The first Pot-Limit Hold'em bracelet of 2010 goes to James "Flushy" Dempsey. Just before the final table began, we heard the British national anthem played as Praz Bansi was awarded his second career bracelet. To the delight of Dempsey's vocal British rail, he has ensured we'll get to hear "God Save the Queen" at least once more. The $197,470 he earned for this win doubles Dempsey's lifetime live tournament cashes, but it is less than he earned for his largest online cash. He picked up $211,000 for second place in the 2009 SCOOP $320 No-Limit Hold'em event.
Dempsey defeated Steve Chanthabouasy heads up in a tough battle that took more than two hours. Both outlasted a stacked field of 650 that began the tournament three days ago. Dempsey ended Day 1 as chip leader and maintained his position through most of Day 2, only relinquishing it at the end to Chanthabouasy, who began the final table as chip leader with only 5,000 more than Dempsy. Flushy quickly retook the lead and bullied the table for the rest of the evening before finally eliminating Chanthabouasy and securing the title.
Dempsey eliminated JJ Liu in third place. She earned the honor of being the first woman to make a final table at the 2010 World Series. She began the day with her eyes on the bracelet, but could never accumulate enough chips to make a run at the top spot. Liu lost a flip to Dempsey to end her fight and had to settle for $86,512.
$
1 James Dempsey 197,470
2 Steve Chanthabouasy 121,963
3 JJ Liu 86,512
4 Mark Babekov 62,232
5 Scott Haraden 45,393
6 Armen Kara 33,573
7 Joseph Williams 25,166
8 Edward Brogdon 19,120
9 Gregg Wilkerson 14,715