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James “Flushy” Dempsey is a Brighton-born professional poker player who holds both a WSOP bracelet and a World Poker Tour title — an extremely rare combination for any British player. Born in 1983, Dempsey won the 2010 WSOP $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em bracelet before pulling off an even bigger result in December 2011, winning the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio for $821,612 against one of the toughest final tables of that era. With over $2.23 million in live earnings, he is one of the most accomplished multi-format players in UK poker history.
Career Earnings & Biggest Results
Total live earnings stand at over $2,231,000 across recorded cashes, per The Hendon Mob. His $821,612 WPT Bellagio title remains his biggest live cash.
💰 Live Earnings: $2,231,000+ | 🏆 WSOP Bracelet: 2010 | 🏆 WPT Title: 2011 | 💵 Best Cash: $821,612
Notable Results (click to expand)
| Date | Event | Result | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2011 | WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Classic, Bellagio | 1st / 413 | $821,612 |
| Jun 2010 | WSOP $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship | 2nd (vs Sammy Farha) | $301,789 |
| Jun 2010 | WSOP $1,500 PLH (Bracelet) | 1st / 650 | $197,470 |
In summer 2010 Dempsey came within a river card of winning two WSOP bracelets in the same series — losing heads-up to Sammy Farha in the Omaha Hi-Lo Championship.
His estimated poker net worth is over $2.5 million, including significant online earnings across a decade-long career at PokerStars and Full Tilt.
Biography & Poker Background
Dempsey has been drawn to poker since childhood and made his professional debut in 2005 at the Blackpool Bonanza. In his early years he built a reputation online under the alias ‘Flushy’, accumulating over $500,000 in online earnings in three years at PokerStars and Full Tilt, including a runner-up in a 2009 SCOOP event for $211,748.
His live breakthrough came in the summer of 2010 at the WSOP — arguably the most dramatic single series by a British player of that era. He won the $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’em event outright for $197,470, then a week later came within a river card of a second bracelet, losing to Sammy Farha heads-up in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship for $301,789.
Eighteen months later, Dempsey was in Las Vegas running an errand for a friend when he decided to enter the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio — a $10,000 buy-in event featuring nearly 40 WPT Champions Club members and a field that included Antonio Esfandiari, Vanessa Selbst, and Erik Seidel. He won it. The $821,612 first prize made him one of only a handful of British players to hold both WSOP and WPT titles simultaneously.
He subsequently became a sponsored pro at IveyPoker.com alongside Phil Ivey, and has remained a competitive presence on the European circuit, including winning the partypoker Grand Prix Poker Tour Brighton in 2016. He also plays recreational golf to a high standard.
Play Style & Strategy
Dempsey is particularly strong in pot-limit formats — Pot Limit Hold’em and both variants of Omaha — which is where his biggest results have consistently come. His bracelet came in PLH, his near-miss in PLO8, and his WPT win at the Bellagio demonstrated his ability to read and exploit table dynamics across multi-day, deep-stack play at the highest level.
Social Media & Online Presence
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