The poker charity formerly known as Simon Poker Day, now known as Poker for the Homeless, will take place in conjunction with the 2009 Irish Poker Championship circuit.  The charity event runs on Sunday, January 4th, the last day of the IPC.  A buy-in of €300 + €30 gets players from the poker community in the door with 8,000 starting chips.  Of that buy-in, €100 will go straight to charity.

Poker for the Homeless is organized by poker pro Padraig Parkinson, who has quite the poker resume.  The Ireland native has 34 cashes to his name and $1,122,924 in total winnings.  Being from Ireland, this charity has special meaning, and other players are sure to help a cause that means so much to Parkinson.  So far, other poker pros expected to play are Noel Furlong, Kenna James, Ciaran O’Leary, Mike Sexton, Marty Smyth, Surinder Sunar, Dave Ulliott aka “Devilfish,” and  Mad Marty Wilson.

Top online Poker rooms also showing their support of the event include PartyPoker and Ladbrokes Poker.

Holding the tournament around the holiday season will help ease the extra pressure felt on charities during this time of year.  Also, the location transfer from Dublin to Galaway is exciting move for Parkinson.  Showing his gratuity to their sponsors, he stated, “We’re moving to Galway for this event and are very grateful for all the support we’ve had from our sponsors. Local homeless charities will benefit directly from this event and, as usual at an Irish tournament, we plan to have some fun along the way.”

This is the third tournament held by the charity collective, and so far over €100,000 has been raised for homeless charities.  Two of those charities that will be benefiting from this next Poker for the Homeless tournament are Simon Community and Brother Kevin of the Capuchin Day Centre.

You can also play at Ladbrokes Poker and PartyPoker right here!

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The battle between Tom “durrr” Dwan and Brian Townsend in televised cash games demonstrates that increasingly Online players are now making more and more of an impact in the live poker community. Furthering this, Bertrand Grospellier, better known by his online handle of ‘ElkY,’ has taken down the WPT Festa al Lago; demolishing a six-handed final table and taking a $1,400,000 prize.

Whilst poker has been played in one form or another for over 10 centuries until recently the only way you could play poker was at a table with cards and chips.

If you asked people what to describe a poker room they would have come up with the classic image of a poker room was a dingy, smoke filled lair inhabited by shady characters  where you were just as likely to have your legs broken as go home a winner. Even into the 1970’s, poker rooms such as the famous Binion’s in Las Vegas (original home of the World Series of Poker) were ugly, smoky rooms with bad lighting, a far cry from the beautiful luxury rooms you see now at Wynn, Bellagio, and the Venetian.

The reason for those low budget rooms was simple: low budgets. There weren’t enough players to warrant the big casinos spending money on a fancy poker salon, however in 1998 with the growth of the personal use internet and at home PC's the very first real money online poker play poker room opened and that led to the biggest explosion in the history of gambling.

Players couldn’t sign up fast enough. Online poker grew at exponential rates.  The two poker communities collide in 2003 when chris Money Maker, won the World Series of Poker after qualifying online . Players suddenly signed up for online accounts and became a part of the online poker community.

The poker community was beginning to get riled with the unpredictable characters rising up the ranks through online poker. Players began to be classed as ‘live’ or ‘online’ poker players, each type of player was lumped into a style based on their preferred method of gaming. Live players were steadier, less aggressive players who made plays based on ‘reads’ of other players betting patterns and physical tells whereas Online players were hyper-aggressive youngsters who fired away at every pot without regard to what their opponents might have.

Whilst these steretypes may once have been trues now, in order to be a good poker player, you have to be well rounded, and most skilled players play BOTH types of poker well.

Online players watch enough poker on TV and put in enough time playing live to understand the skill of live poker. And, because of the MASSIVE number of hands online players can see (online players average twice as many hands per hour as live tables, and often play many tables at once: therefore, a young internet pro like Tom ‘durr’ Dwan has likely played more hands in four years than Doyle Brunson has in 70 years), online pros have an excellent grasp of the math and odds of the game.

Meanwhile, live players have moved onto the internet. Why? Because they can play a lot more in a shorter period of time. Players like David Benyamine, who used to spend years grinding out the biggest cash games in the casinos, can now make MILLIONS in a single month online. And because of the popularity of online poker the big names in the live poker community have made businesses out of the growing online poker community - "Devilfish" and Doyle Brunso have their own poker rooms.

