partnership produced 170 episodes, 101 Lock-ins, and countless strategy videos," he continued. "It reached a worldwide audience in excess of 20,000 listeners from 72 different countries and garnered 5 GPI Global Poker Award nominations and 3 wins."
While there's no official word regarding the future of the podcast, Lappin and O'Kearney will part ways with Unibet Poker on June 1. Whether they decide to reignite the party with another host sponsor is, of course, up to them, but the poker world would be a less informed space should they not.
The sendoff
For the final episode, Lappin and O'Kearney pulled together a group of guests with the clear intent of celebrating Unibet Poker and its ambassadors, both past and present – former commentator for Unibet Live Henry Kilbane, former Unibet ambassador Ian Simpson, Norwegian Unibet ambassador Monica Vaka, and former Unibet ambassador and WSOP Main Event Champion Espen Jorstad.
Kilbane spoke with Lappin and O'Kearney about his current role as part of the Triton Poker commentary team and his experiences with risk-taking in his younger days, offering a unique perspective on playing above your bankroll. Vaka then took Lappin and O'Kearney through an audacious bluff she ran at the Norwegian Poker Championship.
Simpson brought the banter as he and Lappin exchanged jabs throughout his segment, but the highlight of the episode is the lengthy interview with Jorstad. In his portion of the episode, Jorstad spoke with Lappin and O'Kearney about his journey from relative obscurity as a poker streamer to widespread acclaim as a WSOP Main Event winner. Additionally, Jorstad went deep on his interest in psychedelics – an interest which he eventually chose to abandon as he worried it might affect his pursuit of greatness in the game of poker.
It's an episode packed with stories, analysis, and revelations – definitely not one to skip. Check out the final episode of The Chip Race Podcast on Soundcloud.
