The young and talented Poker Tournaments player from Brighton in East Sussex has been winning quite a packet from playing poker for a living over the last couple of years. We had a look at ‘Pocket Fives’ and saw that he has already won 373 866 dollars at Full Tilt Poker and 630 286 dollars at Poker Stars.

Dempsey’s largest internet score to date was at the Poker Stars ‘09 SCOOP three hundred and twenty dollar Texas No-Limit Hold’em Poker event, where he managed to finish 2^nd, and made 211 000 dollars.

It is his last stint of success at the 2010 WSOP, however, which led to the Full Tilt Poker sponsorship deal.  Dempsey has managed to win more than 735 000 dollars from live poker tournaments since the year 2005. 511 867 alone came from his outstanding poker performance at the 2010 World Series of Poker, which included a World Series of Poker bracelet cash in at the  1 500 dollar Omaha and second place finish at the 10 000 dollar Omaha Hi/Lo poker event.

Dempsey now joins other British World Series of Poker winners Richard Ashby and Praz Bansi at Full Tilt Poker, and will be getting a large number of perks, which include a hundred per cent rake back and being paid thirty five dollars and hour just to play poker at the online poker hall.

When asked for a comment on how he feels about joining the Full Tilt Poker’s Red Pros team, Dempsey had the following to say:

“I couldn’t be more excited. This is a such a dream of mine. I’ve worked very hard for this over the years and to have won a bracelet and now this – it’s just fantastic.”

Poker Stars is one of the largest online poker rooms internationally, and this online poker room is also offering you some great beginner bonuses.  For example, if you sign up now you can get a six hundred dollar first deposit bonus and a three hundred dollar reload bonus.

From July 15 to 28, The Poker Stars £2000 Daily Giveaway will offer a £2K prize for every day of the week. What makes this especially great is that you can win your share of the pot without having to spend a penny in entrance fees.

Poker Stars is offering you the best chance to enter for free, and win big to be able to fund future poker bankrolls.  All you have to do to take advantage of this great poker special is to download their free online poker software and follow the instructions onscreen.  Current account holders must simply visit the site to find out how to register for these amazing tournaments.

Let’s look at how you can take part in the £2 000 Poker Daily Giveaway.  Every prize pool is worth £2K. You can take part in the free roll tournaments every day from July 15 to July 28.  Find the tournaments in the Poker Stars lobby by clicking on Tourney and then Regional.  The tournaments start at 21:30 UK time.  You can enter the tournaments for free and for those who want to rebuy, its only 10P.

It’s great to know that the tournaments have a ten pee re-buy option, to give those of us who bust out a second chance.  There is more information on the re-buy events on their website.  If you win in any of the poker tournaments after having to make a re-buy, you will get a Sit & Go ticket.

You have to be in the top fifth of all players to get some of the prize pool.  This means that many players will be going home with at least some prize money.  Players from the UK and Ireland can take part in these tournaments.

Be sure to also check out our other poker news articles here.

There is a rumour doing the rounds that the Scottish Poker open is going to be cancelled.  This ambitious £2500 event was set to take place in August.  Before the rumour started, we heard quite a few criticisms for the event, which took profit from the online satellite prize pools and for charging punters to organise yacht and limo transport.  We are still wating for full confirmation that the event has indeed been cancelled.

British Masters Poker Tour Liverpool Takes Place this Weekend

Now is a great time to play local poker in the UK, as most of the pros are taking part in this main event.  The British Masters Poker Tour takes place at Liverpool’s Gala Casino next.  The 200 quid side event takes place at six pm.  Five hundred quid main event will start tomorrow at 3pm, and there is also a hundred quid side event that takes place on Sunday.  If you are in the area, make a plan to get to this event, as you will be able to take part in some great poker, and enjoy great value for money.

The 1D Main Event Day

It has been reported that a total of 7 319 players have taken part in this years 1D Main day event.  This large amount of players has created a whopping big prize pool of $8,944,138. This prize pool is in fact the 2^nd largest ever to be recorded in the history of the World Series of Poker.  Almost five thousand players will take place in day two, to stand a chance of winning this stack.

GUKPT Club Championships

The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) is having the 2nd wave of new ‘Club Championships’ event format.  It will take place tomorrow at two pm. G Casinos in Coventry, Sheffield, Newcastle, Cardiff, Salford and London will host this two hundred quid event.  The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour Club Championships event will also have league points and has a hundred and fifty thousand quid Champion of Champions seat to offer to the winner of each event.

The Poker Stars Sit N Go Sizzlers Promotion

First time players at Poker Stars can make use of an exclusive Poker Stars Sit N Go Sizzler offer. Every new sign up at the Poker Starts website will gain a free entry into a one dollar, twenty cent Sit N Go challenge. They also get a ticket to an exclusive free roll where $ 2000 will be won each Saturday of the month until tye 31st of July. First time players will get their ticket instantly after sign-up.

