Who Are The Biggest Live Poker Winners From the UK & Ireland?
The Global Poker Index (GPI) is the go-to site for the ranking of live poker tournament players thanks to its unique points scoring system that attempts give an accurate overview of who are the best players in the world at present.
However, for many poker players and fans, it is money that is king. The amount of money that a player has won is what is important to them so UK & Ireland PokerNews has taken a look at the current top 20 players from the UK & Ireland based on their lifetime winnings from live poker tournaments.
Please note, the figures do not take into account tournament buy-ins and are therefore not total profit earned by each player
Biggest money winners from the UK & Ireland (October 14, 2015)
| UK & Ireland Rank | World rank | Player | Country | Total winnings | Largest cash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Sam Trickett | England | $20,557,091 | $10,112,001 |
| 2 | 91 | David Ulliott | England | $6,218,290 | $674,500 |
| 3 | 122 | Roland de Wolfe | England | $5,327,931 | $1,025,205 |
| 4 | 150 | Surinder Sunar | England | $4,647,175 | $828,956 |
| 5 | 153 | Andy Black | Ireland | $4,626,425 | $1,750,000 |
| 6 | 182 | Stephen Chidwick | England | $4,206,425 | $517,992 |
| 7 | 185 | Mark Teltscher | England | $4,165,025 | $920,015 |
| 8 | 186 | Jake Cody | England | $4,127,581 | $1,213,194 |
| 9 | 191 | Chris Moorman | England | $4,101,180 | $1,068,690 |
| 10 | 202 | Marty Smyth | Ireland | $3,878,675 | $1,000,000 |
| 11 | 221 | David Vamplew | Scotland | $3,586,702 | $1,408,407 |
| 12 | 223 | John Gale | England | $3,585,058 | $890,600 |
| 13 | 237 | Ram Vaswani | England | $3,490,212 | $231,413 |
| 14 | 249 | Neil Channing | England | $4,398,939 | $1,263,261 |
| 15 | 254 | Tony Bloom | England | $3,358,949 | $964,296 |
| 16 | 282 | James Akenhead | England | $3,089,154 | $1,263,602 |
| 17 | 284 | Roberto Romanello | Wales | $3,074,218 | $846,180 |
| 18 | 297 | Barny Boatman | England | $2,976,489 | $546,080 |
| 19 | 302 | Julian Thew | England | $2,953,468 | $947,806 |
| 20 | 307 | Liv Boeree | England | $2,929,160 | $1,698,300 |
Way out in front, by a margin of more than three-times his nearest competitor, is Sam Trickett with a staggering $20,557,091 in winnings. Trickett’s massive total is enough to place him seventh in the worldwide all-time money listings, the only player in our regional top 20 to boast of that.
Trickett already had more than $6 million in winnings before he finished as runner-up to Antonio Esfandiari in the inaugural $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop, a result that netted the former semi-professional footballer a gargantuan payout of some $10,112,001.
Second in the UK & Ireland and the only other of our players in the top 100 of the worldwide standings (91st) is the late David “Devilfish” Ulliott. It is easy to remember the Hull legend for his antics at the tables and not his poker prowess, but Ulliott won $6,218,290 during his career despite not having a cash of more than $674,500. Ulliott won a World Poker Tour title, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and reached 10 WSOP final tables, finishing second on four occasions. Here’s hoping the Poker Hall of Fame panel remember this when they cast their votes for this year’s inductees.
Despite having not cashed in a live event since December 2010, Roland de Wolfe occupies third place on our leader board.
Despite having not cashed in a live event since December 2010, Roland de Wolfe occupies third place on our leader board. Before walking away from the live tournament scene, de Wolfe won more than $5.3 million and is one of only a handful of players to have won a WPT, WSOP and European Poker Tour (EPT) title, the coveted Triple Crown.
Another Triple Crown winner is eighth placed Jake Cody. The Team PokerStars Pro has accumulated in excess of $4.1 million in his relatively young poker career and is sure to continue adding to that impressive sum for as long as he decides to play this game.
The first non-English man in our top 20 is Ireland’s Andy Black, a former WSOP Main Event finalist. $1,750,000 of his $4,626,427 winnings stemmed from his fifth place in the WSOP Main Event – the one Joe Hachem won.
Norther Ireland’s Marty Smyth is 10th in our top 20 with $3,878,673. Like de Wolfe, Smyth hung up his live poker tournament gloves a few years back; his last cash game in March 2013.
Both Scotland and Wales have a representative in the UK & Ireland top 20 money winners in the shape of David Vamplew and Roberto Romanello.
Scotland’s Vamplew finds himself in 11th place in the UK & Ireland courtesy of his $3,586,710 winnings, while Romanello is 17th thanks to his $3,074,218. Both players have EPT titles to their name, Vamplew having won the 2010 EPT London Main Event and Romanello being victorious in Prague later that year.
Knocking on the door of a top 20 place are the likes of Jack Slater, Toby Lewis, Matthew Ashton, Talal Shakerchi, Tom Middleton, Paul Newey, Max Silver and Simon Deadman.
To see where you rank in the all-time money listing head to The Hendon Mob Database who we thank for the data used in this article.
Get all the latest PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
What do you think?