Former Republic of Ireland soccer pro Tony Cascarino won the seventh leg of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT), outscoring a field of 175 players to win the first prize of £52,850 at the Grosvenor casino in Bolton and his first major poker event.
The 46-year-old Cascarino, who played soccer at the highest level in his previous career, has been a professional poker player for the past two years and a regular on the UK's premier poker tour. He came through a strong final table that included former WPT winner Surinder Sunar, UK heads-up champion Kevin O'Leary, and Ali Mallu, one of the most feared players on the UK circuit.
Cascarino came back from a 4-to-1 chip deficit when heads-up against Mallu at the end of the grueling four-day tournament. Mallu looked set for victory, but slipped up in two consecutive hands to give the ex-striker a chance to take the title. With the clinical precision that one would expect from a professional soccer player, Cascarino closed out the match in style when his A-8 of clubs improved to a flush on an all clubs flop.
Cascarino is the second celebrity player to win a GUKPT event, following in the footsteps of British actor Michael Greco, who won the Cardiff event during the tour's first season. In the press conference following his win Cascarino remarked, "I had a great sports career but even this I think has overtaken some of the things I have done in football."
During his soccer career Cascarino enjoyed spells at Aston Villa, Celtic, Chelsea, and the French side, Marseille. He made 88 international appearances for the Republic of Ireland, scoring 19 goals in the process and was one of the key players in the team's World Cup campaigns of 1990 and 1994.
Since retiring from soccer, Cascarino revealed that he should never have played for the Irish team, since he had no Irish blood running through his veins. He qualified for the national team thanks to an Irish grandfather; however he later discovered that his mother was adopted, so the grandfather in question was not a blood relative. Nevertheless, he maintains his place as one of the most successful players in the history of Irish soccer.
Cascarino, who is sponsored by British online poker site Littlewoods went on to say that this win would make a big difference to him in the world of poker. He had considered giving up the game, but this win has quenched his thirst for more success. His next target is the first event of the new season-the Pokerstars.com European Poker Tour in Barcelona and he will follow that up with an appearance at the London leg of Europe's richest poker tour.
There are many celebrities in the UK who now play poker on a regular basis and although Cascarino is the first of these to win a GUKPT event, there are several others who may yet stake a claim in the future. In the previous leg of the tour darts player Wayne 'Hawaii 501' Mardle finished in a creditable seventh place out of a field of 375 runners. Ex-England soccer pro Teddy Sheringham is also a tour regular and just missed the prize money when the tour visited London earlier in the year. Six times world champion snooker player Steve Davis is also known for his prowess at the poker tables, having cashed in the WSOP main event in both 2007 and 2008, but he has yet to make his GUKPT debut.
Jonathan Raab is a poker consultant and tournament reporter. He also represents online poker site Blue Square at live poker events in the UK and Europe, and manages the GUKPT. Email Jonathan at jr@bluesq.com
