In the early part of 2000 Ian Cushion (aka Cush) decided to start hosting regular 5 card draw poker games every fortnight at his house. Various different players were attending these games and many of them had never played poker before. 

After remembering the 1994 movie "maverick" starring Mel Gibson where 20 of the best poker players competed against each other to determine who was the best, Cush decided to do the same and organise a one off tournament for his friends. 

The date was set.  The game would consist of a total of 16 players playing in 4 groups of 4 competing in a 5 card draw limit poker tournament.  The winner of each group would go through to the final. 

Each group game was played every two weeks with the final being played on the 2nd December.  The tournament was a success and a winner was eventually crowned. 

Just after the New Year Cush and John "The Cowboy" Cairns had been watching on Channel Four "Late Night Poker."  This was the first time these two players had really watched a no limit Texas Holdem tournament.  It was a whole different game to the 5 card draw games that they had been playing especially since they were both playing limit poker. 

They both decided to organise a game for 10 players to compete in a no limit Texas holdem tournament.  In February 2001 a total of 8 players attended this new event and now that it was a no limit game it didn’t take long for the event to become very tense.  In the end John "The Cowboy" Cairns became the very first winner of a no limit Texas holdem event. 

Due to the popularity of this game many of the players wanted Cush to organise another event.   Cush decided to go along with this and hosted a total of 5 games that year with an average of 8 players attending each game. Each player wanted to know who was the best player that year so it was worked out on average how each player finished.  When the results came through, the 2001 winner was Rob Devitt with Cush coming a close second.

In 2002 a further 6 games were played with in increase of players.  The average attendance this year was 10 players per event.  With the final game being played in November Cush claimed his first title having the best performance that season with Michel Mclinden just 2 points behind him in second.  A record number of 15 people attended the final game that year and this was the biggest turning point in the events history.  Not even Cush could have predicted how popular the events would become.

2003 a new era

Due to the popularity Cush decided to have official fixtures for each game and have a total of 10 events that year.  Also giving points to each player who finished in the final eight of each tournament.   With an average attendance of 16 players per game it was going to be the biggest challenge yet for any player to win the league.  Many old names and a few new ones competed against each other till the bitter end until somebody was crowned league champion.  Cush claimed his second title by finishing 32 points ahead of the rest of the table   but as Bob Dylan once said "times are a changing".  There was a new breed of poker players attending the games that season and one in particular made the biggest impact.

2004 was much the same as the previous year with an average of 15 players attending.  The one main difference it was time for a young upcoming poker start to shine bright.  Hamid Toghayn dominated the league all year and took the title of Cush with ease by finishing 51 point ahead of the rest to the table. 

There has been many seasons since 2004 and the league is are now pulling in on average 20 players per event and with new events such as the League Cup, Summer Invitational and Autumn Classic it is becoming bigger and more popular then ever.

There is also now an official web site www.pokercush.com which has been managed by Steve Young.  In a result to the large attendance and new events a committee pokercush.com committee was put together.  These individuals will help Cush with the smooth running of the events and discuss new ideas on how to improve the company.  

Without a doubt things are looking better every year and with players now able to register online it mean you can access pokercush.com at a touch of a button.