Category: Pro Poker Players

One of the things that you find about people who are rich is the fact that they take money very seriously. People without money may say that if they were to get money they would be a lot more carefree with their cash but to be honest, perhaps this is why some people are rich while other people aren’t. It can be difficult to truly put yourself in the position of the rich and famous but some people are far too quick to judge when people with a lot of cash put up an argument about money.

However, it would be fair to say that most people would accept that Phil Ivey has a case to stand up for himself and his cash against a famous UK casino. The Crockfords Casino in London, which is owned by Genting is one of the most famous casinos in the country but they are about to become a lot more infamous now. This is down to the fact that Phil Ivey, the man with 9 WSOP bracelets to his name, has sued the casino to get winnings. Ivey believes that he is owed £7.8m from the casino but so far they have refused to pay up. This has seen Ivey and his legal team decide that the only action is to head to court and a suit was filed with the High Court on the 7th of May. The suit relates to winnings that Ivey earned while playing Punto Banco in the casino back in August of 2012.

Massive poker player takes on a big UK casino name

Ivey provided a £1m deposit to the casino before playing, a sum of money which has since been returned. It is believed that Crockfords have carried out a full investigation of the circumstances surrounding the win but have so far been unable to find untoward or suggestions that Ivey may have cheated to earn his money. There is no doubt that Phil Ivey is an immensely talented poker player with enough success behind him to back up his talent and he would be taking a huge risk to his reputation and future earnings if he was to indulge in any unsavoury poker activities. The fact that Punto Banco is a game based on luck as opposed to any skill makes the investigation carried out by Crockfords even stranger!

At one point, Ivey had run up losses of £500,000 but he managed to battle back and then set off on an extremely fortunate run. The fact that Ivey has such a huge bankroll at his disposal allowed him to play his way out of trouble in a way that very poker players would be able to.

In a statement released after the suit had been filed, Ivey indicated that he was very saddened at the decision made by Crockfords and that he felt that he had no choice but to do so. Like most poker players, he has earned money and lost money from Crockfords and indeed Gentings and Ivey pointed out that at any time he had losses, he honoured his commitments.

Whether Ivey is hoping that this move will cause a break from Crockfords which will see him earn money or whether he is hoping to go the full distance, there is a lot more of this story to run.

One of the best things about twitter is that you can stay in touch with breaking news from people and sources that you enjoy and admire. For some people this can be a very informative way to stay in touch with the world around you and with the stories that are relevant to your life. There are plenty of different ways in which you can engage and interact with other people too if that is what you like, so twitter is definitely the best social medium for a lot of people.

It is also a great tool to have to follow the top UK poker players and find out what they are up to. Some poker players will focus on their poker activities and will talk about the events they are playing in. Other poker players will give you an insight into life that you may not otherwise get, which is definitely something that is of interest to many people. With celebrity gossip being so important at the moment, having direct access to news about celebrities and famous people is definitely a service that many people would willingly sign up for.

It was Monte Carlo or Bust for Victoria Coren!

If you follow Victoria Coren on Twitter, you will know that she suffered a bit of trouble in her attempts to make it to Monte Carlo for the EPT Final. Thanks to an hour delay on the Eurostar, Victoria missed out on the connecting train to Nice, which was the last one of the day. Some people will say that this was her own fault not building in more lag time for her trip but there are times when people can only do so much to plan ahead.

This left Victoria and her travelling companion Nikhil Persaud, who also has a dislike of travelling, with a problem about how they would get to their destination on time. Staff on the Eurostar said that it was impossible to get to Monte Carlo and so Coren and Persaud found themselves in Toulon with no further trains and a lack of hire cars being available. This led Coren to glibly remark that she may just look for a poker game in Toulon.

Things went a bit quiet as she no doubt set about finding a proper solution as opposed to moaning on twitter and then some good news came through. Coren tweeted late on Monday night that she had made it to Monte Carlo! As she remarked herself, this may have used up all her luck before the tournament begins but every real poker player knows that sometimes you have to make your own luck.