The Poker Stars UKIPT Brighton Free rolls Promotion

The new UKIPT poker leg is just a few days away, and Poker Stars is offering a chance to players to be a part of this promotion by method of a special Twitter free roll. You can sign up for this Twitter free roll after you have registered with the Poker Starts online poker room. The players who rank the highest will qualify to go through to an exclusive Sunday tournament. Here they can win a seat to the UKIPT Brighton Main Event that will take place on the 15th to the 19th of July.

The Poker Stars UK and Ireland Poker Free rolls Promotion

Poker Stars is also hosting a series of daily free rolls where they are offering poker players a chance to win money for absolutely no entry fee. They will give a way two grand on every night from Thursday the fifteenth of July to Thursday the twenty-ninth of July. The finishers in the top 20% of the game will earn cash. Those who’ve made their first deposit with also get entry into an extra free roll where they can win £1 000 and fifty tickets to the Sunday ¼ Million tournament.

This win is Ellis’ first WSOP gold bracelet win in his career.  He has so far won more than half a million dollars in international poker career tournaments.  This win was great for him as this singular victory paid out more than half a million dollars in itself.  Christopher Gonzalez from California came in at second place, but played really well right up to the end.

Ellis came in strong at the end.  He doubled up his bet a couple of times and took the lead chip-wise when they went heads up.  It was about time too as the clock has already passed the five am mark at that point.  Gonzalez didn’t do too bad in the winning stakes, as he himself won more than three and a half thousand dollars.

Ellis is the 4th UK player to win a gold bracelet at this year’s World Series of Poker. Previous winners of the title are James Dempsey, Praz Bansi, and Richard Ashby.

The one and a half thousand buy-in tournament saw 2 394 entrants. The players who finished in the top 243, all went home with prize money. Of those who had previously won WSOP gold bracelets, and won cash here included – Carlos Mortensen (in 23^rd place) and Howard Andrew (in 192^nd place).

Howard Andrew has the record for the player who has taken part in the World Series of Poker in the most consecutive years. Andrew first taking part in the WSOP in 1974, and has been taking part ever since.

More on Michael Ellis – The WSOP champion

Ellis is 45-years-old and graduated from Oxford University.  He has bee playing poker since his college days and have been passionate about poker for several years now.  He used to work in the banking industry but has been a pro poker player since 2004.  This career decision coincided with the 2004 global poker boom.  Ellis has to date won more than a million dollars in career tournament games.

Every Friday you can enter a tournament for a £50 rebuy amount, or play every Sunday with a £120 Freezeout amount.  Simply visit Blue Square Poker to stand a chance to win one of the 2 x £1000 packages which are up for grabs. Most good UK poker players enter or at least try to enter the The Summer Series, as its awesome value for money, and offers awesome prizes.  The winner of every event and side event gets a  £150,000 Champion of Champions Seat.

Gcasino’s second batch of sponsored GUKPT Summer Series festivals is now finished. This Luton casino hosted a 5-day festival that had a 500 quid main event.  The G Casino in Aberdeen also held a 4-day festival with a 300 quid main event.

The first event of the Luton festival was the £150 NL Hold’em freezeout.  Guiseppe Fontana won this event by who outlasting the 107 other players.  Alex Burton won the 69-runner £250 NL Hold’em freezeout, while Ian Wilmott won the 100 quid NL Hold’em Bounty Freezeout, and Chen Tan was victorious in the 250 quid Omaha Double Chance Freezeout.

Graham Pound, from Reading, won the 500 quid main event, with a first prize of £8,740. Pound defeated Gavin Hall to take the trophy and get his seat in the £150,000 GUKPT Champion of Champions event. Hall and other players including Jamie Burland and Kevin Williams were sponsored Black Belt Poker.

The next Summer Series events begin this week, when the Walsall Grosvenor Casino hosts a 6 day festival, starting on Tuesday, the 22nd of June. This festival include a 500 quid main event and 5 side events. Last year, Vinny Price (pictured), defeated a group of 121 players to win the Walsall Summer Series main event.

The Grosvenor Casino in Newcastle will also host a 4 day poker festival, starting on Thursday, June the 24^th.  The festival will have a 300 quid main event, with three side events.

You can still bag yourself a seat at this year’s main event with Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars. These two online poker rooms are running super massive satellite competitions this Sunday. But make sure you enter early as you are already cutting it thin by having waited so long before entering.

The Poker Stars Mega Satellite competition will take place on this Sunday at 9. 30 pm UK time. This satellite competition will have prizes which offer 200 packages to go to the World Series of Poker Main Event.
You can purchase a direct buying for the Mega Satellite competition at $370 each. It’s cheaper to enter via feeder qualifiers though, with prices starting at $1.10 or a hundred FPPs. You will find Mega Satellite details and details on all the qualifiers on the WSOP website.

