UK Poker Tour 2007 Players from Channel 4



		About UK Poker Tour The GUKPT Players Tour Leaderboard Pokerscope Prog-by-Prog Winner's Journey About PokerScope Leg 1 Players Leg 1 of the Grosvenor UK Poker took place in January 2007 at the Bolton Grosvenor Casino where 197 of the UK's top players sat down, all aiming for the 1st prize of £75,500. Damon D'Cruz Seat 1 Damon D'Cruz Starting Stack: 57,000 45 year old record manufacturer from Luton Been playing poker for 15 years. His regular haunt is the Luton Grosvenor. He's a former DJ and Record Producer. As a producer, he had a top five hit with 'Jack Your Bod. One of the three remaining record manufacturers in the UK that still makes 7' singles. When not playing poker or making records, he plays chess and hangs out with the family. Played against Nowab and Grech before. He's never had more than the stack average throughout the tournament. Karl Mahrenholz Seat 2 Karl Mahrenholz Starting Stack: 414,000 24 year old pro from London Been playing for 18 months. Used to work in the City, but gave it up summer last year. At the time, he didn't specifically give up work to play poker. He was just looking for a year away from the nine to five, and it's so happened that in that year, he's managed to make a living playing poker. Part of the Hit Squad: a group of six players, including Praz Bansi, who met at the Gutshot and now travel the European tournament circuit together. Players he rates include Roland de Woolfe and Mike Mizrachi. Ian Nelson Seat 3 Ian Nelson Starting Stack: 146,000 35 year old builder from Liverpool Ian's been playing for eighteen months. Picked it up watching on TV. Only plays live events. Him and his brother, Terry, play about one festival a month. Biggest win before this was the Liverpool Challenge in 2006. His fiancee also travels with him to events. Outside of poker, he likes football (Everton) and golf. Favorite players are Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey. Reckons his biggest weakness is stamina over the longs days of festivals. Greg Howard Seat 4 Greg Howard Starting Stack: 318,000 41 year old, father of two, originally from New Zealand. Been playing for 18 months. Largely an online player and reckons his biggest weakness is his lack of live experience. His biggest win was over $100k on one of the big Sunday internet games. Praz Bansi Seat 5 Praz Bansi Starting Stack: 435,000 29 year old pro from London Been playing for eighteen months. Alongside Karl and 4 others, a member of the Hit Squad. Used to work in recruitment, but gave it up last year after winning a bracelet in a $1,000 event at the 2006 WSOP, netting him over a quarter of a million dollars. Almost didn't make it to the Bolton event. On way up he got stuck in traffic for 5 hours after a huge pile up on the M40. Only just made it to his table as the last card was being dealt. Favorite hand is A8o, as that’s what won him his bracelet. Apparently likes to go to the gym, socializing and enjoys the traveling involved within the poker lifestyle. Ray Wyre Seat 6 Ray Wyre Starting Stack: 213,000 Criminal Psychologist from Milton Keynes 55 year old. Psychological profiler, specializes in children who've been abused. One of the foremost experts in his field in Europe. Recently had a bit-part in a BBC crime drama in which he played an expert in child abuse crime. Been playing for a couple of years on the internet and then started with the small tournaments. Enjoys the live game a lot more. Signed on to a few EPT's and realized he had bitten off more he could chew but now is ready to try his hand again. Reckons he doesn’t have any hobbies: it's either poker or work with him. Joe Grech Seat 7 Joe Grech Starting Stack: 133,000 Pro player from London Owns and runs a guest house in East London. Aka The Joker. Originally from Malta. Biggest result is second place in a WPT event in 2005. Started playing 6 years ago, been pro for 4 years. Always played cards, used to be a big Kalookie player. Before this event, his total tourney winnings came to $665,000. Has two grown up sons who both play a bit online. Has played a lot against Praz, Karl and Simon. Simon Nowab Seat 8 Simon Nowab Starting Stack: 161,000 Pro player from Lancashire Known as 'The Chubs'. Playing as a pro for the last 6 years, 3 years before that as an amateur. Going into final table, he says he's wary of Bansi and Grech. Runner up in the 2005 World Heads Up Championship. Alan Henson Seat 9 Alan Henson Starting Stack: 105,000 Bar Manager from Kent Manages the bar in a village cricket club in Kent. Cricket obsessed, still plays for the first team in his village. One son – who's been the mascot for the English football team. His online alias is 'Bunky Babes'. He's been playing for three years, plays every night. He only plays online and qualified for this event on Blue Square. Qualified online for last year's WSOP. Find out more about the series > Top ^		Channel 4's award-winning production team, Sunset & Vine follow every hand dealt on the GUKPT. Here’s a sneak peak behind the scenes from the biggest poker show to be shown on British TV: The crew set up the TV table in the casino, with 35 crew members for each show. As play gets under way, outside the casino in the TV truck the director watches the play from all angles – choosing the best shot from the seven cameras used to capture all the action. Inside the casino the final table plays out in front of a live audience. An image recognition system records the details of each hand dealt. The cameras record every hand played, with over ten hours of video recorded – which will be edited down to two one-hour shows at a later date. Channel 4 presenter Dougie Anderson conducts the post-match interviews... and it’s a wrap.

Leg 1 Players