Top 10 Influential Poker Names in the UK 2022
The UK has had a track record of producing amazing poker names and personalities, right from the pre-Moneymaker boom up until the GTO era of poker play. Whether it is Luke Schwartz and his famous rant against David Benyamine or the incredible dominance of Stephen Chidwick on the live high-stakes scene, there are so many names to go through.
The UK poker scene benefits from having access to great live stops and events, whether it is the UKIPT, the EPT, or the GUKPT which allow players to play the best possible live tournaments. Poker rooms that are known around the world help UK poker players develop infinitely more than their European counterparts, whether it is playing the UKIPT at the Dusk Till Dawn tables or mixing it up in juicy cash games at The Vic or Aspers.
UK poker fans have their fair share of influential names and personalities that continue to entertain, inspire and motivate them today. Here are the top 10 influential poker names in the UK today:
#1 - Stephen Chidwick
Stephen Chidwick has been a dominant force in high-stakes poker across the world for over a decade now. Originally from Deal, Kent, he has been playing poker since 2008 when he first dipped his toes in the live poker scene. Chidwick is a player who can certainly inspire UK poker fans as he started playing poker in the Full Tilt era and has continued to adapt and evolved to keep ahead of the competition.
He made his first big splashes in 2015 when he made two World Series of Poker final tables, including a 2nd place finish in the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Hi-Low Championship when he won $180,529. Chidwick has gone on to be a high-stakes crusher since then, racking up an incredible $44 million in live earnings. This has placed Chidwick as the number 1 live cash winner in the UK and 4th in the global all-time list.
In 2018 Chidwick notched a huge cash in his 3rd place finish in the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona $10k Main Event, as he won $1.24 million. Chidwick separated himself as the best UK poker player of all time during this period. In 2019 Chidwick got his hands on a vaunted WSOP bracelet when he dominated the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller event and won $1,618,417 in the process. Chidwick is a former GPI World Number One winner, and has cemented his status as one of the best to ever play as he continues to fire in the biggest live tournaments all over the world, whether it is UK poker, or playing at the Bellagio, Aria, or on the Triton tour. (Image below from Wikimedia Commons).
#2 - Sam Trickett
Sam Trickett first came into the poker scene in a similar fashion to Doyle Brunson, after a serious knee injury scuppered his hopes of becoming a professional athlete. He quickly began playing in the UK live poker scene, starting in his local pub games and partaking in tournaments around the Nottingham and Sheffield regions, playing in casinos and the Dusk Till Dawn poker room.
It was after cutting his teeth in these circuits he began reeling in the big scores. He went from winning £5 tournaments in local pubs, a favourite for many recreational poker players in the UK, to taking down more serious and profitable tournaments. His first big score came in 2008 when he won the Grosvener UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) Main Event in Luton, scoring a total of $215,178. This boosted his bankroll enough to begin travelling to Vegas and playing in the World Series of Poker as well as other high-stakes MTTs.
In the late 2010s Trickett was part of a famous group of poker players who took part in the juiciest cash games in Macau, where he would face off against wealthy Chinese businessmen. He would occasionally have £1 million swings every night, but told the Bluff Magazine in 2011 that he was up in these games. It was after this profitable cash game period that he really kicked on his tournament poker, going on to cash so much and often that it would put him at #5 all-time for live earnings during this period.
His name is incredibly popular in the UK poker scene, as he inspires many poker players for his huge rise and success from small-stakes pub games and tournaments to the nosebleed games and events. He won the $100k buy-in high roller at the Aussie Millions and went on to get second place in the $250k buy-in event, which in 2011 was the biggest buy-in tournament ever. He would trump this when he took part in the World Series of Poker in 2012. He entered the Big One for One Drop, a $1 million buy-in event which had $19 million for the winner. He would go on to cash for $10 million when he came second to Antonio Esfandiari, making him at the time the most successful UK poker player ever. His feats have lead to him working closely with Rob Yong and partypoker, as well as having his own poker room at the Dusk Till Dawn poker room called ‘Trickett’s Room’. (Image below from wsop.com).
#3 - Liv Boeree
Liv Boeree is one of the most influential names in UK poker, after she went from being an astrophysics student at the University of Manchester to a global face in poker as an ambassador of PokerStars. She first came on the UK poker scene on the Channel Five reality TV show called Ultimatepoker.com when she faced Phil Hellmuth, Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliot and Annie Duke.
After this she would go on to win a Ladbrokes European Ladies Championship tournament for $30,000 before winning an European Poker Tour main event in Sanremo, making her the third woman to win one and adding over $1 million to her bankroll. After this she gained a spot on the team pros at PokerStars, and would go on to play in series like the EPT, UKIPT and World Series of Poker. She would get her hands on a WSOP bracelet when she won the 2017 WSOP Tag Team Championship with her boyfriend and high-stakes pro Igor Kurganov.
