Heading into the most recent Premier League season, Leicester City was a 5,000:1 underdog to win it all. You know what went down: one of the most improbable football wins the world has ever seen.

“I never knew how big the Premier League was across the globe,” Jamie ‘EzGame89’ O’Connor, who regularly follows Leeds’ football club, said. “I see people from countries all over the world with the Leicester badge as their avatar on PokerStars now, which I find amusing. They were 5,000:1 at the start of the season. Like poker, it shows that anybody can win, which is good for the game. It’s amazing what a bit of hard work and togetherness can do.”

It’s similar to winning a big poker tournament. Quite literally, all you need is a chip and a chair. No matter how grim the situation may look, as long as you’re not out of chips, you’re still in. As long as that final card hasn’t been dealt, you’re still in. And although players of all skill levels converge in a tournament, anything is possible from hand to hand, pot to pot, and level to level.

O’Connor is closing in on $2 million in career online tournament winnings and is fresh off a fourth place finish in a $1,050 No Limit Hold’em Big Antes Rebuy during the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP). He has surrounded himself with poker talent over the years and definitely knows a thing or two about resiliency, although maybe not at 5,000:1 odds.

“As a team of individuals, they are nowhere near the most gifted team in the league,” the Brit said of the reigning Premier League champs. “It shows how good the team bond must be. It’s a bit like a staking stable. You may have one that has the most talented players around, but they might have a bad attitude or work ethic. They aren’t going to thrive as much as a stable that doesn’t have the most talented players in the world, but they are willing to work hard and put the hours in when things aren’t going well.”

“A lot of Leicester City players were bought for next to nothing, but there are players at the big clubs who were bought for, say, $50 million compared to $300,000 for a Leicester player. But, because of that, the big players have massive egos and think they are better than the Leicester players. Leicester players won’t have this in their camp. I think most people can relate to that in the poker world.”

In the past, O’Connor’s stables have been largely successful and able to work together towards a common goal.

“On the whole, I’ve had good working relationships with all backers past and present,” he said. “People have their own visions of where they want to be aiming. At the end of the day, though, it’s the backers who are pumping money in, so you have to respect their point of view. I think the main thing is to find a deal you’re happy with. That’s the key, although it’s getting harder and harder these days, as staking seems to be drying up quite a lot as opposed to years past.”

Where do those sometimes arrogant, standoffish players fit in? Do they implode the groups they’re working with? Do they detract from poker as a whole?

“These days, a lot of the younger players who haven’t been playing too long and haven’t stood the test of time seem to think they have solved the game of poker and that they are something special,” O’Connor said. “I used to enjoy playing live poker, but don’t as much anymore because of how unlikable, arrogant, and unapproachable some of these people can be. Obviously not everyone is like this, but I’d say a vast majority can be.”

According to O’Connor, certain players’ arrogance could be detrimental to the growth of poker overall. Initiatives like PokerStars partnering with eSports companies could go out the window if poker players don’t welcome newbies with open arms.

“Players’ arrogance deters recreational players,” he said. “They often don’t notice how it affects their bottom dollar and don’t know why the ecology is in the state it’s in. What’s sad is that by the time they realize it, it will be too late and poker won’t be an option because you will be registering for a tournament with 100% regs because the recs aren’t interested in playing anymore. You have to make poker enjoyable and make people feel accommodated.”

Working as a team rather than a group of individuals is key. And maybe those 5,000:1 odds can pay off like it did for a few brave punters.

“You have to make people feel at home and be polite, not angle-shoot them and then laugh at how they misplayed a hand or chat to your fellow pro and make remarks about how this fish in seat two is so bad,” O’Connor said.

And while plenty of poker players have griped about the rake and VIP changes at PokerStars, which recently merged its liquidity with Full Tilt, O’Connor feels those changes have improved the overall poker ecosystem.

“A lot of regs don’t like the changes on Stars,” he said. “I feel they are great. I’ve seen far more fish about than I did before the changes, so I applaud them on that. I feel that the whole Leicester thing gives hope to everybody who plays poker, especially the fish. It’s a great underdog story. If a 5,000:1 shot can win in what is considered a game of skill, then what’s to stop your Average Joe from depositing $215 and scooping the Sunday Million in a game that some consider a game of luck? It makes you feel like anything can be possible whatever the odds are against you.”