Love Nuke

Kevin Thurston played for 38 hours and beat 300 players to secure the second Grand Series of Poker Live (GSPO), Seville, Spain.

27-year old debt, part of his winnings to Lady Luck, who is busy with his pair of aces – the best cards can be the beginning of the game – during the nail-biting final against the elite of the poker world.

Meanwhile, regulars at his local pub, The Cellar House in Eaton, followed his every bit as they watched the match live from their bar stools.

Now, the punter plans to spend his winning on a trip to Las Vegas to contend for a £10m prize at the Betfair World Series.

Mr Thurston, of Threescore, Colney, said he was close to not taking part in the competition because he did not want to miss the Champions League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid.

He said: “The whole experience was surreal – I was really buzzing. In the final game a player raised, a player went all in and I had pocket aces- I was clear second with half a million chips.

“At one point during the final I decided to buy four bottles of champagne and give everyone in the front row glasses to thank them for watching for such a long time.

“When I got to the final two we had a 20 minute break and I looked at my phone and got all the messages of support from people in The Cellar House. It made me think – ‘I can do this’.

“At the end I couldn’t help thinking how close I was to winning it, but I soon realised just how much I had won.”

Kevin Thurston was first introduced to poker when he began playing above his dad’s pub in Brighton.

Since then, he has gone on to compete in poker tournaments in America as well as winning competitions at the Norwich Poker Club.

He decided to take part in the GSPO competition with his friend Sean Rowe after the pair won places, worth £3,500 each, on an online gambling site.

The event was held at the Gran Casino Aljarafe where more than 300 people spent four days competing for the first prize jackpot worth more than £80,000.

Mr Thurston, 27, who is a call centre manager for PLT marketing based in Norwich, said: “I had a feeling I was going to do well, but when i heard people back at home saying it, I started to believe the hype.

“My Facebook just exploded when I was on the final table. The guy who beat me was a world series bracelet winner, which is the highest tournament you can achieve, so I felt I did well to get that far.”

Landlord for The Cellar House pub on Eaton Road, Paul Malynn, said he was thrilled to see Mr Thurston do so well.

He said: “I am delighted for him. His friends were watching him in the pub and cheering him on. He has always been keen on his poker and he has even given up five-a-side football so he could concentrate on getting better.”

But Mr Thurston hasn’t been the only big Norfolk winner at the poker tables this year.

Spencer Benjafield, 24, of Great Yarmouth took home $75,000 at poker competition in February.

The off-shore worker beat celebrities including Gun ‘N Roses guitarist Slash, German tennis player Boris Becker and former England striker Teddy Sheringham at an event in the Bahamas.

Meanwhile, a Norwich band also struck lucky when they won enough money to record an album after a trip to Las Vegas.

At the musicians Rapp and Pete Lee, the Black Sharks won $ 10,000 at the tables and made sure that the famous producer Nick Brine, who worked in the Oasis, Arctic Monkeys and The Stone Roses.

Phil Hellmuth is now considering as one of the most successful poker players on the planet. Although not everyone cup of tea, his career earnings are unusual, the profits are still undefeatable cuff and no one could argue that he has raised the profile and awareness of the game of poker.

Born in 1964 in the United States and after crossing to the university, like many players today have only managed three years before he finishes his studies to concentrate on his poker career, a choice some would say.

He has collective over $11million in live tournament winnings alone which leaves him in 4^th place on the all time earnings list but you have to feel that considering his big wins came at an early age, if he had been born a couple of decades later then his earnings would be excessive. His one Main Event win in 1989 came with a prize of $755,000 at the time; certainly not a figure to turn your nose up at but paling in comparison to the $8-9million that it is worth these days.

He has held plenty of records throughout his career but there are two that stick out as being his biggest and most well-known achievements.

11 bracelets and still going strong

He won the WSOP Main Event at the age of 24 against Johnny Chan, who was defending his title at the time, in 1989 and with that victory came the honor of being the youngest player to have ever taken a Main Event victory. In itself, this is a great achievement but this record was not beaten until 2008 when Peter Eastgate at just 23, won the event. That’s an amazing 18 years that Hellmuth held this record, showing just how good you had to be at that age to win it.

The other record that sticks out and is still a record to date, is that he has won an amazing 11 WSOP bracelets throughout his career and sits atop a pack of players looking to overtake him.  There are a couple currently on 10 bracelets but it will surely take a while for Hellmuth to be dethroned, especially as he still has plenty of poker playing years in him; if Doyle Brunson can play into his 70s then why can’t Hellmuth?!

Should he be called Phil Hellmouth?

Hellmuth has always been a colorful figure and has been in some absolutely crazy bust-ups during his career. In recent years, with the emergence of strong online players, big tournament fields and younger and younger players, Hellmuth has been deemed to be a terrible loser; often exploding with rage when beaten by what he feels are inferior hands and players.

He calls himself the ‘Poker Brat’ and has made a secondary living from a merchandise range bearing that very name. He has developed this character well and while I have no doubt that he is normally being as genuine as possible, it wouldn’t surprise me if he hammed it up a bit now and then, especially when the TV cameras turn to him; fans love nothing more than to see Hellmuth blow up and even he believes “if it weren’t for luck, I’d win ‘em all”.

His success is impressive in the WPT as well; although he is yet to actually win a title he has made the final table four times and has cashed in their tournaments thirteen times to date. With his popularity and wallet swelling he was a perfect choice for TV show Poker after Dark where he battles it out with other huge pros like Daniel Negreanu and Annie Duke.

Married with children, Hellmuth is a very big family man and is ready for life away from the feel through the publication of numerous books, videos, DVDs, and created his own publishing house.

Whatever your personal opinion on the great man, you can not deny he is a great talent to the table and has brought anything but good exposure to the world of poker. Deserves his Hall of Fame site, it is also worthy of the Legends of Poker profile.