Boeree would be a huge name for UK poker when she went on to have deep runs in UKIPT, EPT events and would win Female Player of the Year award in 2014, 2015 and 2016 in the European Poker Awards. After ending her 9 year association with PokerStars, she went away from poker after her live earnings went over $3.8 million and she began other ventures which included a popular science channel on YouTube and various podcast appearances. She even appeared on the world famous Tim Ferris Show which is one of the biggest podcasts available, gaining millions of listeners every week. (Image below from pinterest.com).
#4 - Charlie Carrel
Originally from the Channel Islands, Charlie Carrel ran a $50 deposit into over $3 million and going from grinding small-stakes tournaments and cash games online all the way to the super high-stakes nosebleed tournaments. After seeing his future in poker, he moved back to the Channel Islands from London and lived with his grandmother, seeing the potential in his winrate at poker and setting the target of making $100,000 from online poker games. He turned $2,500 into almost $300,000 during this period, capping it off by winning PokerStars’ famous Sunday Million tournament.
It was after this huge success that Carrel played more live UK poker, turning his nose to UKIPT and EPT tournament stops around the UK and Europe, as well as dabbling in UK poker cash games at The Vic, Aspers and other famous UK poker rooms. Charlie Carrel’s poker journey has seen his cash for just shy of $10 million, as his current earnings sit at $9.6 million. The more he won and found success through intense studying and pursuit, the more he would raise the stakes and player higher. He would find his biggest success in 2015 when he won the EPT High Roller in Monte Carlo for $1.1 million, before getting his next biggest four years later.
He would reach the pinnacle of his poker ascent when he played in the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in London, when he won the £50,000 buy-in for £1.3 million after he defeated famous US high-stakes pro Jason Koon heads-up. That final table could have been one of the hardest ever in poker, as it featured the likes of Isaac Haxton, Daniel Dvoress, Matthias Eibinger, Linus Loeliger and Koon. After seeing his winnings skyrocket, Carrel has taken more of a backseat to the poker world, instead collaborating with the famous UK podcaster True Geordie and creating his own poker masterclass. (Image below from howardswains.com).
#5 - Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott
Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott is one of the most famous names for UK poker fans, after he was the face of UK poker during the early 2000s during the Moneymaker-boom. He was frequently on televised poker during the boom, becoming a fan favourite for his dry sense of humour and sharp poker play. He came from Hull and grew up in a council house working in a bookmakers before working in a safe-cracking team. He would serve a period in prison after working in a team that carried out a theft. He would work as a bouncer and dabbled in gambling after his prison sentence.
He learnt three card brag at 16 and began winning in organised home games in Hull, and would travel to Leeds to play at Napoleon’s Casino. Ulliot would travel across cities in the UK playing from London to Notttingham to Sheffield. In a two-week period he won £100,000 at The Vic and won enough money to travel to Las Vegas. He went to the 1997 World Series of Poker in 1997 and took $200,000 for buy-ins, only to lose it all. He managed to put together $2,000 for a Pot-Limit Omaha event, and he managed to win his only WSOP bracelet in this event. He used the $180k winnings to go on and crush in Vegas cash games to leave the US with over $700,000 in winnings. Stories like this ingrained Devilfish into the UK poker lore as one of the best players to come from the country. Ulliot would go on to find success in the World Poker Tour, including a $589k win in the Jack Binion WPT Poker Open. He would cash for $6.2 million in all his live earnings before his tragic passing in 2015. In his memory, the bar at the famous UK poker room Dusk Till Dawn is now called ‘Devilfish’s Bar’. (Image below from ruffpoker.com).
#6 - Rob Yong
Rob Yong is a huge name in UK poker after he created the Dusk Till Dawn poker room, the home of UK poker for many poker players in the UK. In 2006 he got the idea for Dusk Till Dawn after him and co-founder Nick Whitten were turned away from a local poker tournament after arriving one minute late. Yong decided on opening Dusk Till Dawn after this, and in 2007 got UK poker pro Sam Trickett to the grand opening night. He opted to focus the games towards more lower-stakes and recreational UK poker players and gained a lot of support for doing this.
Since then Dusk Till Dawn has helped grow Rob Yong’s infleunce in poker, seeing him go to play in high-stakes games that have been broadcast like Poker After Dark and cash games streamed via partypoker. In 2017 the poker room hit a peak when they held the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Festival, with a main event of £5,300 which was won by Maria Lampropulos for £1,000,000. Yong has also expanded his poker ventures with Luxon Pay, a quicker and better way for poker players to deposit, withdraw and buy-in to live poker tournaments. He has had a lot of influence with the Triton Poker Series and organized the Luxon Pay Mediterranean Poker Party, which saw him win the The One Drop event after he bested WSOP Main Event winner Espen Jorstad for $87,000. (Image below from poker.org).
