Richard Goes from PC Sales to Poker Pro

Richard Goes from PC Sales…

An IT salesman, who became a professional poker play after losing his job, has won almost £100,000 in just three months and is now heading to one of the World’s most prestigious poker tournaments, courtesy of CelebPoker.com.

Until February this year, 40-year-old Richard Hemmington was your average man in the street with a nine-to-five job, a wife and two kids, but now he’s heading to the Seefeld Poker Masters in Austria after overcoming the odds to win a hard-fought selection tournament on CelebPoker.com.

“When I was made redundant from my job, I could have joined my colleagues in the dole queue, but I’d always enjoyed playing poker online and I seemed to have a flair for it, so I thought why not give it a go,” said Richard, who lives in Surbiton, Surrey. “In four months, I’ve managed to exceed my old salary and I’m now getting into the offline tournaments as well.”

Richard has already travelled to the Philippines for the APT Manila tournament and will now join an exclusive group of just six CelebPoker members in Seefeld, having beaten off competition from hundreds of others in the final of the qualifying tournament on May 24. In addition to the €2,250 sponsorship package, he will also have the opportunity to share in a prize pool estimated at over €180,000.

“Poker players come from all walks of life and not everyone would want to turn professional, but Richard has shown just what can be achieved if you put your mind to it,” said a spokesperson at CelebPoker. “We’re investing a big sum to send six of our members to Seefeld and it’s great that Richard is one of them. Let’s hope he plays as well there as he did in our online qualifiers.”

“This will be my third major live tournament and I learnt a lot from the first two, so I'm very confident that I can improve on my results and get into the big money,” added Richard. “I'm looking forward to whole experience and hopefully playing poker well enough to reach the final table.”

After playing poker for just five years, Richard’s is a success story that will inspire many other aspiring poker players, from online amateurs to experienced professionals. Richard is just one of thousands of people from all background and social groups who are discovering the thrills and suspense of online poker.

The Seefeld Poker Masters will see him play against big international names such as Eddy Scharf and Sigi Stockinger, less than five months after turning professional.

Publish Date : 01/06/2009

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