Former Irish Open Champion Ian Simpson Flattered to Join 888poker

Matthew Pitt
Senior Editor
3 min read
Ian Simpson

888poker has pulled off a major coupe by signing British pro Ian Simpson to its roster of brand ambassadors. 888poker unveiled Simpson at the recent 888poker LIVE Barcelona festival where Sandro Hauser took down the Main Event for €56,800.

Simpson left a career in teaching to pursue a professional poker career after finishing fourth in the 2012 Irish Open Main Event for €107,500 ($141,623). The rest, as they say, is history. The ever-popular Simpson has since forged a poker career spanning a decade and is showing no signs of slowing down.

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While that fourth-place finish was the catalyst in Simpson's poker journey, it must have irked him getting so deep but not returning home to the North-East of the England with the winner's trophy in his luggage. A year later, Simpson returned to Dublin and outlasted 504 opponents in the 2013 Irish Open Main Event, getting his hands on the coveted title in addition to a still career-best €265,000 payday.

Simpson famously got down on one knee and proposed to his then girlfriend Emma, shortly after becoming the Irish Open's champion. The lovebirds married in 2016 and became parents in 2020.

In Simpson, 888poker have aligned themselves with an extremely popular and talented poker player who loves grinding both online and live poker tournaments. His Twitch channel has almost 11,000 followers who regularly tune in to watch Simpson playing a variety of tournament and to be entertained by the natural showman. Expect many more streams in the future, in addition to plenty of cat footage because Simpson is a major lover of felines!

PokerNews reached out to Simpson, who says he is looking forward to creating content for 888poker's customers.

"Poker sponsorship deals are super rare these days. For a company as big as 888 to bring me into their team is flattering. Their team are super nice, and extremely hard working. I'm hoping I can add to their already solid team with my own work ethic and make some great content for everybody to enjoy."

Simpson joins a talented team of streamers and ambassadors. Kara Scott, Alexandre "Cavalito" Mantovani, Samantha Abernathy, Jordan Banfield, and former World Champion boxer Chris Eubank Jr are among the members of Team 888.

The online poker giant's StreamTeam of ambassadors features Nick "eastyyy22" Eastwood, Ricardo "Mat3usPT" Mateus, David "New_Dave" Gibson, Josh "JoshManleyPoker" Manley, and Adam "iamEklo" Tocholke. PokerNews is certain Simpson will fit right in with his new teammates.

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Join Simpson at the 888poker Tables With a Juicy Welcome Bonus

Now is the perfect time to join 888poker if you have not already done so. Download 888poker via PokerNews, create your free account, and 888poker will give you a free $88 worth of cash game and tournament tickets – this is a free £20 for residents of the United Kingdom – just for reaching this stage.

Your first deposit is matched 100% up to $400 in the form or a releasable bonus. You have 90 days to release as much bonus as you can. Contact 888poker support for more details.

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Matthew Pitt
Senior Editor

Matthew Pitt hails from Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, and has worked in the poker industry since 2008, and worked for PokerNews since 2010. In September 2010, he became the editor of PokerNews. Matthew stepped away from live reporting duties in 2015, and now concentrates on his role of Senior Editor for the PokerNews.

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