#7 - Patrick ‘pads1161’ Leonard
Patrick Leonard has grown in prominence when it comes to influential UK poker names, as he has become one of the best poker players to come from the country. He is currently one of the best MTT players in the world, as he dominates both online and live. He has amassed over $13 million in online tournament cashes and has had over $2.5 million in live winnings. His success has catapulted him to the face of partypoker’s online circuit, making him one of the most prominent current poker players in the UK.
An example of his high-stakes prolific nature came during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic when poker players had to play at the online felt to compete. There was a $25k WSOP event on GGPoker which saw a huge prizepool accumulate, and Pads took it down for $1.6 million. He continued to show his wizardry as he won two Spring Championship of Online Poker in 2021 in two days. 2022 has proven to be a huge year for Pads in both online and live poker. His Instagram become famous amount poker fans for the way he would turn his biggest sweats and poker thoughts into Instagram stories, with lots of good advice being shared. He would go on to a much-desired WSOP bracelet when he took down the $10k Tag Team Championship with Espen Jorstad, who would go on to eventually win the 2022 WSOP Main Event. (Image below from highstakesdb.com).
#8 - Chris Moorman
Like many poker players from the UK, Chris Moorman grounded up his poker ban roll and played freerolls and low-stakes in a staggering journey that has seen him hold the title of the biggest winning online player, and currently holding an online earnings of over $20 million. Along with the likes of Niklas ‘Lena900’ Astedt and Patrick ‘pads1161’ Leonard, he has battled to be the best of the online poker players in the world. He has been ranked #1 in online poker multiple times, as well as being the all-time PocketFives Triple Crown leader with 30 victories. A crazy stat from Chris’ online poker record - he has finished in the top over 1,100 times!
Chris Moorman has two incredibly successful poker books, Moorman’s Book of Poker and Moorman: The Inside Story of The Most Successful Online Poker Player of All Time. The UK poker pro has tasted success in every tournament facet imaginable, whether it was him winning the 2014 WPT LA Classic for $1 million or his two World Series of Poker bracelets, the latest which he won in 2021 in an $800 Online Turbo event, cashing for $102k. (Image below from somuchpoker.com).
#9 - Sam ‘SamSquid’ Grafton
Sam Grafton is a well-known UK poker player who has achieved the dream of every UK poker grinder in reaching the highest stakes. He started playing low-stakes cash and MTTs while working a part-time job and managed to grind up the ladder to the mid-stakes through studying and learning theory around poker. He would frequent places like Dusk Till Dawn, playing in £150 tournaments and grinding online to build his bankroll up. It would take from 2008 to 2012 till Grafton had his big break, winning the GPT Main Event in London and getting £100,000 added to his bankroll.
The biggest moment according to Grafton was in 2017 at the Aussie Millions, when he took down the Poker Championship for $140,000. According to Grafton, he “100xed” his net worth during this period, making the final table of the MILLIONS at Dusk Till Dawn for £200k before cashing multiple High Roller events at the WSOP.
Sam Grafton became a PokerStars team pro shortly after this success, propelling himself from the mid-stakes in UK poker to the becoming the face of UK poker entirely. He now battles regularly at the highest stakes and recently got his lifetime live earnings to $12.2 million after winning the $210k buy-in Coin Rivet Invitational event for $5.5 million. (Image below from cardplayer.com).
#10 - Ben Heath
Ben Heath is one of the biggest poker stars to come from the UK, joining the likes of Stephen Chidwick, Linus Loeliger and Fedor Holz in playing in the highest-stakes MTTs available in the world. He originally cut his teeth on PokerStars playing under the moniker “1Don’tStop1” and would go on to find success and develop on the online felt. It was in the live arena where Heath would take his poker game to the next level, first finding success in an EPT Malta side event in 2015 where he won $60,000.
Success would tail this victory, as he would cash in the WSOP three times that year and finish second in the 2017 Aussie Millions Main Event for $1 million. He would then begin firing high-stakes live MTTs and focus on this more than the online felt, cashin in the PSC High Roller in Prague, EPT Monte Carlo and would win the WSOP High Roller in 2019 for $1.5 million. Months later he came third in the Triton Poker Series Main Event in London for $1.6 million, and continued to crush nosebleed MTTs for the rest of the year. In 2021 he came second in the Super High Roller WSOP event, cashing for $2 million and breaking the $10 million live earnings mark. He now has over $13.5 million in live earnings, and sits third in the UK poker live earnings table behind Stephen Chidwick and Sam Trickett. (Image below from triton-series.com).