Events that bring celebrity names together, combine different activities and also help to raise much needed funds for worthwhile causes are always going to be popular. This can be seen in the latest charity event which brought snooker and poker together. The event was organised by snooker promoter legend Barry Hearn and was held at the G Casino in Sheffield.

By the event got underway, there were 14 players involved and with Willie Thorne and Barry Hearn being the only major name snooker representatives at the tables, you would have hoped for them to have lasted quite a while. After all, one of the big reasons for the event was to blend the world of snooker and poker together but sadly this was not to be the case. The first player out of the event was Willie Thorne. He may be a snooker legend with a lot of praise for his work in the game over the years but it seems as though Willie doesn’t have the poker skills to match up to his snooker talent. He took an early exit, leaving 13 players still in the hunt for the top prize.

Barry Hearn burst on the bubble

Hearn at least managed to battle his way into the final table though, being sat at seat number eight in the final table of 10. There was to be less fortune for him though because he was the player that bubbled. You can bet there would have been a few cheers at Barry exiting but the fact that his demise meant that all of the remaining players got to take home some cash was definitely a large part of the noise and excitement.

The player that managed to grab third place Paul Grice, had a great story to tell. Paul battled through the competition with an online qualifier which cost him £4.20. In the end he managed to take home with £1,350 which was more than enough to justify his taking part in the competition. In the end, the event was won by Tom Hall, who also had some success at the GUKPT event in Didsbury. He has a final table player at that event so he would have been delighted to go further and clinch success here. This will work wonders for a poker player’s confidence but there is also the fact that Hall managed to earn £3,300 for his efforts. The second placed prize was £2,020 and it went to Rob Cook.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that the main reason for the event was to raise funds and support for the Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice and £1,125 was raised for the cause, which was the important aspect.

While many people in the poker community look up to champions, it is best to remember that all poker players are just people too. This means that there are good and bad elements to the poker community but even with this in mind, the poker community have been shocked at the revelations surrounding Marcus Bebb-Jones. The former British Poker champ has been sentenced to 20 years in a United States prison for the crime of murdering his wife.

The crime took place over 16 years ago when the pair were living in Colorado and there must have been times when Marcus felt he had gotten away with his act. There is always an opportunity for justice though and so it proved. Marcus who is currently 49 years old murdered his wife Sabrina, who was 31 years old at the time of her death but it wasn’t until a skull was discovered in a national park in the US back in 2004 that the case started to move forward. Even then, it wasn’t until 2009 that Bebb-Jones was arrested in England for the crime. The prosecutors in the US made the claim that after Bebb-ones killed his wife; he made his way to Las Vegas where he ran up huge debts on the credit cards which were in his wife’s name. In court some of his spending was detailed and it included the rental of a Ferrari, designer brand clothing and prostitutes.

Poker success is no mark of a man

There was an attempted suicide in a hotel room which failed and Bebb-Jones then decided to leave the US and he returned to the United Kingdom with his son. It was upon his return to the UK that he became a regular player on the poker circuit with a high profile triumph at the Grosvenor Grand Prix event which took place back in 2007. Bebb-Jones picked up £90,000 for this win.

In court, Bebb-Jones made a statement to the family of his wife, saying;

I didn’t intentionally kill Sabrina, but what I did do was wrong and I ask for your forgiveness.

He initially appealed against being extradited to the States, an appeal which was lost in 2011 but before he stood trial, he pleaded guilty at a court hearing.

The family of Sabrina was in no mood for leniency and they implored the judge to impose the maximum sentence possible. A statement written by Sabrina’s father was read out in court by her brother, Mike Dang.

This terrible man. He took her life; he took our grandson away and our daughter for no reason.

The 20 year sentence was the maximum sentence that could have been imposed on Marcus Bebb-Jones.

Kara Scott may officially be Canadian but due to a 10 year stint in the UK working in the media, there are many people who are proud to root for her and wish her all the best. These people will be delighted to learn that Kara has just announced that she is engaged and all the better, it is being kept within the poker community. The popular poker host and partypoker professional Scott has said yes to a proposal of marriage from Giovanni Rizzo. The couple have been together for more than a year, which may not seem like that long a term, but life is a bit like poker, sometimes you get a feeling when you need to go all in.

