James Dempsey Wins First iSeries Live Event

James Dempsey won the first ever iSeries Live tournament event, taking down the winner-take-all sit and go tournament over a 10-player field that included some of the top players in the world.

The iSeries tournament featured a twist for fans of the game: the ability to bet on dozens of different outcomes during the course of play. With the combination of live streaming coverage and constantly changing odds, viewers were never left without something to gamble on.

The project apparently proved to be a success. At one point, ESPN’s Andrew Feldman tweeted that more than 2,500 people were watching the live stream of the tournament, though it’s unknown just how many of them were betting on the action.

The players certainly hoped that they were making plenty of wagers. In the unique format of the tournament, the players could win not only by taking down first place, but also by collecting their share of any money wagered on them (or specifically against them). That may have given players some additional incentive to stick around longer and see their odds shorten, as well as make more noise at the table to attract action from fans.

In the end, though, the tournament was also about poker, and it was unlikely there’d be nearly enough betting on the event to beat the €100,000 prize guaranteed to the first place finisher. Players like Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Carlos Mortensen fought not only for face time, but also for chips, looking to take down the game’s only awarded prize.

In the end, the tournament came down to a heads-up battle between Dempsey and the legendary Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott. Though the two started close in chips, it didn’t take very long for the tournament to end in an all-in confrontation, when Dempsey’s AQ was well ahead of A8. With no help for Ulliott on the board, Dempsey took down the victory and earned the €100,000 prize.