Poker has had its ebbs and flows. Professional players have quite the segment for other activities, as diverse and surprising as tennis or even video gaming. However, the latest news isn’t about someone going away from the field, but someone actually coming in. David Haye has announced his intentions to become a professional poker player.
Mr. Heavy Punches
In case you are not familiar with Mr. Haye, he’s an accomplished boxer who definitely knows how to settle a conflict or outpace an opponent tapping into his vast deposits of durability and athletic prowess. However, punching out a gleeful Mr. Hellmuth wouldn’t be appropriate even if it so happened to elicit a few cheers amid the overall surprise.
Mr. Haye made his appearance throughout British media outlets stating his intentions to join the world of professional cards. And he won’t be going it alone. Grosvenor Casinos, another UK-based company, have stated their intention to sponsor Mr. Haye on his way to either becoming the biggest bluff in history or a pleasant success story.
From Exchanging Punches to Exchanging Fists
Mr. Haye’s success in boxing has been quite stormy. He was a pro as early as 2002 and managed to win quite a few titles, knocking out a series of athletes. He even took on the then-champion Wladimir Klitschko back in July 2011, but lost.
Having done some thinking, Mr. Haye has thought it appropriate to actually reconsider his positions as a boxer, as he has already grown out of sporting age at 37, and instead do something he enjoys. Poker, he says, is one of the things that gives him joy. Even then, Mr. Haye admits that he’s fairly unaware of the rules, which is quite the opposite of what his initial enthusiasm indicates. Still, he has said that he is aware of the challenge as such, finding it exciting.
And so, given his inexperience, he will have quite some learning to do, even though Grosvenor Casinos expect Mr. Haye to serve as a poster boy for the most of the time. A normal course of action would be to start signing up Mr. Haye for online tournaments and mostly ask him to enter satellite competitions, which will be a real gauge of his growth as a poker player over time.
If Grosvenor Casinos hurry up to sign him in mainstream competitions, they may be bitterly disappointed. Mr. Haye, the accomplished boxer as he is, will definitely need quite a bit of time to tackle the more refined aspects of poker, and there is no mistaking this.
A Final Thought on an Uncertain Future
Shaping up a complete rookie into a blow-dealing pro isn’t that complicated, indeed. Or at least so the story of Ms. Konnikova would suggest. However, Ms. Konnikova had the good fortune to be training with accomplished pros and she had already spent a lifetime in academia, unpicking some solid theoretical knowledge.
Her love for science quickly turned out to be the pillar of her success as a poker player. Would Mr. Haye be able to repeat Ms. Konnikova’s feat?
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