With his track record, you’d think Nick Leeson would be good at losing, but it’s not as easy as you’d think when you’re doing it on purpose.
My wife gave birth to a baby boy last month. He’s the most fantastic thing that’s ever happened to me and gives me hours of pleasure every day. Okay, so he stops me playing poker and backing horses, but that’s no bother as it means the bank balance looks a bit healthier. Against my wife’s wishes, I’ve put his name down to be the next Governor of the Bank of England and am now looking for someone to give me odds on it happening. I figure that since I put paid to a 200-year-old merchant bank, he should naturally aim a bit higher.
I’ve played poker at a few festival events lately – a very drab affair at the Grosvenor in Luton that was quite charmless, and a superbly-arranged event at Brighton’s Rendezvous Casino hosted by Celebpoker.com. There was a real energy and buzz about the place and the whole event turned me on to the idea about playing in more tournaments.
The contrast couldn’t have been greater and was a real advert for getting it right when you’re organising a tournament. There were some great characters there – a real dedicated mix of seasoned professional players, celebrities and relative newcomers who had qualified through the satellite tournaments.
One of the gripes I often hear from the seasoned pros is this new influx of players into the game, be they celebrities or new converts, has changed the game. They don’t conform to the rules, overplay hands and take chances that really aren’t quantifiable. I may be missing something, but isn’t that the whole essence of the game – being a little unpredictable and making moves that are hard to read? They’re happy to see winners’ cheques getting bigger but they don’t want the increased hassle of trying to win them. Smacks a little of sour grapes to me.
Mark Williams and fellow InsideEdge columnist Tony Cascarino made it to the last day at the Celebpoker event in Brighton, along with a host of satellite qualifiers. A friend of Mark Williams, partially funded by Mark and Stephen Hendry, went on to win and claim the £40,000 first prize. Tony Cascarino, who’s a real gentleman, finished third, belying the myth I’ve read in the pages of this and other magazines that celebrities don’t make good poker players.
Natural born loser
No surprises that I didn’t win. But I do have a valid excuse this time. Ahead of me lay the red-eye back to Dublin very early the next morning for the birth of my first child, who was being induced at 8am. Which also happened to be the day of the finals. As a result, I had great fun trying to get myself knocked out all evening.
But I must have gone all-in seven or eight times in the first couple of hours and won them all. It really did look as though I was trying to give my chips away, but never fear – Lady Luck never smiles on me for too long. I went all in with KQ, heads up against A6 and nobody hit anything on the flop, so that was that.
I’ve been commissioned to write a book on stress by Virgin. They figure that I’ve been through most of the stressful events that can affect you during your lifetime and have often experienced them in the most extreme of circumstances. I’m penning the book with a well-known psychologist, Ivan Tyrrell, and am getting really enthused by it.
Ivan has an approach to psychology and stress that is called the ‘Human Givens’, the idea being that we are all born with innate needs and, when they are not met, that will result in stress. In certain cases this can manifest itself in certain types of behaviour. The need to achieve and stretch myself has been a massive motivating force in my life, and one that I have tried to curb after making such a mess of it at Barings.
The excitement and thrills of the trading floor and the markets are clearly missing in my life at the moment, but through talking to Ivan I can see this need manifesting itself in other ways. I play poker online more than I should do, I’ve never cashed out, and only keep putting money in. I opened a telephone betting account, fared a little better but have gone from betting once a day to trying to win every race. How stupid am I?
I think I’m looking to achieve by being successful at it, recreating some of that thrill that was in my life at Barings but is now most definitely missing. Anything that gives you enjoyment is highly addictive, so I’m currently rationalising the situation and have stopped backing horses. I don’t know the first thing about the sport and figure I’m better off moderating that behaviour.
As for thrills, I’ll have to look for something else to do, like skydiving. Either that or I’ll continue to get out of changing nappies. My wife’s reaction ought to keep me on edge forever.