The marriage proposal came about when both players were competing in the World Poker Tour Venice Grand Poker. This was a tournament where Scott performed rather well and she had genuine hopes about being a contender for the final table. Sadly, she was knocked out in 13th place, a finish which still saw her receive €7,200 for her troubles. Of course, we now know that she returned from Venice with a bit more than just money to be happy about! Venice is supposedly the city where Scott and Rizzo first kissed so there is a nice sense of symmetry about the proposal.

Italy is the home for the popular poker couple

While marriage is a major step, the couple have already been building towards a proper commitment. These days, sharing a home is a major commitment and the duo have not long moved in together in Italy. Like most poker players, they will spend a lot of time on the road but hopefully there will be plenty of events where they can travel together and spend plenty of their down time together. This may lead to some interesting moments around the poker table but given that they are both professionals, you can bet that they will be doing what is right!

Scott is a partypoker professional while Rizzo is sponsored by Gioco Digitale, which is an Italian poker site which is owned by bwin. No doubt the different companies will play their part in keeping both players on their toes and ensuring that there is no collusion when they end up facing each other at the poker table. Even if this doesn’t happen too often, you know how fate often intervenes to ensure that these occurrences take place.

Well lads, that is another good looking female poker player off the market but as you usually find with online poker, there are plenty more fish in the sea! Of course, this refers to the fish poker players that experienced poker players hunt down in the hope of claiming easy money.

Anyone who has ever watched Sky Sports News for more than a few minutes will know that there is a very deliberate formula the channel sticks to. No, not the obvious channel of deeply focusing on the sporting events that Sky provides coverage of, the most obvious formula is the traditional male news reporter and the glammed up female presenter. There has been some controversy over Sky Sports News presenters of late after Charlie Webster appeared on the front cover of FHM.

Some people dared to say that this was bringing Sky Sports News into disrepute and that some of the other female presenters were livid at the photos. If that is the case then the rest of the female presenters could do with getting a sense of humour or a better understanding of their role on the channel. One colleague you would have to hope who never criticised Webster would be Charlotte Jackson. Jackson is no stranger to skimpy photoshoots and she spent plenty of time on ITV wearing very little on their TV show Splash.

Jackson and Coleman haven’t been bluffing in public

Jackson has also been in the news of late thanks to her romance with Welsh boss Chris Coleman. Coleman is a bit of a character, famous for lying to the press and his club about partying late into the night during a managerial role in Spain. All in all, it has been a busy time for Jackson but she has also recently become the Sky Poker Ambassador. This mainly means Jackson will appear in the adverts for Sky Poker but she will be on the poker tables from time to time too.

Her second Sky Poker appearance is set to take place on the 18th of April and there will be two chances to catch up with her. The first one is in a special Sky Sports Bounty Hunter and this event will be shown live on Sky Sports and on Sky Poker TV. There is a £33 entry fee and any player that manages to last longer than Charlotte manages will gain entry to a freeroll event on Friday the 19thh of April. This freeroll will have a £500 prize plus players can grab any money Charlotte grabs on the Bounty Hunter event.

There will also be a new tournament called the ‘Charlotte £6K Max’. Five players will be granted entry to this game which is scheduled to take place at 9pm on the 18thh of April. In the five nights building to this event, one winner will be chosen per night.

There are events taking place in the evenings between Saturday the 13th of April and Wednesday the 17th of April to gain entry to the event. Every player that makes their way to the big event will be guaranteed a cash prize and the top player will receive at least £2,400 for their efforts. Anyone looking out for Charlotte needs to look for the player name CharlotteJ.

When it comes to poker, there is a freedom of movement for players that means that they can settle down wherever they feel. Given the amount of international poker tournaments taking place around the world, the top poker players will spend a lot of their time jetting between exotic destinations. This means that they may not spend a lot of time where they live but their home will become an important place to them. Having a base that you know you can return when you are halfway around the world and fighting a losing battle at the poker table can often bring a sense of comfort and relief.