So, what’s better? Well, it’s really up to you as a player. But remember this: if you want to be the next Chris Moneymaker, eventually you’re going to have to sit down at a table with nine other players and beat them. Besides, it’s FAR more fun to turn over those pocket aces when you can see your opponent’s face...

Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott, one of the most recognised faces in poker, is a foreboding character, eyes hidden behind dark shades and a menacingly calm demeanor. Large rings decorate his fingers as he passively observes you from across the table. Ulliott is more bite than bark, though, with his notoriously aggressive and unpredictable style of play. With countless major tournaments won, Ulliott has become a forced to be reckoned with and is also one of the most successful.

Dave "Devilfish" Ulliottt might be one of the best players ever to come from Great Britain. Over the last decade, he has proven that he is one of the most feared players in the world. He has won tournaments all over Europe and is regarded as one of the best Pot Limit Omaha players of all time. He's a fierce No Limit tournament player as well. Devilfish is one of the few players to have won a WPT championship and a WSoP bracelet. 

Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott began playing cards with his friends as a youngster in Hull, England. He used the backs of tombstones as a make-shift poker table. He got good so quickly that after he routinely defeated his parents in games, they threw him out of the house. He found a job working with a shieldmaker and cleaned up in games of Five Card Draw during his lunch hour. His co-workers stopped playing with him after they lost all their money.

In 1996, one of Devilfish's friends gave him his now infamous moniker during a game in England. Devilfish didn't even know what a “devilfish” was until one of his friends explained that it is a poisonous fish. A few months later, Devilfish found himself in Las Vegas, heads up against Men "The Master" Nguyen in his first big time tournament. While Men's friends chanted "The Master," Devilfish's friends responded by yelling "Devilfish!" He won the tournament and the name stuck.

He won a WSoP bracelet in 1997 for Pot Limit Hold'em. He won the Jack Binion Open at Tunica (2003) for his first World Poker Tour victory. Other major tournament wins include the British Open (2004), the World Heads Up Pot Limit Omaha Championship (2004), World Poker Open Pot Limit Omaha (2002), and the European Omaha Championship (1998). He has numerous wins on the British television series Late Night Poker and has won several tournaments at the Aviation Club in Paris. Devilfish has two second place finishes at the World Series of Poker. Because of his exposure to TV audiences via Late Night Poker and the World Poker Tour, Devilfish has quickly become one of the most famous and easily recognizable faces in poker.

Devilfish is married with seven children and still owns a jewelry business in England. He has been banned from nearly every single betting parlor in England and is a regular on the tournament circuit.

Noted Poker celebrity Dave "devilfish" ulliott takes losing players and teaches them how to Live the Dream in a new series "How to Become a Poker Millionaire" which airs this Thursday, Sept. 18 at 10.35 p.m. on ITV.

The 30-minute shows take four losing poker players and gives them an intensive month of training by the Devilfish. Each week one of Devilfish's novices is eliminated and at the end of the series the winner receives a seat at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

This week we see the contestants are now playing nine hours of online poker a week under the Devilfish's watchful eye. Devilfish tries to prove how dangerous it is to play poker while drunk as the contestants drink and play under controlled supervision and one of the contestants is sent home for breaking the rules. We discover how going on 'tilt' can make players lose a fortune and how players can avoid it.

Last week the contestants played online for real cash for the first time. Devilfish introduced them to poker "tells" and one of the contestants struggled with the rules.

It's week three of the  challenge where UK poker legend Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott takes four losing poker players and tries to turn them into winners. But only one will survive and claim the World Series of Poker seat.

Ulliott is the UK's most successful all-time tournament poker player with millions of dollars of winnings under his belt as well as WSOP and World Poker Tour titles to his name.

LTDPOker were lucky enough to have met Devil Fish Himself at Poker in the Park last month and have developed a little crush! - "we will definately be watching after our own live event each thursday"

There are many ways to "Become a poker millionaire" if you are new to the game try one of the online poker school such as LTDPokerschool.com or request a set of basic rules to be sent from this site.

You can also ask any question on our Forum and LTDPoker's own poker expert will tell you all you need to know.

Good Luck