People

In 1996 I moved up to Nottingham from London primarily to use the canoe slalom facilities at Holme Pierrepont.

Getting hooked

I've always been slightly compulsive / obsessive and the whole poker thing started for me in 1999 when I'd hung my paddles up and fancying a change, I moved back to Dublin for 18 months. Saturday nights meant a home game at my brother's house with a few friends, six packs in hand and a tenner in your pocket.

I was far from a natural and it was only when I read a book or two that a few things fell into place and I saw just how much there was to learn. Six months later I took a deep gulp and went along to Dublin's only card club at the time, the Jackpot. Boy was I nervous, but the place, the mix of people, the banter and the humour meant that by the time I left, I was hooked.

How it works

The poker I play is tournament poker and here's how it works: everybody pays an entry fee, which can be anything from £5 to £5000, you all get a set amount of chips, and whether there's 50 or 500 entrants, you play down to one winner, that is, until one person has all the chips.

Normally 10% of the field make the prize money with the winner getting about 40% of the prize pool.

Julian in Cardiff

In smaller competitions this takes place over one evening, but increasingly at festivals up and down the country most events now take two days and on the international circuit, the biggest events can take up to a week.

The beauty of tournament poker is that anyone can enter an event. Want to play the World Championships in Vegas? All you need to do is stump up the $10,000 entry fee and it could be you, beating a field of 8000 players over a fortnight and walking away with the $12,000,000 first prize.

My wife's opinion

My wife Amanda is a teacher and was far from happy about this change in how I was spending my spare time; it took a year or two but she did eventually warm to it, thanks in part to a trip I won to Melbourne to compete in the Aussie Millions in 2003.

Term-time permitting, Amanda tries to get along on as many trips as she can and now that she's taking a year off with the arrival of our second baby, we're hoping that the four of us can get away on a few more trips this year.

I lost about £1800 the first year I played, which is affectionately known as 'paying for lessons'. Since then though, every year has seen me in profit to the extent that I went part-time, where I used to work as a draughtsman in the Lace Market in 2003, before finally quitting and going professional in 2005.

No more nine to five

My first significant win was a Festival Main Event title in 2005 for £48,000. Up to that point I'd been running well in the UK festivals and I got a big break in 2004 when a bookmaker offered me a sponsorship deal. This means that in return for wearing a shirt with their logo on they pay the majority of my entry fees and expenses.

Julian in Birmingham

If you can make it pay, the professional poker players lifestyle really is a an exciting way to earn a living and certainly beats the pants off my old nine to five routine. Last year I played in Copenhagen, Deauville, Paris, Vienna, Baden, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Dublin, Amsterdam, Estonia, Vegas and St Kitts. Trips away can be very tiring as it's either playing in a tournament until the sun comes up or sampling the local beverages with any number of friendly faces who regularly crop up on the circuit.

I'm pretty sensible with the money I win and it's rare that I would go on a big splurge. Our immediate goals are to finish renovations on our house and to be mortgage free as soon as possible. Whilst some of the sums I win are large it would be very poor money management for a professional player to not have a year or twos worth of 'seed' money behind him for those dry spells.

Time at my local

I don't get down to my local, the Gala on Maid Marian Way much these days but when I do I'm amazed at all the new faces that are constantly showing up. There is a very lively scene there with eight tournaments a week, catering for all pockets.

The face of poker in Nottingham (and the UK) is set to change significantly in April though, when a stand alone card room, Dusk Till Dawn, opens its doors in the old 'Smilin Sam's' building.