It is correct to say that Nicolas Cardyn is a Frenchman and he is very proud of that fact. His name strikes you as being French and he has never been one to talk about his French roots or origins. However, Nicolas has made his base in London and definitely appreciates the poker opportunities that are available in London. Add that to the travel opportunities to get around the world and to even get back home to France quickly and you realise that London is a big place in the life of Nicolas Cardyn.

London based poker player making his mark

That is why UK poker fans should feel some pride when Cardyn achieves some success in the poker field. The latest news surrounding Nicolas Cardyn is that he is the latest poker player to join Team Ivey. Cardyn has live tournament earnings of more than $730,000 in his career so he is a shrewd signing by the team and Cardyn is now the 33rd member of the team. There has been a strong recruitment drive of late by Team Ivey and Cardyn joins recent recruits Lucille Cailly and Allen Kessler in one of the best poker rosters you will find!

The excitement surrounding Team Ivey and the IveyPokerApp is starting to build. The way that we access the internet is changing rapidly and people demand better content. If you are a poker fan, your first thought is going to focus on finding a reliable poker app to play on but after that, being able to get lessons and insight from some of the best poker players in the world will definitely be of interest.

In the press release issues to announce Cardyn joining up with Team Ivey, Cardyn said;

I feel really honoured and proud to join the best poker team in the world. I can’t wait until IveyPoker launches!

Nicolas Cardyn may not be able to fill you completely with national poker pride but as someone who loves London so much, he is definitely doing something right!

Given that the major poker tournaments are still to properly kick in this weekend, news may be a little bit light. Coming hard on the heels of the Easter weekend, this may not be the weekend where people are looking to do too much with their time. Still, Spring has sprung, it looks as though we finally have warm weather again and there is an air of optimism going about at the moment. You may have played a fair bit of poker in recent times but if you want to be in the list of the highest earning UK poker players, you have some work to do.

With the Government announcing a drop in the top rate of income tax from 50% to 45% there has never been a bigger incentive to start earning a huge pile of money. If you have poker skills, use them to your advantage and try and emulate these top players.

These are the top rankings for UK poker players with respect to poker earnings.

In fifth place is Andy Black who currently stands at having earned £2.8m in his poker career. Any may never have triumphed at a major event but given that he is a Buddhist monk, he is probably at peace with this fact. Perhaps the calm meditation and thoughtfulness he puts into his poker play helps him to rank highly.

Success at any time should be celebrated

In fourth place is Surinder Sunar who has £2.9m in poker earnings. It is fair to say that for most poker observers, Surinder will always be remembered for that glorious WPT Paris triumph back in 2004. It will be coming up to the 10th anniversary of the memorable win before too long but it is not as if that is all Surinder can fall back on. A runner-up spot in Irish Open of 2011 showed that Surinder never lost that cutting edge to take him deep into the final table.

Who is afraid of Roland De Wolfe? Probably quite a lot of poker players because Roland has managed to clock up £3.3m in poker earnings in his career. Roland spends more of his time playing high roller games with wealthy people to worry too much about tournaments and high profile poker games but with a lot of career success behind him, there is nothing left for De Wolfe to prove to the world.

In second place is Dave Ulliot who has bagged £3.7m from poker play. Dave is rightly regarded as one of the top poker players in the UK and comes across as a very likable character. That often doesn’t matter when it comes to playing poker, personality traits can be good and bad things but it is nice to see someone get success who you don’t hate!

In number one spot is Sam Trickett with more than £10.9m from poker earnings. Okay, $10m of that may have come in one fell swoop but that should be celebrated even more. It was on the 3rd of July in 2012 that Trickett grabbed second place at the Big One for One Drop WSOP event, a feat which catapulted him into top spot for the most successful UK poker players of all time. There have been plenty of other successes and hopefully Sam can triumph more in Australia in the next week or so but if you are aiming high, he remains the man to beat.