There is also a variety of Sit ‘n Go satellites, in which you can enter. Every prize package has included the $10,000 buy-in amount plus spending money, accommodation at the Palm Springs resort, and travel money.

Full Tilt Poker’s online poker room’s main WSOP qualifier will also be happening this coming Sunday. A hundred and fifty packages to the Main Event is up for grabs in the $ 1.8 million guaranteed qualifier. The event starts at 11 pm UK time.

A direct buy-in will cost you $ 600 + $ 40 and feeder qualifiers start at $1 or 50 FTP’s. The Full Tilt online poker room package includes the $ 10 000 buy-in amount plus expensive and accommodation in the Rio Hotel. Any poker player who manages to qualify via Full Tilt online poker room, and goes on to be the champion at the Main Event will earn a $10 million bonus amount.

Furthermore, any Full Tilt Poker player who earns the cash in this year’s WSOP Main Event will also get a free buy-in for the WSOP main event in 2011.

James Dempsey and Praz Bansi started off the UK frenzy. These players are both talented and popular UK poker figures. Dempsey is famous for his Blondepoker forum status and for winning a series of games on the UK circuit. Bansi is known for his successful poker career and his HitSquad connections.

It’s hard not to be aware of these men’s successes as the UK forums and Poker fans facebook walls are ringing out news about Banzi and Dempsi’s success at the World Series of Poker.

Its almost as popular a discussion as how well the England is going to fare at this year’s Fifa Football World Cup. Just as most of us can’t imagine screaming and supporting for any other country’s team, most of us can’t help feel a little smug when our players does well at the WSOP.

The question at the moment is whether these two players success will continue. It’s possible to match the three bracelets and we might even end up beating it. The UK is a fantastic poker environment and these boys have had the priviledge of competing against the best over here.

The UK has some of the best poker communities. Just think about the Hendon Mob, Blonde, Sky Poker, A World of Poker, APAT and Blackbelt poker. These poker communities develop strong spirit and are keen to help develop their players.

UK Poker players also have the opportunity to play poker games that are well structured and have deep stacks. Just think about APAT, Dusk Till Dawn, the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour, the Pokerstars UK & Ireland Poker Tour, the British Masters Poker Tour, Black Belt Poker Live, PKR Live, and the Sky Poker Tour Final. Viva UK Poker players!

These naysayers are also scared that this online poker pajama brigade will turn into zombies because of staring at their computers too much.  And that the fact that they are not dealing with real cash or cashiers, will push them over the limit of their initial online poker budget.

That’s probably why the government decided to pass the Interactive Gambling Act in 2001. Strangely though, most of us are still not sure whether it’s strictly legal or not to bet at our online poker hall.  And many online poker halls have more than doubled their client base since 2001.

Nine years later, a Productivity Commission report apparently recommended that online gambling be legalised in order to be regulated. This recommendation is sensible, as so many of us are already gambling online anyway. If online gambling was to be regulated, it would be easier to identify and possibly exclude problem gamblers.  In general, problem gamblers tend to be the ones who fall in the lower income category.  It’s this get rich quick mentality that drives them to bet ‘just one more time’ in order to win that ‘great big jackpot.’

The truth is, however, that studies have actually shown that online gambling is less addictive than gambling at a brick and mortar establishment.  Although playing online poker at home is real convenient, it is not as addictive and enthralling as going in person, and being influenced by the lights, music, alcohol, and hot waitresses…

I believe that if online poker halls are to become legal, government and legislators has to ensure that they protect the consumer first and foremost, and only then think about all the tax dollars they can make.

Poker chips photo by Jam Adams

Most of 888 Holding’s trading has been rather week, but unfortunately the group’s internet poker tables had the biggest knock, with the average amount of online poker players dropping 18% per day between the months of January & May.

The online poker group stated it believes that the decline in poker activity forms part of an industry-wide online casino trend.  888 Holdings shares slumped with fifteen percent on the London’s Stock Exchange, and fell 18% at its lowest point during the day.

One of their major poker rivals, Rival PartyGaming’s shares dropped with 5.3%, while shares of the U.K. bookmakers Ladbrokes and William Hill, which are mostly concerned with sports betting, both did better.

While bookmakers are set to benefit from the FIFA World Cup, 888 said trading will be difficult for companies that offer casino games and other gambling online.

On top of all of this, the company has also been experiencing troubles because the Euro and Sterling is weaker against the dollar and because there are new French gambling regulations.  The regulations require the company to move to a new regulated online poker platform.

A spokesperson for 888 Holdings said in a press release:

“The board has revised its outlook for the remainder of the year and now expects profit to be significantly lower than previous market expectations.  A number of steps, including cost cutting, have already been implemented and the board remains confident about the future strategy and prospects.”

They spokesperson added that despite these setbacks, the online poker company is still making a profit.