A British poker pro has been sentenced to 26 months in prison for drug dealing. Ashley Locker, of Scarborough, Yorkshire, was convicted of possessing cocaine with intent to supply at York Crown Court earlier this week.
British Poker Pro Banged Up on Drugs Charges
The 29-year-old was arrested almost two years ago when out driving his Audi Q7. Inside a patrol car, Locker’s license plate flashed up as a vehicle that was suspected as being involved in the supply of drugs. This was confirmed after the officers stopped Locker and discovered six wraps of cocaine in the vehicle.
He was also found to have £1,500 in his pockets and another £923 was found in the car. At the scene, he tried to justify the large amounts by saying he was on the way to a private poker game that evening.
Busted!
The six wraps of cocaine was enough to arrest Locker and get a warrant to search the Yorkshireman’s home for more drugs and cash to assess how big an operation this was.
Police found 55 grams of cocaine in Locker’s property, but more worryingly for the young man, they also found packets of empty sealable bags of the type used by drug dealers. There was also a written record of customers who were yet to pay for the product they had received.
Prosecutor Matthew Collins told the court that although this was a one-man operation, it was still generating “commercial-level profit”.
Anna Bond, defending, pleaded for sympathy by informing the judge that Locker had been running up huge gambling debts after his poker career began to slide.
Good luck with that!
Thrown it All Away
Ashley Locker start playing poker at the age of 18 while working at McCain, a frozen foods factory. After some initial success, the youngster hit his career best score in the 2018 WSOP Main Event for almost $50k. That was when he decided to give the professional circuit a go.
Unfortunately, lady luck wasn’t smiling, and although the last few years saw some five-figure scores, it is clear that the profit wasn’t living up to expectations. This is obviously when Locker decided that he needed an alternative income stream to maintain his lifestyle.
With only $111,976 in live tournament cashes, it tough to know exactly what Locker expected. We have no idea whether or not he has any kind of online record to confirm any kind of real prowess at the game.
As per United Kingdom law, Ashley Locker will likely spend half of his sentence behind bars before being released on parole. Plenty of time to mull over what he did and, of course, to brush up on his poker skills.
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