Tony Cascarino has swapped one beautiful game for another - he is in Dublin to battle it out against the world's top poker players, writes Conor Pope.
When former Republic of Ireland footballer Tony Cascarino retired five years ago, he found himself with time on his hands and a large hole in his life where the excitement of professional football used to be. Bored, he turned his hand to poker to fill the void.
A year later he had lost the equivalent of €100,000. It was abundantly clear that while he might have been pretty handy when up against his mates, he was Sunday league when it came to the playing with the big boys of Britain's professional poker circuit. He knew that unless he radically changed the way he was playing, he would soon be adding "ex-pro poker player" to his list of accomplishments.
He made some modifications to his playing style, grew more disciplined at the table, and slowly things started to turn round. Now poker is a "big part" of the former Republic of Ireland international's life. He plays cash games at least four times a week and has grown "to love playing poker more than I did playing football".
But it was football that taught him to love poker. He honed his skills on the team bus travelling to and from Irish internationals during the 1990s. "We played a lot of poker on the team bus and I used to come away with a fair few match fees. We never played for the pots I play for now, mind you, because we still had to play football together and we couldn't have people losing absolute fortunes."
It's only about the money now. "I never play for the craic. I only play for one thing now and that's to win money." He's not doing too badly - in each of the past three years he has profited to the tune of €100,000 from tournaments and cash games.
Cascarino is in Dublin this weekend to play alongside some of the finest card players on the world poker circuit who will battle it out for a top prize of nearly €400,000 at the European Poker Tour's (EPT) showcase event in the Merrion Casino. Fans of Texas Hold'em - the game of choice at the big tournaments - can see how the final table plays out when it moves to the RDS from 7.30pm tomorrow.
While Cascarino has been invited to play by the EPT sponsors, pokerstars.com, most of the 250 competitors aren't in such demand and have had to qualify for the event, which has a total prize fund of €1 million, by winning online tournaments or forking out a buy-in fee of €4,000.
One of the qualifiers is Paul "The Hangman" Roper, a 34-year-old from Sligo. Although he has been playing poker for less than a year and playing poker online for less than a month, he managed to see off more experienced players to earn a place at this weekend's event via Paddy Power Poker.
He has also qualified, through pokerstars.com, for the EPT grand final in Monte Carlo next year. By winning a pokerstars tournament, Roper will have his costs - including flights, accommodation and a €10,000 buy-in - covered by the company. He stands to win €500,000 if he can see off all the competition. The competition will be fierce, however.
So far, the Hangman has won a few thousand euro in hard cash - "only Mickey Mouse money in the poker world" - but is determined to become a full-time pro. "My goal is to make the final table this weekend. There are very few non-pros who can say they've made the final table at a big event like this. If I can win here or at Monte Carlo then I will definitely turn pro."
Poker has become big business in recent years, thanks to the popularity of online card schools and its unlikely success when transferred onto the small screen. TV shows have made household names (well, almost) of characters such as Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott and Dublin-born Donnacha O'Dea.
Televised tournaments in the US are attracting more viewers than basketball, and the money up for grabs at such events is nudging €34 million each year. It has also found a natural home online and Web-based poker has been the main driver of growth in the internet gaming sector. Pokerstars.com has more than three million registered users worldwide and it recently dealt its two billionth poker hand. Earlier this year the world's largest internet gaming group PartyGaming's initial public offering raised nearly €1.5 billion, the biggest offering on the London Stock Exchange for five years. Boylesports and Paddy Power's, with the help of specialist partners, have recently got into the game which will generate an estimated €5.3 billion by 2009.
But while huge sums slosh around online, it is live poker that generates the real drama, and both the Hangman and Cascarino will be hoping to be at the centre of that this weekend.
The pokerstars.com EPT tournament takes place in Dublin's Merrion Casino Club from 3pm today. The final takes place at the RDS from 7.30pm tomorrow and admission is free to everyone over 18