UK Poker winnings question - how to deposit cash?

[TomC]

Hi Guys,

Ok, so go easy on me I'm a n00b to finance.

I'm living in the UK and working full time, I'm 23 and rent my property (i.e. no loans/no mortgage). I earn £17k / year from my job which equals approx £1k / month after tax.

I've been playing poker quite a lot over the last 12 months or so and I'm getting to the stage now where I'm starting to earn serious money from it (by serious I mean, relative to my salary rather than relative to shipithollaballas).

I'm currently making around £2k - £4k / month from live poker which means I have a lot of cash floating around. Now my understanding is that poker winnings are not taxable in the UK however if I start depositing this much cash in my bank each month I'm worried someone might catch on! Is there a good way of depositing it as poker winnings or do I need to 'declare' this money?

Also - does any of this change if I decide to quit my job? There is the option for me to work for myself (doing web design type stuff) which would mean I would have to file tax returns etc, would I then need to declare this money on that form? I've never done anything like fill out a tax return...

All help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

PS - Hope this is the right forum. If not please feel free to move it.