Steve Ruddock
It’s been an interesting, but also a very sad week in the world of UK poker. It seemed just like any other week, as the usual assortment of tournaments and news occurred, that was until a very distinguished member of the Irish poker fraternity passed away, Liam Flood.
In this week’s look Around UK Poker we’ll take a look at the usual fare, including the potential nominees for the Poker Hall of Fame, the latest in “edge sorting” baccarat lawsuits, and the Sky Poker UKPC results, but we’ll also dutifully speak about the passing of Liam Flood.
More lawsuits for Phil Ivey’s edge sorting accomplice
Phil Ivey and his Asian female associate (Cheung Yin Sun) have apparently won millions from casinos all over the world by employing “edge sorting,” a baccarat tactic that can gain the player as much as a 21% advantage over the house.
And with those winnings have come lawsuits, from both parties and on both sides of the felt.
Ivey is currently suing Crockford’s Casino in London, the duo are being sued by the Borgata, and now Cheung Yin Sun is also suing Foxwoods Casino according to a recent report at CalvinAyre.com.
The case is in a similar vein to Ivey’s lawsuit against Crockford’s, where the casino suspected something fishy was going on and withheld their winnings –in the Borgata case Ivey and Sun left with their winnings and now the casino is looking to recoup them.
So what are the chances of these lawsuits succeeding?
Attorney Maurice “Mac” VerStandig gives a detailed explanation for two of them, Ivey vs. Borgata and Sun vs. Foxwoods, at PokerNews.com.
UK has a few Hall of Fame contenders
In just a few months the Poker Hall of Fame will add two new names to its swelling ranks, and there is a heavy call to action for the Poker Hall of Fame to improve on its diversity; namely, to induct some European players.
There are several UK players/contributors people have been trying to nominate for the HOF, so I thought I would offer up the top three Brits on my list.
John Duthie
John Duthie is the creator of the European Poker Tour, and served as the longtime CEO before stepping down in 2012. Duthie is also a fairly accomplished poker player, having won the 2000 Poker Million tournament, finished as the runner-up in the 2009 WSOP $10k Heads Up Championship, and booked two other six-figure scores throughout his career.
Dave Ulliott
The “Devilfish” is an English poker legend, and is possibly one of the most polarizing people in the game.
His detractors aside, Ulliott was clearly the best-known British poker player of his day, and boasts over $6 million in career tournament earnings – only Sam Trickett has won more money among English poker players.
A WPT and WSOP champion, Ulliott would make a great addition to the Poker Hall of Fame.
Anthony Holden
Anthony Holden has written one of the most important books in poker history, Big Deal, along with contributing several other entries to the poker archives.
More recently Holden has taken on the daunting challenge of turning poker into a fully accredited game of skill through the International Poker Federation (IFP). Holden’s IFP has already gained poker recognition as a mind sport, and when (not if) poker becomes synonymous with other skill games like chess, bridge, and backgammon, it will be in large part due to Holden’s efforts.
Liam Flood passes
Another player who deserves some Hall of Fame attention is Liam Flood. Sadly, Flood passed away this past week at the age of 71.
He will go down as one of the best Irish poker players of all time, and one of the most important as well.
Flood was instrumental in putting Irish poker on the map and was a part of the contingent of Irish players who dominated the 1999 World Series of Poker. Flood also took over the Irish Poker Open when Terry Rogers passed away, a tournament Flood won twice during his distinguished career.
More recently Liam was at the forefront of another poker movement, as he was one of the stars of the first two seasons of Late Night Poker, the show that essentially started the hole-card craze in poker.
Here are a couple of eloquent tweets that sum up Liam Flood the man and the poker player:
"Gentleman" Liam Flood, a hero of the old Late Night Poker days, has died aged 71. May his twinkling, sporting spirit live on in the game.
— Victoria Coren Mitchell (@VictoriaCoren) August 17, 2014
Very sad to hear of the passing of Gentlemen Liam Flood. A LNP original and legend RIP.
— Joe Beevers (@joebeevers) August 17, 2014
UK news bites
Sky Poker UKPC
The Sky Poker UKPC Main Event pulled in exactly 500 players, all willing to pony-up £1,000 for their shot at the title, and what would turn out to be a £110,000 first-place payday.
Remarkably, the tournament hit it’s guarantee of £500k on the head.
One of the better known players at the final table was Ireland’s Stevie Devlin, but he would run out of steam in 3rd place, leaving Leigh Wiltshire and Abishek Khaitan to battle for the title. Here is how the final table played out:
- Leigh Wiltshire – £110,000
- Abhishek Khaitan – £70,000
- Stephen Devlin – £40,000
- Andy Young – £27,500
- Neil Strike – £20,000
- Paul Haycock – £16,000
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