Red hot poker man

IT is almost 2am and Paul Gourlay has not been home long. He switches on his computer and logs on to one of his favourite poker sites. It is the ideal time to play, with many of the larger American tournaments just getting started across the Atlantic.

He takes a seat at his virtual table.

Homer Simpson is sitting to his right. On his left sits a man with the head of a rottweiler.

To the other players, Paul will appear as the film star Ed Norton, star of the poker film, Rounders.

"Playing online is a completely different scenario to playing live," says Paul, 32.

"A lot of people say that what you lose in not being able to see someone's face, you win in the fact that they can't see you. It's a lot more relaxed in some ways. People choose whoever they want to be - cartoon characters, pets or film stars."

Paul can often play online for six to seven hours when he gets in from work but, as he points out, it fits in nicely with the unsociable hours of his job. Paul manages a number of pubs, clubs and restaurants in Leeds for a North-East based company. He began playing poker ten years ago in local casinos at Newcastle and Middlesbrough and taught himself the game, learning as much as he could from other players. Then, three years ago, he began playing seriously.

The kind of tournament poker he plays involves buying a seat at a table. The bigger the prize money, the more expensive the seat. Players will receive a certain amount of chips - or points - and will play until they are knocked out when their points have run out. At the end of the tournament, the points, or money, will be dished out to the top few.

The most Paul has paid to enter - and hence the most he has ever lost in one go - is £1,000. The most he's ever won has been around £8,000.

TWO to three times a month, Paul, a former pupil of Our Lady and St Bede RC School in Stockton, will travel to big live tournaments around the UK, where the prize money can reach up to £200,000. His girlfriend of two years, Clare Rothwell, often goes with him, and is supportive of her partner's passion for poker.

"She's very understanding," he says.

"Plus she sees the benefits. I'll bring her with me to places, such as Dublin or Las Vegas, and she'll sit with the other poker widows' as they call them."

The playing environment at the large tournaments is also pretty glamorous, with many of the games televised. Poker has attracted a large celebrity following recently with the likes of Hollywood actors Ben Affleck, Tobey Maguire and James Woods enjoying the game. Nor is it simply the domain of men. Last month, Guardian journalist Victoria Coren became the first woman to win the London leg of the prestigious European Poker Tour which saw her become £500,000 richer.

Coren apparently impressed her rivals with her "sophisticated play". Does Paul have any secret techniques?

"I wouldn't say anything secret or special but I've picked up as much information as I could over the years through reading books and watching," he says.

"The only advice I can give is patience and practice. It takes five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master."

I wonder if that also includes mastering his poker face. Does he practise his face in the mirror at home in Leeds?

"Erm no, I wouldn't say so," he replies.

"But I've played with people who have sat there with hats on, headphones and sunglasses so you can't see anything. At some of the larger tournaments a lot of the younger players wear sunglasses."

Indeed, Paul has himself donned a hat before, but that was under the bright lights of a Las Vegas casino, where he played for 15 hours straight in the World Series - the daddy of all the tournaments.

The type of poker played at the tournaments is usually No Limit Hold 'em, which, according to Paul, is the most in depth version of poker - easy to learn and hard to master. Paul says it is difficult to put an average on his winnings.

"Say I put £1,000 a month into playing, I would win most months out of the year,"

he explains. "Say if I had a big win of £7,000 or £8,000, all I would do is tend to put that money into playing in a bigger poker tournament. I can probably win £20,000 to £30,000 in a year. But I'm just chasing the big famous win now. I get a good wage for what I do so I don't need to scrape any extra."

If Paul really hit the big time, he could expect to win millions. And he is in with a chance. Paul recently won a seat at the Dublin leg of the European Poker Tour (EPT), which runs from October 26 to 29, by playing on pokerstars.com. The winner of the EPT will receive around 700,000 euros and automatically qualify for the grand final at Monte Carlo next spring, where the prize money will reach around 10m euros.

Paul reckons about 20 per cent of the game is down to luck and the rest is skill.

There is still plenty to learn however.

"When I was in Vegas last year, I thought at that stage that I had it cracked," he says. "But looking back, I know so much more now, so in two, three and four years time I'll know ten times what I do now.

There are so many nuances. The learning curve is never ending."

Paul was back in Vegas for the World Series this summer after winning his seat again through pokerstars.com. There were 9,000 players and Paul made it through to the second day, finishing in about 1,500th place.

But even though he spends a great deal of his time at poker tables, Paul insists he doesn't see himself as a gambler.

"I would never bet on a horse or dog,"

he says. "I would very rarely bet on the roulette table because the house always wins, whereas with poker you're just playing other people for every win and there's such a large amount of skill involved.

The top 300 poker card players in the world never lose."

Paul hopes one day, he'll be one of those 300. He'd love to play at tournaments in Singapore and Australia. Before then, he has Dublin to conquer, where a spot in the top 20 could see him walking away with 40,000 euros. Even if he doesn't win, if he earns enough money, he will buy himself a seat in Monte Carlo.

"Without sounding too confident, I always go into a tournament thinking I'm capable of winning," he says. "I think if I do get that 20 per cent of luck and I do get my hand right, then as long as I don't make any mistakes, I've got a good chance."