I was born in Aylesbury in 1980. Although I'm not the youngest member of team blonde I feel like I'm on a par with snoopy next to that ol' tikay fella ;-). My parents raised us in Milton Keynes where I have spent most of my life - unfortunately!
With an Irish mother and a father with Asian origins, playing cards (and drinking beer) was a necessity from a very young age. Whenever my Dad's side of the family met for a family get together, three-card-brag was on the menu and even at a young age making money from cards was all part of the learning curve. I received early lessons from an uncle, a champion "Trook" player fron North London.
I went to St Pauls Catholic School in Milton Keynes and went on to do my A-Levels there too, in Maths, Physics and Chemistry. However it was here where the poker training really took off. "Fivers in" was as much a part of the timetable as any lesson and around this time we were learning Hold'em.
The next step was of course going to University. I ended up at the Nottingham Trent University studying Civil Engineering but after two years realised it was something I loathed and I dropped out. With "Late Night Poker" becoming a must see weekly show, poker was taking off in our halls and the home games became fierce. It had started getting to the stage where we were travelling to halls of residence all over the city for a game.
Before restarting my education at Trent doing Economics, I took a year out where I first visited the Nottingham Gala cardroom. There I met the likes of Tony "tikay" Kendall, Greg "Junior" Hill, Adam "Snoopy" Goulding and his brother Jim (Jammer) and the fantastic Irishman, Julian "yo-yo" Thew. During that year out I realised I was making more money through poker than I was whilst working at university. I got myself a computer, got into the online cash game and tournament scenes and I've never looked back.
It was also around this time I was fortunate enough to meet Dave "El Blondie" Colclough at a home game. Ever since Dave has been guiding me on the road to being a full-time player. Although I've never hit the heights of his other student, WSOP winner Brian "The Rookie"
Wilson, I know without a doubt that a lot of my success in casinos and online is due to Dave's guidance.
My second time around at uni was made financially easier by the constant visits to the Gala and the success I was having online. In June 2005 I finished my Economics degree and rewarded myself with a trip to Vegas for the WSOP 2005 to learn a bit more from the blonde one. There I met Brian Wilson and the truly remarkable Paul Maxfield and learned more than I ever could have hoped. (Mainly about foreign beers, lapdances and bankroll management!) I got to play in several WSOP events and cashed in several smaller events elsewhere around Vegas, however my real joy came in the cash games there.
Since returning to the UK I have moved back home with the olds where I have decided to give it a go full-time - which I am loving! I still try to play live as much as I can and can be found at Luton and The Vic occasionally but I generally consider myself an online player now.
I have played festival events since Vegas last year but I'm not really one for TV and trophies. My real target for 2006 is to make more money online and to improve on last years WSOP.
I have been fortunate so far - early family games, meeting Dave at the right time and going to the WSOP last year - only time will tell how far my luck goes.
