Less than 24 hours after WPT Global controversially hired Ren Lin as their newest ambassador, two of WPT Global’s biggest ambassadors have left as a direct result.
Top Irish pros Dara O’Kearney and David Lappin, the hosts of the award-winning podcast The Chip Race, have terminated their deals with WPT Global with immediate effect.
This is just the latest black eye for the WPT brand, who have been blasted by the poker scene for many of its social media posts over the last couple of weeks. ClubWPT Gold was also forced to announce restrictions on California players last week after AB 831 was signed into law, banning sweepstakes gambling and dual-currency systems in California.
Joint statement released
At 11am UK time (6am EST), the duo released the following statement on Twitter/X and Instagram, confirming their departure.
“In June 2025, we joined WPT Global as ambassadors, putting The Chip Race content slate under their sponsorship. We are enormously appreciative of the role that Cameron Soane played in putting that deal together. We saw WPT Global making waves in the poker space and, in particular, investing in the Irish market. We wanted to be a part of that and believed that our brands aligned, both in objectives and values.
“The signing of Ren Lin as a Global Ambassador came as a shock to us. Given our personally held and outspoken views on the scandal surrounding him, it was immediately obvious that our continued roles with the company were untenable. As a result, we are parting ways with WPT Global.
“We obviously do not have an immediate plan for the future but we sincerely hope to be back with Chip Race episodes, Lock-Ins, and strategy videos in the very near future.
“Dara O’Kearney, David Lappin”
Ren Lin cheating scandal
In a nutshell, Chinese high-stakes pro Ren Lin was on break at the WSOP Super Circuit Main Event in Cyprus and was a part of a group that was giving a player (RealOA) real-time assistance via a video-conferencing platform called Tencent. RealOA was at the final table of the $10,300 GGMillion$, one of the most illustrious weekly online tournaments in the world, and was seeking to gain an advantage over his opponents by asking for their professional advice on how to play hands.
Third-place finisher, Buzzcut, was in the same chat room where this occurred and became the whistleblower to the scandal.
Ren Lin bagged for Day 2 of the WSOP Super Circuit Main Event but was disqualified before the resumption of play by World Series of Poker Tournament Director Andy Tillman. Lin was also subsequently suspended indefinitely from GGPoker and WSOP, though that suspension was lifted at WSOP Paradise.
RealOA was immediately banned for life on GGPoker and was forced to return $346,903 after he won the tournament. Ren Lin personally contributed $96,380 of that amount.
Who are Dara O’Kearney and David Lappin?
Together, Dara O’Kearney and David Lappin are the hosts of The Chip Race podcast, which has won three Global Poker Index awards for the best poker podcast. The podcast duo were sponsored by Unibet for roughly eight-and-a-half years before joining WPT Global in June. They are two of the top-35 on Ireland’s all-time money list and some of the most vocal figures in the poker industry, with each of them having well over 12,000 Twitter followers.
O’Kearney has over $1,500,000 in career live tournament earnings and has a whopping 346 live cashes, while Lappin is approaching the $1 million mark.
O’Kearney, along with Barry Carter, has written some of the most influential poker books on the planet. The two have been friends since bumping into one another in Irish gambling houses over a decade ago, and formed a bond over their love of writers Samuel Beckett and James Joyce.
WPT Global’s investment in Ireland
WPT Global has invested heavily in the Irish game over the past two years, partnering with the JP Poker Card Club & Casino, sponsoring the Action Poker Tour, the world-famous International Poker Open (IPO), and the Killarney Festival. WPT Global has even gone so far as having their own separate social media accounts just for Ireland.
This past week, WPT Global signed Fintan Hand, known as easywithaces, as their latest ambassador.
