Guess which three words greeted me when I took my first step into a cardroom a couple of years ago and noticed a sea of heads turning to me like a crowd of tennis fans following a Federer smash? ‘Beppe, you fish!’ Charming. This remark was actually a breath of fresh air.

You see, normally I just get called plain old ‘Beppe’, or when someone has had a few too many Babychams, ‘Beppe, you c:;….’ (For those of you who aren’t Eastenders fans I played a character called Beppe for many years.) But this time the word ‘fish’ had a strangely endearing quality. It flicked a switch in me that turned my mission to be a successful poker player into a full-scale war. One that I finally won on March 25.

Earlier that week, I’d been driving down to the Cardiff leg of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour, revising my game plan, and I had this unerring feeling I was going to win. Nothing unusual there; normally I say to myself, ‘This is the one Mikey,’ but there’s always a voice at the back of my head that says, ‘Dream on.’ This time there was no reply. I should’ve put a bet on myself there and then, which, incidentally, a friend of mine did when he saw I was 650/1 on Betfair! (650/1! Wow, am I that bad?) He put a tenner on and the rest is history: I took home the trophy and a hundred grand to boot.

Good laydown

I’m also living proof that you don’t need big cards to win a tournament – laying hands down is more important. I made the final table only by folding Kings to a raise and laying down Queens pre-flop, after getting re-raised by Aces.

The final hand that clinched it for me saw my opponent move all-in with 10-J on a K-8-2-9 board when I was holding K-9. The river was no help (to him). I decided to keep my two hole cards – they’re now sitting in a nice frame at home.

What I’ve learnt in my poker-playing career so far is that you have to serve your apprenticeship, experiencing as many tourney situations as possible in order to gain valuable knowledge to use against your next opponents. I never used to be a big fan of internet poker but during the past year it’s no coincidence that my game has dramatically improved. Even though my read of the game is so much better in live situations, playing online has given me the chance to mix up my play and try different strategies.

Oh, and a word of advice before I sign out: the next time you limp with Aces and get eight people in the pot, be prepared to throw them away. After all, it’s still only one pair: lol… nh… wp… ty.